Other Games
1815? Le Jeu des fables, ou fables de LaFontaine mises en action. Avec figures coloriées et découpées, dessinées et gravées par Lambert ainé. Paris: Lambert. Received in trade from June Clinton, March, '93.
This set includes a small oblong booklet with fifteen of La Fontaine's fables and a concluding set of as many pictures. These latter give the pattern for use of a postcard-sized background-board with several small pocket-like openings for inserting figures--like the peacock and elephant here. There were originally some thirty-three figures, of which seventeen still remain in this set. Four of the scenes can still be reproduced entirely: 1, 2, 8, and 12. The figures are enclosed in a marbled envelope the same size as the booklet. There is a slip-case for the whole ensemble. My favorite private collector gives a date of 1820 and makes the publisher Alph. Giroux.
Click on the card to enlarge the view.
1930? Malt Kneipp cutout domino game. 13½" x 9¾". €15.50 from olivier9862 through Ebay, Oct., '22.
This light cardboard piece could have appeared here under "Advertisements," "Printed Material," or "Games." I chose the last of the three. The sheet includes instructions to cut out the 28 dominos, each of which pictures a well-known La Fontaine fable. The seller guessed a printing date between 1928 and 1940. It is curious that "Kneipp" is spelled with two p's at the end at the top of both parts of this sheet. The printer, however, is "Malt Kneip."
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1950? Vintage French Educational Fable Game. Match each of the fables pictured on eight cards with one of the 24 morals printed on an adjoining stub. Three fables per card. One replacement stub is hand-created. $47.99 from Forever French through Etsy, May, ’21.
Each stub has a notch that fits with the open space next to its fable. The stub also provides an extra clue in that the color of the extended portion matches only the color needed in the card’s notch. The “moral” comes at different places in the text of different fables. Well done! A great find!
1965/1967 Il gioco delle favole (The Fable Game) by Enzo Mari. Seconda variante. Milan: Danese. Two exemplars, gifts of Kathryn Thomas and Mary Pat Ryan.
Twelve interlocking cards often with traditional combinations of characters on the same card (FC, OF, TH, WL). Obverse and verso of each card are mirror-symmetrical.
1965/1985 Il gioco delle favole (The Fable Game) by Enzo Mari. Quarta variante. Milan: Danese. $15 at Games People Play, Cambridge, MA, June, '91.
Six larger (slightly over 6" x 12") cards with all the figures from the second variant, now done with lively color. The cards again have traditional characters together, like the fox paired with both the crow and the stork on the sample card here.
Click on the card to enlarge the view.
1965/2007 Il gioco delle favole (The Fable Game) by Enzo Mari. Mantua: Corraini. $37.50 at Unicahome, Las Vegas, NE, March, '08. Second copy for $40 from Megan Gillette, Urbana, IL, through Etsy, Dec., '20.
This latest edition seems identical with the Fourth Variant from 1985. Corraini did their first edition in 2004. This is their third impression from 2007. My, the price has gone up! And it keeps going up!
Click on the card to enlarge the view.
1978 "The Tortoise and the Hare" game. Made in USA. Girard, PA: Louis Marx Co. $2 from Connie Tibbitts, Providence, UT, through Ebay, March, '01.
This seems to be a simple game. The large stiff playing board includes a circular track, with a plastic ledge to insert as its inside rail. The wind-up tortoise moves around in a clockwise circular fashion to land on various squares. The game itself is in mint condition, though the box shows significant wear. There are instructions, four small rabbits, and even a decal!
Click on the box to see a larger version.
1980? Tortoise and Hare Checkers Board Game. Board, supporting base, instructions, and thirteen pieces each of tortoises and hares. Beige. About 12" square. The supporting base is broken. Hand-made in China. Hen-Feathers, King of Prussia, PA. $17.50 from ReturnBuy, Inc. through Ebay, May, '01.
I should have expected that someone would create a tortoises versus hares checkers game! This is a heavy set of pieces. The board has nice raised tortoise and hare motifs around its border, while the base has two sides depicting country roads. One of the curiosities of this item is that it misspells its own address as in "King of Prussla, PA." Click on either the overview or the detail view to see it enlarged.
1985 "Hare and Tortoise" game. Author: David Parlett. Otto Maier-Verlag, Ravensburg, Germany.
Here is an earlier -- but not the earliest -- version of a game listed below under "2000." This game was in 1979 the first "Spiel des Jahres" winner. Versions of the game have made these claims on their packaging: "The most Ingenious Race Game ever devised. Find out why when you play it! Designed to delight children! Guaranteed to baffle adults!"
2000 "Hare and Tortoise" game. Author: David Parlett. Graphics: Franz Vohwinkel. English translation/editing: Jay Tummelson. Made in Germany. ©2000 Abacus Spiele Verlags KG. Rio Rancho, NM: Rio Grande Games. $18 from Ronald Charity, Cleveland Heights, OH, through Ebay, Sept., '00.
Here is an unopened race game with the cellophane wrap still intact. The bottom of the box announces proudly that in 1979, "Hare and Tortoise" was chosen as the first "Spiel des Jahres" winner. The hare on the cover features an earring, but so far back in his long ear that you might not notice it!
Click on the box to see a larger version.
2010? Fairy Tales and Fables J-I-N-G-O. Diane Butikofer. Printed in China. GGA 197. Carthage, IL: Gary Grimm and Associates. $12 from an unknown source.
"A bingo style game -- fun for all ages." "Jingo is played just like bingo, but pictures replace numbers on the player's card." Though the package is still sealed, one can make out on the bingo board pictured on the cover both "Wolf! Wolf!" and a tortoise. There is also a question page pictured that asks "What slow animal won the race with the hare?" I learned that there are many "Jingo" games done by the same manufacturer and by others.
2022 "Fables de La Fontaine: Memory." Dessins André Hellé. Memory game: "Reconstituez les Fables de La Fontaine." Made in France. Lily poule: Bibliothèque nationale de France. €12.95 from Little Marmaille, August, '22.
Each of 16 fables has a brown-backed and a green-backed paper disc. In each case, half of a moral is on one and the other half on the other. The Hellé illustrations are such wonderful old friends! One starts by laying out all the cards face down. Then you start making matches as in any memory game. However it happens, this is fun!