Cover from “The Game of the World’s History” published and copyright by Parker Brothers in 1894. The “instructive game for the home or the schoolroom” consisted of 60 cards, each with two to four questions about a historical event, person, or topic. Questions would be asked in rotation, and the player with the most cards at the end of the game was the winner.
The cover includes four scenes related to the questions. Clockwise from upper left: Fall of Sebastopol, Emperor William & Bismarck, Laying Atlantic Cable, and Joan of Arc. The question for Joan of Arc was:
“What French peasant girl restored Charles VII to his throne in 1429, thus practically ending the Hundred Years’ War with England?”
Parker Brothers was started in 1883 by 16-year-old George Swinneton Parker, who developed a game called “Banking” to play with his friends. His brother Charles encouraged him to publish it, but when the companies he approached showed no interest, he produced 500 copies on his own, and netted $100 in profit. The company’s most popular game, “Monopoly,” was published in the mid-1930s.