I'm A Little Board Right Now! Quiz

Answer: Monopoly

Roll the dice and here we go! The winner of "Monopoly" has to buy all the property of all the other players on the board, forcing them to go bankrupt. Any player who lands on an unclaimed space can buy the property but if they land on someone else's space, they have to pay rent. If they run out of money they lose the game.

"Monopoly" gained its popularity during a time of United State's history known as the Great Depression. It was created by an engineer named Charles B. Darrow, who had lost his job and property. He sold the game to the Parker Brothers company in 1935, who made it one of the most well known games in the market. Many people at the time were losing jobs and their homes due to closing banks. The game helped make light of a bad situation for many people.

Answer: Candyland

Draw the card and jump the spaces. We will race around the gumdrop mountain and through the candystick trees, with winding paths, and sugary surprises to find the castle. However, watch out for the cherry pitfalls and swamps or we will be stuck. The first one to make it to the rainbow castle square is the winner!

A school teacher, named Eleanor Abbott, made the game "Candyland" for sick children in a polio hospital during the 1940s. Many of the children had to stay in coffin-like, heavy machinery, known as iron lungs. The disease paralyzed many and caused breathing problems. The candy game was a distraction from pain, medicine and treatment. When the game was published, the game brought a smile to thousands of children in the United States that were affected by the disease or had to stay in the house due to fear of the virus. Vaccines appeared by the 1950s and the disease began to disappear. "Candyland" continued to be a popular game for years.

Answer: Clue / Cluedo

Is it the revolver, dagger, lead pipe, rope, candlestick, or the wrench? Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Reverend Green, Professor Plum, Mrs. Scarlet, and Mrs. White, are not going to tell who did it or where it happened. It's up to you and your fellow suspicious friends to find the killer. Find them fast! You are all trapped in the house until the good detective or villain wins.

This game was invented by a musician named Anthony Pratt, who was trapped in his home during the air raids (or bombings) in Britain during World War II. Many British had to hide in fear for their safety while the British fought the German Nazis in their own country. Pratt remembered detective games he used to play with his friends before the war, and turned it into a board game to play with his wife while they were hiding. When the war was over, he sold his game to Waddington's game company in 1947.

Answer: Operation

My name is Cavity Sam. I have a red nose that lights up when I need some help. Inside me are different body parts that need to be surgically fixed with some tweezers. I've had problems including a broken heart, a brain freeze, a wishbone, a charlie horse, tennis elbow, and many more. Take a doctor card and see if you can remove that problem from me before I start buzzing. If you are successful you get some cash! The player with the most cash wins.

John Spinello made the "Box that Sparked and Made Noise" game as a class project when he was in his second year of college in 1962. He sold it for $500 to help pay for school. He was promised a job with an inventing company when he graduated college. Hasbro gaming company bought the game in 1984, turning it into the well known "Operation". Hasbro has made many transformations to Operation since the game's first metal box. Many of changes have come from players and fans, such as the brain freeze addition in 2003.

Answer: Scrabble

Each player is given seven tiles at a time with letters. The tiles A, E, I, O, and U are highly prized vowels because they are needed in almost every word. Consonants are all non-vowel letters and are not as valuable. However consonants like X and Z are worth more points because they are harder to put in a word. My game's giant crossword board has many colored squares with bonus points. If you make a word on one that has double points or triple points, it can put you ahead of the game. The player with the most points at the end wins.

"Scrabble" was invented in 1938 during the Great Depression, by an American architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Games were becoming very popular pastime (or distraction) for many people, because the Depression was a time where many banks had closed and people were losing jobs. Alfred noticed crosswords were not as popular as poker, bingo, or other social games; they didn't have multiple players and they didn't have competition. He took wood chips and made alphabet tiles. He combined rules of bingo, poker, and other popular games to his wooden crossword board. The game was born.

Answer: Taboo

Draw a card, but don't say the word or parts of it. You also can't use the other five words below it to give hints. Try to get the other players to guess what is in your hand by acting, singing, or drawing to give hints before the timer runs out. If your team guesses correctly you get to move ahead on the board.

The inventor, Brian Hersch, was unsuccessful in real estate, but he loved trivia games. After encouragement from a friend, Brian Hersch decided to invent one of his own. "Taboo" became Brian's first project and his brother helped him start the company Hersch Games, in 1985. As Hersch's creations grew in popularity, the value of the company grew to over a billion dollars.

Answer: Chess

Chess has a board with 64 squares with light and dark colored squares. It can be very tricky to play because many of the pieces have different rules and moves. A pawn can only move forward. The queen, the most valuable, can move in any direction. The object of the chess game is to conquer or win over the other player's army by win, loss, or draw.

Chess is one of the oldest games in the world. Chess-like games have been found in India that are as old as the 6th century. Older war-like games have been found in China, Russia, Pakistan, and other places in Asia. The game has grown over many years.

Answer: Chinese checkers

My game has six colored triangles surrounding a circle. Each triangle has colored marbles that the player has to move to the opposite side. If they get all of their marbles in the triangle before their opponent, they win. Things can get confusing because I can have up to six players in one game.

The name "Chinese Checkers" sounds as if it comes from Asia, but it is actually a game that was invented in Germany. The Germans invented it based on an American game named "Halma", that involved moving marbles across a square checkerboard. In 1928, two Americans named Bill and Jack Pressman, changed the game to a round circle to include more players. They called the game "Chinese" checkers, because there were many people interesting in buying Chinese games at the time.

Answer: Sorry

In "Sorry", every player is given a color and four pawns to move around the board. They draw cards to move the pieces spaces. If they land on a slider space, they can slide spaces forward. However players need to watch out; their pawn on the board can get bumped back to start if another player lands on the same space. The first person to get all their pawns around the board wins!

Sorry was originally created in 1929 by William Henry Storey in England. "Sorry" was based on an Indian game known as "Parcheesi", a game that had similar features with pawns and paths. The Parker Brothers (also known for "Monopoly") brought the Storey's game to the United States in 1934.

Answer: Life

Each player has a plastic little car that travels along life's winding path from college to retirement. Along the way they run into events such as marriage, jobs, and children. Sometimes they even get some extra cash. If they become a millionaire, they win the game. Otherwise, the player to retire with the most cash wins.

In 1860, when many board games were used as religious tools, Milton Bradley was one of the first to design a board game toy. The original game of Life resembled a checkerboard and was called the "Checkered game of Life". The game brought a smile to many and sold over 40,000 games its first year. Bradley left his printing business and became a toy maker with his wife, a school teacher. The Bradley company provided games to soldiers during the Civil War and helped children in hospitals during polio epidemics. Some games the Bradley company help make included "Candyland", "Operation", and "Chutes and Ladders". For his own life and work, Milton Bradley was honored in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.