"The United States Game", Parker Brothers

This is the board for an uncommon cartographic board game from Parker Brothers. It shows the United States with cities, farmland, cotton fields, mining zones, national parks, and topography illustrated in charming pictorial style. Several ships fill the oceans and Great Lakes. The game was designed as a race across the country, with each player commandeering a small locomotive and progressing it along the tracks to various gold and red points along the way (or moving it back, per an unlucky draw). The instructions, cards, dice, dice cups, and game pieces (apparently little locomotives) are not present in this example, but the board itself has enormous appeal. Two boards connected by a cloth hinge. The board is more commonly found with three folding boards; this is perhaps an earlier design.

References: cf. Rumsey #10116.

Condition: B

The board is lightly soiled with a few abrasions in Texas, Arkansas, and the border at bottom right. There is minor chipping to the board along the hinge and edges.