Board game:Buck Rogers 25th Century A.D.

The cartoon, movie, and comic character Buck Rogers is touted as the first American science fiction hero, paving the way for other similar characters from Flash Gordon in the 1930s to George Lucas's entire Star Wars universe. Buck Rogers began as a character in the pulp magazine "Amazing Stories" (as Anthony Rogers) in 1929. The character hit a nerve with American culture and his popularity grew as the nation's fascination for science and--increasingly--space exploration grew as well. Rogers' adventures appeared in all media including radio, movies, television and the comics. The strips especially employed fantastic and futuristic designs somewhat reflective of the Art Deco and Art Moderne periods in which they appeared. The Lutz & Sheinkman company produced a game board based on Buck Rogers around 1935 that accurately reflects the stylized designs featured in the cartoons. Some scholars believe that this game served as a premium for the cereal Cream of Wheat. The box holds three separate game boards, each allowing for a different game. A contemporary game scholar called this Buck Rogers game "perhaps the most beautiful American board game."