Board game:Captain Kidd and His Treasure

Since the beginning of board game manufacture, the major makers often tailor the subject of a game to appeal to either boys or girls. Such is the case with this 1896 board game by Parker Brothers, Captain Kidd and His Treasure. It probably attracted boys more than girls. A standard race and capture type of game, the bright cover graphics show the infamous privateer and alleged pirate near some crew members and a trunk full of treasure. Recent scholarship theorizes that Kidd may indeed not have been such an evil fellow; he may have been set up to cover the tracks of some of his high-profile English investors. Either way, his career inspired many stories, from Stevenson's "Treasure Island" to Poe's "The Gold Bug." And this late-nineteenth century board game.