Board game:Space Chase

Fly your own rocket! Travel to distant planets! Conquer the unknown! This 1967 board game from United Nations Constructions, Inc., of Santa Monica, California, translates the traditional American notions of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny into space, "the final frontier."

In popular imagination, the 1960s represented the high point of American involvement in the space race. Beginning with the Soviet launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957, the fierce competition between the two superpowers progressed quickly to the manned space flights of the early '60s. The era culminated in 1969 with the first manned mission to the moon and Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind," broadcast on live TV to a nation of enthralled viewers.

Once the realm of science fiction, space conquest now seemed a reality. United Nations Constructions, Inc., quickly jumped on the bandwagon and offered an "educational" game for the entire family, replete with maps of the "geo-physical global view" designed by Rand McNally & Co., realistic plastic astronauts, and multi-stage rockets.