Child Soldier (1942)

This is a WWII roll-and-move game that encouraged Japanese children to think of potential military roles. Five children are shown in the lower right, and each one follows a distinct training path through the many images of military life shown on the board, leading to one of five service branches: Infantry, Artillery, Signals, Armor and Air Force. The winner is the first player to complete training in their chosen branch. The game included in an edition a children's magazine published by the Asahi Shimbun media empire. The back of the game sheet shows other pages of the magazine, and there are center staple holes showing that it was a centerfold pull-out. The absence of any naval roles shows that this game was army-sponsored, and illustrates the deep divide between Japan's land and sea forces at the time. —user summary