Travellers' Tour Through the United States (1822)

The board is a map of the United States c. 1822, the westernmost states being Missouri and Louisiana. Because dice were frowned upon as instruments of the horrible vice of gambling, included a teetotum, a sort of spinner used to randomly yield a number from 1 to 8. This is used to determine the first player. Lines are drawn on the map to connect cities in a continuous path which players must follow. However, the cities are not named, but numbered. Upon arrival, at a new city, the player must correctly name the place and, if playing the advanced version, its population, or lose a turn and try again.. The first to reach New Orleans (population 10,000) wins. The first known game published in the United States. Unlike other games, it was also invented in the USA rather than being a copy of a British game, as many later ones were. The publisher were sellers of books in New York and later in 1822 also released Traveller's Tour Through Europe. A copy is apparently still in existence and archived at the American Antiquarian Society.