First American board game sells for $9,000

The Traveller's Tour Through the United States, the first American board game, sold for $9,000 at PBA Galleries in San Francisco on May 19.

Travellers game US
The Traveller's Tour Through the United States dates to 1822

It dates to 1822 and takes the form of a map of the Eastern seaboard (the West remained unexplored at the time).

Each of the towns and cities is replaced with a number. The player rolls a die-like object and moves from place to place, trying to guess its name and the population.  

Dice were chiefly associated with gambling and so a device called a teetotum was used to carry out the same function.

Only four copies of the game survive, with this being the last specimen in private hands.

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