Just roll the dice.....

This is an interesting exchange of letters. I enjoyed the experience and was delighted with the outcome. There is a missing letter in between just saying we’ll take and send it. While it’s not a great story, I like that it all happens in these letters. The game itself was quite amazing and I have no actual photos of the game so you’d have to arrange with the museum to see it:

To: Elliott Avedon, Games Museum, University of Waterloo

From: Arthur Greenblatt

December 3, 2002

From 1989 until 1993 I was the President of the Montserrat College of Art, on Dunham Road, in Beverly, Massachusetts. We were located next to the Parker Brothers headquarters. As their efforts to sell their huge glass building in the woods were not coming to fruition, they tried to downsize by moving to half the building in an effort to lease the other half, or to sell the building and the would lease the other half. During this period of time, they were nice enough to give us office and even some classroom space for a few years. They even supported us financially after being sold to Hasbro.

As they were moving, this box was left behind, and I asked the person in charge of the move if I could have the box, seeing as it was a graphic delight and no one seemed to want it. It contained the game you see, a large playing board (29” x 43” open) in a large graphic box (22” x 30”). It is all in Japanese, and was sent to Parker Bros. from Kenner, to a Larry Bernstein.

The imagery on the playing board is crudely done anime, with such images as spanking, bathing, squatting over a Japanese toilet and some other nude images. Inside, as you can see, are directions, a game board, 2 small metal clips, three box cardboard cutouts, a sheet of game pieces and a blue board of some sort. It all seems to be there.

I have been carrying this around since I left and have had no use for it. I ran across an article on your game museum and thought I’d contact you to see if you have any interest in having this one. I would be happy to donate it.

Let me know if you have an interest.


University of
Waterloo

January 15, 2003

Dear Mr. Greenblatt;

Thank you for the generous donation of Japanese "Game of Life," if we may be
able to call it that. While we have not yet been able to determine the actual name, oriental
students in our department have indicated it has many religious (Buddhist) overtones. It
appears somewhat like a "snakes and ladders" game where one can either end up in Hell
or Nirvana throughout play of the game, with the goal being to reach the divine. It looks
like one is able to begin either in a form of Hell (the 3'd degree), or as a regular person in
the material, common world, and then, I suppose with the roll of a die, can determine
which direction they proceed. We will enlist the services of someone who can read
Japanese to provide us with the full details for our records.
As you may be aware, most of the collection at the E. A. Museum and Archive of
Games has been acquired by donation, and yours is very much appreciated, as such a
game is currently not part of the collection. It is great to obtain the original box too, as
one can see how such games were marketed in Japan.
The game will be formally accessioned into the Museum's collection, so please
find the enclosed Donation forms, add your signature as required, keep one for your files,
and return the other to us in the envelope provided.
Once again, many thanks for the donation. If you ever find yourself in the
Waterloo area. please drop by the Museum.

Yours sincerely,

Museum and
Archive of Games

Faculty of
Applied Health Sciences

University of Waterloo