This is the first known board with a trail of 63 boxes, a number which would thereafter be fixed as canonical. The wooden board is preserved in good condition in the Monastery of Valldemossa, in Mallorca.
From wiki:
"The Game Of The Goose is
a board game with uncertain origins. Some people connect the game with
the Phaistos Disc (because its spiral shape), others claim that it was
originally a gift from Francesco I de' Medici of Florence to King Philip
II of Spain sometime between 1574 and 1587,[1] while the latest
theories attribute to the Templars the creation of the game.[2]
According to these theories the Templars, possibly inspired by other
games or discs (as the Phaistos Disc) from the Holy Land, developed a
game and a secret or encrypted guide to the Way of St. James,
representing each numbered space in the game a different stage in this
journey. Furthermore, the hidden messages would not be just in the game
but in the monuments, cathedrals and churches along the Way to Santiago
de Compostela.[3][4]
In June 1597 John Wolfe had attested that the game existed in London. It is thought to be the prototype for many of the commercial European racing board games of recent centuries. The game is mostly played in Europe and seen as family entertainment. Commercial versions of the game appeared in the 1880s and 1890s, and feature typical old European characteristics such as an old well and kids in clothes from the period. In the 1960s, the game company CO-5 marketed a variant called Gooses Wild. "
More at wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_Goose
In June 1597 John Wolfe had attested that the game existed in London. It is thought to be the prototype for many of the commercial European racing board games of recent centuries. The game is mostly played in Europe and seen as family entertainment. Commercial versions of the game appeared in the 1880s and 1890s, and feature typical old European characteristics such as an old well and kids in clothes from the period. In the 1960s, the game company CO-5 marketed a variant called Gooses Wild. "
More at wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_Goose
