Game Time!

We recently acquired the Life in Colonial Williamsburg board game.  This game was produced exclusively for CW in 2001 by The Ash Grove Press, Inc, but is now sadly out of print.  We remember seeing this game sold at CW, but don't remember why we never purchased it before.  It must have been sold for a very limited time, so we've been hoping to find one second-hand.  The version we bought looked as good as new.  Unfortunately, even though the cards and pieces were still wrapped from the manufacturer, some of the game figures and tokens are missing.  Luckily, we were able to make some replacements and are still able to play.

The board is a condensed version of the town, with very nice drawings of the buildings, some gardens, and other features.  Each character is based on an 18th century Williamsburg resident and comes with a short biography.  As the characters make their way through the town (by the roll of a die) they must stop at various buildings and locations to collect "life tokens" which represent different aspects of colonial life.  The tokens must be purchased with the use of "coins" that can be obtained in a number of ways.  Landing on certain spaces requires the use of game cards which ask for answers to history questions or present 18th century situations to move your character or even send them to the stocks!  If a character finds him or herself in debt, he or she must lose a turn in the public gaol.  The first time we played the game, I chose the character of Mr. Pelham, who ended up spending quite a bit of time in the gaol!

Milliner character Catherine Rathell

I also couldn't help but notice the resemblance of the Mr. Greenhow character to a certain Mr. Jefferson! 

Thomas Jefferson (Bill Barker) of CW

From the book Williamsburg: A Seasonal Sampler