Games

“Man is only fully human when he plays”

This quotation from Schiller suggests that play is an integral part of our humanity. Our yearning for a life commensurate with our humanity, the quest for happiness, implies our readiness to engage in play. This puts man to the test. Testing our personal limits leads us to discover hitherto unknown capabilities within our selves. This perhaps explains the huge variety of card or board games and puzzles, challenging our patience and dexterity. Musical instruments also involve playing, as do many other activities. Playing is part of everyday life, serving both as pleasure and pastime. Courtly “parlour games” are described in the literature, which begins around 1750, a term that refers not to a single game such as chess or draughts but as a generic term which included a whole repertoire of games. The most important characterstics were:
–  unlimited participation: games were played with a relatively large or even unlimited number of players, including young and old, female and male;
–  no need for special equipment: materials for this kind of game were secondary, consisting if necessary of simple resources readily to hand such as paper and pencil, chairs or handkerchiefs;
– not played for money: these games were not always “games without winners”, but forfeits or rewards were not paid in money.
It was above all with the mass production of games from around 1880 that the meaning of the “parlour game” changed for good, tending to signify games played with dice or boards which were now produced commercially.

An Empress at play

Even Empress Elisabeth “played”, perhaps in order to alleviate the rigid constraints of courtly life. She liked both games of cards and board games, and enjoyed playing with her poodle, called Bonbon, which she had been given by Circus Renz and which she trained to perform tricks. She also played the piano, the zither, the harp and the mandolin. From 24 June the Sisi Museum will be displaying a games case, the empress’s harp, a figurine of her poodle, Bonbon, and a collection of antique cameos from Corfu, where the empress spent large amounts of time walking, playing cards, making music and reading.
In a letter to her four-year-old daughter, Gisela, dated 1861, she writes: “You know what beautiful birds I will be bringing for you, in a pretty birdcage, then I’ll make music for you, and I’ll also be bringing a little guitar for you to play.”

Games case of empress Elisabeth

Empress' harpe