What is The Game of the District Messenger Boy?
{{italictitle}} [[File:District Messenger Boy Box Cover 1886.jpg|thumb|225px|''Game of the District Messenger Boy'' (1886) is one of the first board games to insinuate that materialism and capitalism are means to a better life.]] '''''The Game of the District Messenger Boy; or, Merit Rewarded''''' is a [[board game]] [[publish]]ed by McLoughlin Brothers in 1886. Players race their tokens around a track as lowly messenger boys. The first player to reach the Head of the Firm space at track's end is the winner. The game is one of the earliest American games to insinuate (suggest as truth) that social status is increased with the accumulation of wealth. Prior to its publication, [[Christianity|Christian virtue]] as a means to a better life was the focus of American board games such as ''[[The Mansion of Happiness]]''. Variants of ''District Messenger Boy'' include ''The Game of the Messenger Boy.'' Competitive, materialsitic board games culminated in 1935 with ''[[Monopoly]]''. ==Related pages== * [[Horatio Alger, Jr.]] == Notes == {{DEFAULTSORT:Game of the District Messnger Boy}} [[Category:Board games]]