Goose (board game)

Ancient French board game, popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, though said to have been derived from the Greeks. It was played with counters on a board depicting a jardin de l’oie (goose garden) and divided into compartments, in some of which a goose was depicted; other emblems included an inn, a death’s head, a bridge, and a labyrinth. The object of the game was to land one’s counter on number 63. The game was usually played for a stake, and special fines were exacted for landing on certain spaces. At the end of the 18th century, a variation of the game was called jeu de la revolution française (game of the French Revolution).