We're not the first to share these images of Soviet board games manufactured in the 1920s and '30s, and we likely won't be the last. They're just too weird and wonderful. From what we can gather, they were first posted by Babs71 on Russia's LiveJournal blogging platform and then picked up by the likes of Retronaut, Boing Boing, The Charnel-House, and many others. The boxes the games came in are works of art, some featuring gorgeous Constructivist lettering and imagery. What's not clear is how much fun the games were to play. We're guessing, not much. (12 PHOTOS)
'Chemical Warfare' And Other Fun Soviet Board Games
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With game names such as "Chemical Warfare" (from 1925, above), "Air Battle," "Modern Fight," and "Revolution," you'd be forgiven for thinking these games dated from the Cold War.
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"Revolution" (1925)
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"Circular Race" (1925)
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"For Healthy Living" (1926). The two hubs say: "Making work and life healthier is the workers' responsibility" and, "Through making work and life healthier to victory over social diseases."
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According to the Russian Language Blog, a 1928 board game called "Electrification" was not sold in stores but had to be assembled after cutting out the pieces from a newsletter called, amazingly, "Lenin's Grandkids." The winner gets to illuminate a village, factory, or a city block.
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"Reds And Whites" (1929)
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"Circular Race" (1924)
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"Air Battle" (1925)
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"Air Battle" (1925)
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No title can be seen, but the board says, "Long live world revolution" (1925)
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"Modern Battle" (1933)
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"Naval Battle" (1931), a precursor to the modern board game called "Battleship."