In the early 1900s the Parker Brothers found a lot of success in card games and made their way doing that until they came across a game called Touring in 1906. This game was originally published by the Wallie Dorr Company. The Parker Brothers picked up the game in 1925. The idea of this game is not very complex and was never very popular but it was a different kind of game. Touring is a simple game of trying to complete a cross-country car trip by playing mileage cards, but it has a notable aspect: you can play disasters like “broken spring” and “populated area” on your opponents to slow down their journey. As such it was perhaps the first “take that” game — a very American style of gameplay where players actively attack each other, usually by playing cards from their hands. Through the success of Innocence Abroad, their various variety of games, Parker Brothers rose in prominence until it eclipsed McLaughlin Brothers in the early 1900s as the premier American gaming company. McLaughlin Brothers would entirely disappear in 1920 when Milton Bradley purchased its gaming assets.
This was the first game of it’s kind and it reminds of a sort of modern day Oregon trail where the goal is to get across country in the least amount of bumps and bruises. This game did not seem very popular at the time. I think part of the reason is because going out west had died down a little a bit and most people did not want to remember their journeys.
“Board Game History: The American Board Gaming Century Begins.” Mechanics & Meeples, 18 Mar. 2014, http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2013/04/01/board-game-history-the-american-board-gaming-century-begins/.
Mortensen, Eric. “Touring Card Game Review and Rules.” Geeky Hobbies, 31 May 2016, http://www.geekyhobbies.com/touring-card-game-review-and-rules/.
Turns Through History 