Whanganui Regional Museum has a large collection of puzzles and games

A 1930s-era jigsaw puzzle of a map of Europe, part of the Bigco series and made in England.

When rain, cold and biting winds outside keep you inside, what do you do? You try to keep warm and amuse yourself. But what if there is no TV, and possibly no radio either? The Whanganui Regional Museum has a large collection of puzzles and games which date from about 1910 to the 1950s. They demonstrate a history of their time which encompassed two World Wars, the Spanish Influenza epidemic and the global economic depression.

A puzzle is a game which requires skill or ingenuity to reach a solution. A game is a competitive activity with rules. All involve an element of chance and present a challenge, and most require very little equipment. Playing cards are hand-sized and portable, while other games are played using die and a shaker, coloured counters or a board with holes and little pegs.

Playing cards have always been popular. A standard pack consists of 52 cards with four suits and numbered cards from 10 to one, the all-important ace and king, queen and knave (or jack). Gambling on how these cards can be manoeuvred is very risky. On the turn of a card, a player can lose everything. Methods of shuffling cards were complicated and inventive. Cards were backed so that opposing players could not see through them and nicks or marks could not be hidden. Cards were also used for magic tricks and collecting or trading.

Patriotic playing cards from circa 1914-1918. This deck of cards was produced by the Allied Playing Card Company during World War I. It shows an English bulldog with the Union Jack flag, and members of the royal family as the suit cards.

In the museum collection, many puzzles and games date from the 1930s and were produced for educational purposes. Jigsaw puzzles, made of interlocking pieces, developed cognitive skills. With their multiple pieces, they encouraged colour and shape recognition, and the facility to match ‘sames’ and ‘differents’. There could be as few as two or four puzzle pieces, or up to 200, 500 or 1,000.

The games of the 1940s and 1950s reflect a more confident society. Cards and games were family entertainment, perhaps after Sunday dinner, or when visiting grandma during the weekend. Grandma might prefer to play solitary games such as patience or solitaire.

There are two delightful Snakes and Ladders games, played with a die, shaker and counters, from this period in the collection. The boards are colourful and full of detail, with ladders reaching upwards and snakes slithering downwards. One Snake and Ladders game has an elegantly dressed little gnome encouraging another to begin the game. In another, a Noddy and Big-Ears game shows all the characters created by Enid Blyton in her series of 24 Noddy books.

‘Pick up sticks’ is a game involving dexterity and extreme concentration and focus. The sticks have pointed and coloured ends, with one black one. The bundle of sticks is dropped so they fall randomly. The player picks up one stick at a time, aiming to remove it without moving the other sticks. If the black stick is picked out successfully, it can be used to remove other sticks. The winner is the first to remove the most sticks. Opponents are eagle-eyed, watching for disqualifications.

These days, when it’s cold and wet, there are electronic games on electronic gadgets. If you remind people of what they used to do when young, they can clearly remember many happy hours with Ludo, dominoes, cribbage, Chinese checkers and many others.

Mary Laurenson is a volunteer at the Whanganui Regional Museum.