''The Game of Alice in Wonderland'', subtitled "The dream-child moving through a land of wonders strange and new in a friendly chat with bird or beast and half believes it true", is a bespoke

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

published in 1882 by

Selchow and Righter Selchow and Righter was a 19th- and 20th-century game manufacturer best known for the games ''Parcheesi'' and ''Scrabble''. It was based in Bay Shore, New York. It dates back to 1867 when it was founded as E. G. Selchow & Co. In 1880, to reflec ...

. It was the first card game to be published that was based on ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

Description

''The Game of Alice in Wonderland'' uses a custom deck of 52 cards divided into three "suits": starred picture cards, plain picture cards, and numbered cards. *Star picture cards: 16 cards are numbered from 1 to 16; each card has a star and a picture based on

John Tenniel Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914)Johnson, Lewis (2003), "Tenniel, John", ''Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online'', Oxford University Press. Web. Retrieved 12 December 2016. was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and pol ...

's original illustrations in ''Alice in Wonderland''. The top-ranked picture card is Alice, and the lowest-ranked picture card is the dodo. *Plain picture cards: Another 16 cards are identical to the first set but have no star. *20 unillustrated cards are numbered from 1 to 20.

Card ranking

The cards are ranked by suit and by number (16 being the highest rank): *Star picture cards are the highest-ranked suit, and trump all plain picture cards and numbered cards. *Plain picture cards trump all numbered cards.

Setup

The cards are shuffled, and each player is dealt seven cards. When cards run out, another seven cards are dealt, and this continues until all cards in the deck have been played.

Gameplay

The first player leads any card, starred, plain or numbered. If the second player has its mate (a card of the same number, whether starred, plain or numbered), the mate must be played, and the higher-ranked cards defeat its mate. If the second player does not have its mate, the second player must follow with a card of the same suit if possible. Other players play according to the same rules. If two or more picture cards are in play and a player has the mates to both, the player must play the mate of the first picture card played.

Victory points

When the deck is exhausted and all cards have been played, players add up their victory points by examining the cards they have taken: * For each pair: 10 points * Holding both Alice and the Pool of Tears: 20 points * Holding the largest number of cards: 10 points The player with the most points is the winner

Publication history

The children's book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' by Lewis Carroll was first published in both the UK and the US in 1865. Seventeen years later, in 1882, the American games company Selchow and Righter published what The Lewis Carroll Society of North America recognizes as the first game based on the book, ''The Game of Alice in Wonderland''.

Recognition

Copies of the game are held in the special collections of: *

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

(accession number kent.b2383191) * The

Lilly Library The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University (Bloomington), Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library co ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Game of Alice in Wonderland Works based on Alice in Wonderland Card games introduced in the 1880s 1882 introductions