nobody can be uncheered with a balloon

This morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, they had a brief feature on the boardgame ‘Pank-A-Squith’, which went on sale in 1909 and is once more on sale today at Bonhams auctioneers in Knightsbridge.

The game itself is basically an enhanced version of snakes and ladders, but the winner is the first to reach universal suffrage, rather than just the top of the ladder. On the way, you get to chain yourself to Asquith’s railings, throw yourself in front of a horse and these other things from the official lot description:

Square 6 shows a suffragette breaking the windows of the Home Office, Square 16 has a notice: “Any player landing on this space must send a penny to Suffragette Funds”, Square 18 depicts Bow Street magistrate’s court, Square 32 represents Holloway Prison, and Square 43 to the forced feeding of Hunger Strikers.

The game was created to raise funds for the Suffragette movement, and is an early, if not the earliest, example of political fundraising through merchandise. Take a look at the board for yourself:

Compare this with the ubiquity of Obama merchandise: there are thousands of examples of this kind of thing all over the web. It serves its purpose, and some of the images are really funny. My favourite that I’ve come across is this:

It’s funny, but I think I prefer the boardgame, but it does seem that hilarious puns (pank-a-squith/yes we can opener) never get old.