Games Played During World War II: Soldiers & Civilians

Games provided morale, distraction, and social cohesion during WWII. Context: rationing, blackouts, deployment, anxiety.

Soldiers (Front & Rear)

• Card games: Poker, Bridge, Hearts, Euchre, Pinochle — portable, social, skill-based. Bridge especially popular among officers.
• Dice games: Craps, Crown & Anchor, "Ship Captain Crew" — fast, gambling-adjacent.
• Board games (compact): Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, magnetic travel sets. Monopoly sets smuggled into POW camps (modified with escape maps).
• Sports: Baseball (ubiquitous in US camps), football (UK), cricket (Commonwealth), improvised volleyball.
• Paper-and-pencil: Battleship (precursor), Hangman, Tic-tac-toe, Dots & Boxes.
• Storytelling / humor: "Shaggy dog" jokes, tall tales, rumor mills.

Civilians (Home Front)

• Family board games: Monopoly (peak sales 1943–45), Scrabble (1948 launch, but prototype played), Clue (UK 1949, US 1950 — late war), Parcheesi, Sorry!
• Card games: Bridge (national craze), Canasta (exploded 1940s), Rummy, Whist.
• Radio-driven: Quiz shows (Quiz Kids, Information Please), "play along" dramas.
• Physical: Hopscotch, jump rope, marbles, jacks — no equipment needed.
• Victory Gardens / scrap drives: Gamified patriotism (competitions for most scrap, best garden).

Notable Cultural Artifacts

• Escape maps in Monopoly: British MI9 hid silk maps, compasses, files in POW-care-package sets.
• Decks of "Spotter Cards": Aircraft/ship recognition — gamified training.
• Propaganda board games: German Juden Raus! (antisemitic), US Bomb the Axis (patriotic).

Games weren't trivial — they were psychological sustenance. Letters, diaries, and V-mail frequently mention them.