Epworth Game

Geneva, New York: The Epworth Game Co, 1898. Very good. 2¼” x 3 5/8” printed box with folded directions sheet and 99 (of 100) numbered 3 3/8” x 2 1/8” cards. Very good: box top fragile with some spotting, chipping, separations at folds, Epworth Junior League stamp, inked continuation of printed drawing and penciled owner's name; box bottom gently scuffed; directions creased at old folds and edges. Cards generally very good plus, though a few lightly toned or dust-soiled and a couple versos a bit spotted; lacking card number 3.

This is a rare survival, an apparently unrecorded trivia game created by a woman active in the Methodist Episcopal (truncated) Church in Geneva, New York, Grace Gannett.

We found nothing online about Gannett besides her brief 1910 obituary, nor any information about Geneva, New York's “Epworth Game Co.” but the trivia cards answered many of our questions (and hundreds of their own). An included instructions sheet, avowing that “The Epworth Game should be in every Methodist home,” directed on proper play from within the “Home Circle” to larger Methodist gatherings. It suggested that the game could be played at “Junior League socials or entertainments . . . thus impressing the answers on the minds of the children,” or that “two rival Sunday School Classes may be arrayed against each other.”

Ninety-nine present cards (out of an apparent 100) held about four to six questions each, on Methodism generally as well as the history of the Church's Epworth Junior League (EJL). The game taught us that EJL was formed “at Cleveland” in May 1889 when five “young people's societies combined,” including the Methodist Young People's Union and the Young People's Christian League. Questions concerned the League's object ( “to promote intelligent and loyal piety in the young members and friends of the church” ) and its motto ( “Look up, Lift up” ) and quizzed players on Bible facts like “Who wrote the Book of Revelation?” and “What is the Second Doctrine of Grace?” Cards asked for the “founder of Methodism in the New England States, ” touched on the Freedman's Aid Society and the Epworth Herald, and even threw in a joke or two: “Why are Methodists like Canada thistles? 'If you once get them in you will never get them out.'” The game also queried, “Who preached the first Methodist sermon in America?”, “What must we do to be perfect Christians?” and “What is the Bible remedy for boils?”

A rare and thorough game of trivia on the Methodist Episcopal Church and its under-known Junior League, created by a woman. No holdings of this game were found in OCLC, and no evidence of it was found online. (Inventory #: 2317)