Though my parents, Linda and Bruce Wilde, are no longer with me, their eagerness to collect interesting bits of memorabilia seems to be the gift that keeps on giving.
The late Ashfield residents were pack rats, stashing away everything from military items from when my father and grandfather served in Germany and Japan, respectively, to an old glass bottle from a New York racetrack. But one particular item has peaked my curiosity perhaps more than any other.
While digging through a big black trunk about a decade ago, I unearthed a board game unlike any I’d ever seen. The top of the box depicted a familiar landmark — Greenfield Town Hall — and the board game’s creator, Aladco Inc. out of New Hampshire, promoted the game as “An exciting game of skill and strategy.”
I opened the like-new box to find that everything inside appeared untouched — the toy money was still in order, the cards were still in an unseparated stack, and the board game itself made a crunching sort of sound when I opened it, as if it hadn’t been unfolded before.
The board displayed a map of Greenfield, with a lot of familiar places like Poet’s Seat Tower, the YMCA, the courthouse, Town Hall, Greenfield Community College, Eunice Williams Covered Bridge and Foster’s Supermarket.
Others, though, were less familiar, like the Pierce Street School and a bunch of Main Street businesses like Sullivan’s Pharmacy, Hamilton’s Shoes, Bartlett’s and Barrett & Baker. There was even a Datsun dealership near where Home Depot is today, and receiving a particular playing card would award you a new or used car at a value of $75.
From what I can gather, the game, called “All About Town,” seems very much like Monopoly. Players receive a shopping list with four items at the start of a game, and the first player to check off all the items on his or her shopping list by visiting the different businesses is the winner. And there’s speed bumps along the way. Get caught speeding on Interstate 91? Lose a turn. Reach a deer crossing? Lose a turn. Get a parking ticket? Lose a turn.
Naturally, I wanted to learn more about where this unusual game came from. Hopping on the internet, I found that Aladco Inc. — which seems to have gone out of business — teamed up with local newspapers and chambers of commerce to produce eight town-oriented board games, starting with Manchester, N.H. in 1976. The Greenfield edition of “All About Town” was second in the series, having been manufactured in 1977. Aladco, which calls itself “the family game company,” also produced board games for Holyoke, Springfield, Worcester, Keene, N.H., Concord, N.H., and Nashua, N.H.
Looking at the Greenfield game for the first time brought back a lot of memories of things I had long forgotten. While comparing the businesses of today and 1977 with my husband, Tim, he pointed to Kings Department Store and asked “Do you remember going there as a kid?” Indeed I do, though I probably haven’t given the store a second thought since it closed decades ago.
I haven’t played the game myself, keeping it in its pristine condition. Looking to the future, I think that perhaps someday my grandchildren might want to play it. But for now, the game leaves me with so many questions about the past. Did my parents buy it? Was it passed down to them from my grandparents? I never had brothers or sisters; maybe my parents never took it out because I didn’t have anyone to play with? Maybe my mom thought it would be worth money someday.
The game also ignited in me a desire to learn more about the game and our local history. If you have any knowledge about “All About Town,” please contact me by email at timatio1@msn.com. Because of my parents, I’ve found so many things that have me asking, “Wow, where did this come from?” For now, “All About Town” is one of those mysteries.