ldhenson

I was wondering: How to combine my love of shadowboxes, self-contained wooden games, old New York, and Newsies?

So I made this.

It's essentially a customized version of the game Pigs In Clover, which first came out in 1889 and was wildly popular in its time. Basic layout (three concentric rings and a central circle) and dimensions are roughly borrowed from the game. Instead of solid-colored "fences" and a covered central "pen," the marbles roll through a fantasy version of turn-of-the-century New York (all photos are circa 1890-1905, unrelated buildings are placed side-by-side, and you can forget about scale). "Fences" are double-sided and pictures in the inner three fences are viewed the right way around from the outside; the outermost fence is reversed to be viewed from the inside. The "ground" is an 1899 map of New York (Newspaper Row area).

The original game had three to five marbles (no one seems to agree on a definite number); I've put in six and made the game harder by specifying, as the goal, a specific combination of marbles in each of the rings.

Scenes from the movie fill in the corners (which are non-playing areas) and the side walls.

The original game was on a round board and had an open top. I've set the whole thing into a purchased glass-topped shadowbox which I painted, lightly distressed, and sealed with a matte varnish (sanded all the way up to 2000 grit). To make things easier to maintain, the base (I made a replacement for the rather ill-fitting one that came with the shadowbox) can be carefully removed if needed but fits snug enough to hold the game in without glue or other fasteners. The underside is lined with felt.