Yankee Trader

American economic imperialism while Europe is at war.

This interesting board game titled ‘Yankee Trader’ is one of two versions published in 1941 by Corey Games, a division of Quality Paper Box Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Players embark from San Francisco on a global tour, purchasing agricultural products and commercial exports at various ports along the trip. The player who returns to New York City with the most money is declared the winner.

Pictorial elements across the map show stereotypical representations of local cultures, though none so offensive as the African. A crow is shown perched atop a sign of Europe – perhaps a commentary on the ongoing conflict, then still restricted to the continent? In any case, the board game captures the pivotal final months of American neutrality in World War II. Global leisure travel would cease almost entirely, especially to Bergen, occupied by the Nazis since 1940.