View source for Escalado

{{Short description|Horse racing game}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox game
| subject_name = Escalado
| image_link = [[Image:Escalado.jpg|250px|Escalado board game]]
| image_caption =
| players = 2+
| ages =
| setup_time =
| playing_time =
| complexity=
| strategy =
| random_chance =
| skills = [[Social interaction|Social skills]]
| footnotes =
}}
'''''Escalado''''' is a horse racing game created in the [[United Kingdom]] in which model race horse game pieces, originally made of [[lead]], make their way along a long green fabric race track towards the finish line at the other end. The horses would move across the race track by means of a mechanical hand crank that vibrated the entire track, in a random fashion, so that it would simulate the events of a live race.
''Escalado'' was invented and patented in 1928 by [[Swiss people|Swiss]] inventor Arthur Gueydan and produced by United Kingdom-based toy company [[Chad Valley (toy brand)|Chad Valley]].<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Escalado |date = 15 August 2003|  url=http://www.mddx.co.uk/ | work=Mddx Research | accessdate=4 September 2006 }}</ref>
==Game details==
The game is played by at least two players, one of whom must turn the hand crank that moves the game pieces along the track. The players place bets of whatever fashion they prefer on their prediction of which of several distinctively coloured horses will cross the finish line first.
Originally, the game was released with a set of five coloured horses made of [[lead]], a green cloth fabric track, and a mechanical vibrating hand crank. Later versions of the game accommodated a total of eight coloured horses made of non-poisonous metals (and much more recently, plastic) as well as yellow posts on the track that race horses were to navigate around.<ref>{{cite web | title=Escalado (1929) | url=http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9379/escalado}}</ref>
==History==
On 24 August 1928, [[Swiss people|Swiss]] inventor and painter Arthur Gueydan applied for a United Kingdom patent being "The Concept of a Device to Impart a Progressive Movement to an Article and applicable in Toys, Game Apparatus, and other Objects".<ref>{{cite web | title=Arthur Gueydan | url=http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Arthur-Gueydan/9FCC06DA6B82E271 | work=MutualArt artists | accessdate=4 February 2013 }}</ref> A month later, on 22 September 1928, together with the [[Chad Valley (toy brand)|Chad Valley]] Company Limited, he applied for another patent for "New or Improved Apparatus for Playing a Race Game".<ref>{{cite web | title=Escalado history | date = 15 August 2003 | url=http://www.mddx.co.uk/page3.html | accessdate=4 February 2013 }}</ref>
In May 1929, ''Toy Trader'' magazine wrote that ''Escalado'' was "The sensational Race game which broke all records during the last three months of 1928, and which is the biggest ''seller'' of all our games this year.<ref>{{cite web | title = From Toy Trader 1929 | url=http://www.mddx.co.uk/page15.html}}</ref> In March 1946, the game was reintroduced in ''Toy Trader'' magazine with an extended track and support for a total of eight horses.<ref>{{cite web | title = Toy Trader cover 1946 | url = http://www.mddx.co.uk/page16.html}}</ref>
==In popular culture==
The game features as part of the Hawksbee and Jacobs show on [[Talksport]] radio (UK). Listeners are invited to send in names of horses based on the main stories of the week and horse-racing tipster [[Charlie McCann]] provides the latest "odds" with [[Andrew McKenna]] providing a live commentary from the "course".{{cn|date=January 2024}}
[[Roy Cropper]] was seen playing the game in ''[[Coronation Street]]'' on 13 September 2015 episode having found it in his friend Cathy's house. He proclaimed it to be his "favourite board game of all time".{{cn|date=January 2024}}
In May 2019 a very early vintage edition of the game was restored in season 4, episode 26 of the BBC television series ''[[The Repair Shop]],'' a programme in which experts restore family heirlooms and art objects for their owners.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004w1y|title=BBC One - The Repair Shop, Series 4, Episode 26|website=BBC}}</ref> A repair was also shown in episode 2 of series 10, in May 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0017g52/the-repair-shop-series-10-episode-2|title=The Repair Shop - Series 10: Episode 2|via=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>
The game was used and spoofed by [[Victor Lewis-Smith]] and his comedy partner Paul Sparkes in ''[[TV Offal]]'' and ''Bygones''.{{cn|date=January 2024}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
The quoted reference website Mddx Research was closed in 2019
==External links==
* {{bgg|9379|''Escalado''}}
[[Category:Board games introduced in 1928]]
[[Category:Racing board games]]