The Sergeant Preston Game is a Milton Bradley Company

Milton Bradley Company

The Milton Bradley Company is an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States, and in 1987, it purchased Selchow and Righter,...

 board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 dated 1956, and based on the television program

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon

Challenge of the Yukon

Challenge of the Yukon was a radio series that began on Detroit's station WXYZ , and an example of a Northern genre story. The series was first heard on February 3, 1938...

(1955-1958) starring Richard "Dick" Simmons

Richard Simmons (actor)

Richard Simmons , also known as Dick Simmons, was an American actor.-Early life and career:Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Simmons started his film acting career in 1937...

.

Object of the game

The object of the game is to score the most points by locating and capturing the fur thieves. This is done by first locating a "Wanted" card and then finding a matching "Contact" card so a capture can be made.

Equipment

• Folding, center-seamed game board illustrated with snowy scenes of the Yukon
  Yukon
  Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
  
  
• Four counters (one each of red, yellow, blue, and green)
• 6 "Wanted" cards
• 6 "Contact" cards
• 12 "No Clue" cards
• Dial numbered 1 through 6 affixed to the platform

Set up

The game board is opened and placed on a flat surface. The 24 cards are shuffled and dealt 4 each to the 6 "Outpost Circles" on the game board. Each player selects a counter. Player spinning the highest number on the dial begins the game.

Play

The player starts from the "Headquarters" and moves about the board on the various trails based on his spins on the dial. When he enters an "Outpost Circle", he draws a card, retaining it if it is a "Wanted" card. He then attempts to match that card with a "Contact" card by entering other "Outpost Circles" and examining the cards in that circle or by examining the cards of other players. The game ends when all of the thieves have been captured by the players and the "Wanted" cards have been matched with their corresponding "Contact" cards.

Winning the game

The player with the highest score based on the point values of his cards is the winner.

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, the television program

In 1955, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon premiered as a television series. Richard "Dick" Simmons

Richard Simmons (actor)

Richard Simmons , also known as Dick Simmons, was an American actor.-Early life and career:Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Simmons started his film acting career in 1937...

 starred as Sgt. Preston, and was supported by Yukon King, his dog, and Rex, his horse. Though no plotlines seem to have been re-used from the show's radio serial precursor, Challenge of the Yukon

Challenge of the Yukon

Challenge of the Yukon was a radio series that began on Detroit's station WXYZ , and an example of a Northern genre story. The series was first heard on February 3, 1938...

, they were generally built upon the same themes. The visual component of the snowy Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

, however, did give the television version a different feel but like all such films when filmed on a stage set, the frosty breath of people in Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 conditions could not be simulated. Genuine outdoor scenes were added to give the show some reality but they were monotonously filmed in the same area and reused again and again. Mainly filmed at Ashcroft, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, the series was telecast on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 from September 29, 1955 to February 27, 1958. Sergeant Preston of the Yukon was one of many TV programs from the 1950s that generated toy

Toy

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

s, game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

s, comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

s, and other juvenile merchandise.