What is this game with a 12x8 pegboard and 59 double sided pegs?

Question

I was wondering if anyone knows what this game is. It has 59(maybe missing 1) pegs that are red on one side and wood color on the other. It is a 12 x 8 Pegboard Game. There are no markings on the inside or outside and it folds like a briefcase. Everything is made of wood except the handle, rubber feet, and latches.

what is this?

The lack of markings is odd. That seems to hint at home built. Is that a possibility? — John, Apr 08 '15 at 15:43
Are you so sure this is a game? It probably is, but it might not be. — Rainbolt, Apr 09 '15 at 21:27
Have one exactly like this so its not home made, I also wonder what the heck it is — , Apr 23 '15 at 20:18

score 24 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 21 '18 at 06:38

your pegboard looks like an earlier or a later edition of the plastic pegboard we have at the psychology museum. All pegs have two colors like yours. Among other things these and other pegboards were developed for testing dexterity in recruitment contexts and for testing and training eye-hand-coordination in neuropsychology. In neuropsychology it helps to assess neurological damages. Our version has the imprint "U.S.E.S. PEGBOARD". The abbreviation stands for "United States Employment Services". We got our exemplar donated though from the psychological laboratory of the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna, a psychiatry.

Wow! Great answer. (Hopefully the OP will be able to switch the accepted answer to this post. Clearly, these are almost certainly the same thing. — DukeZhou, Dec 06 '17 at 20:19

freekvd · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-09T16:02:56.150

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A lot of games that originate from primitive cultures have hand-made wood-sculpted boards, are played with pretty pebbles from the local beach or forest, and have countless variations to the rules (like Mancala). To me this looks like one of those games, but from a somewhat more recent time.

There are infinitely many games you could play on this 12x8 board with double sided pieces, so I hope you have a game in mind but can't remember the title. Here's some guesses:

Five Stones is an old five-in-a-row game with some restrictions that is played on a 12x8 board, but it doesn't require double sided pieces.
City can be played on a 12x8 board, but it only requires 24 pieces to play.
It could be a Reversi/Othello variant, but those usually require as many pieces as positions on the board.
It could be a variation on Halma, although that doesn't require double sided pieces.
Konane has no board size defined in its rules, but requires as many pieces as positions on the board.

This is my best attempt at an answer to a question that I fear has no single answer. If you feel that these don't answer your question, please explain in your question why not, and I can delete this answer.

edited Apr 09 '15 at 16:02

answered Apr 08 '15 at 08:55

freekvd

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From your Konane link - you need as many pieces as positions. Also, there is no need for double sided pieces. – AndyT Apr 08 '15 at 11:44
hum... Sounds like you eliminated all of your options – ikegami Apr 08 '15 at 12:38
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I've eliminated all of my single options, but it could be that this was made with the intention of allowing multiple games to be played on the same board. – freekvd Apr 08 '15 at 13:11
Maybe if you listed listed some of those games, but you didn't even list games that exist. Rather than doing so, you listed speculative variants that use boards other than the one being asked about. But even that would be off-topic. The question isn't "what other games might be playable on board". I don't see how your noise is of any use at all. it just makes the question appear answered when you simply posted an off-topic comment. – ikegami Apr 09 '15 at 14:26
SE is about improving questions and answers to provide the community's best, not any one person's – ikegami Apr 09 '15 at 16:04

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 20 '18 at 13:27

I just did a Massachusetts state assessment test for the local Boston insulators union and this board was given to us to test manual dexterity. The test was broken down into two parts, each 30 seconds long. The first test we had to remove the pegs from one side to the next using both hands, the second test we had to flip the pegs one by one using only one hand.

By the way, the board we used looked exactly like the one posted by Sascha Frank

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 09 '15 at 20:33

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Although this is a non-standard board size, you could play Pente with this set.

answered Apr 09 '15 at 20:33

John

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 22 '19 at 14:17

As Bostonian previously stated....

I also took a mechanical aptitude and spacial relations test for a Boston Trades Union (Plumbers and Gasfitters) and as part of the Manual Dexterity portion of the exam, the U.S.E.S. Pegboard was used as the exam was proctored by MA Div. of Career Resources. (following the written portion of the exam)

DukeZhou · Answer 6 · 2017-12-06T20:22:34.347

This honestly looks like a simple connection game. (See m,n,k games).

They used to have games like this at "folksy" restaurants when I was a kid. (The peg board resembles a cribbage-type board, although it's obviously not a cribbage board.)

It might be a proto-version of TwixT, without the strings.

Although it's possible it could be a jumping game, like Konane, I'd be surprised if it was for a jumping game like Halma or Checkers, where a checker board is pretty standard.

The lack of context may be for the purpose of generalization--it is not a single game, but can be used for a variety of connection games and jumping games.

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 07 '19 at 01:37

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I recently purchased five of these from excess inventory (surplus) sales from a correctional institute. These were used in inmate mental status. I paid $1.00 each for them.

answered Nov 07 '19 at 01:37

Jerry Lamie

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What is this game with a 12x8 pegboard and 59 double sided pegs?

7 Answers7