By Yaretzi Cobian

Rolling dice and moving pawns as a medium of learning about suffrage may sound unusual, especially if the game has origins from an entirely different country. Yet one such game has found its place in the archives of Princeton University. 

Pank-a-Squith, a table-top board game created in 1909 by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), was named after Emmilene Pankhurst and Herbert Asquith, prominent figures in the suffragist movement in England during the early 1900s. The premise of the game: You do not win until you reach the last square, granting you the right to vote. To achieve this is nearly impossible. Only setbacks are guaranteed.

The WSPU was formed in the early 1900s in England and primarily focused on helping women win the right to vote. The union, solely run by women, created the board game as a fundraiser for their foundation, as well as a means of illustrating the common obstacles suffragists encountered in their fight for voting rights.

The combination of the names Pankhurst and Asquith represent a dichotomy between suffragists and opposing government bodies. Emmilene Pankhurst founded the WSPU in 1903 and played an element in the union and in the British suffrage movement. For his part, Herbert Asquith, England’s Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916, was a leader in the anti-suffrage movement. The two were such polar opposites that in 1910, a group of suffragettes attacked Herbert outside the House of Commons. 

The rules of Pank-a-Squith are similar to those of Candyland or Snakes and Ladders: Roll the dice and move across the board accordingly. Pank-a-Squith comes with unique consequences, depicting prejudice in game board illustrations. Each square on Pank-a-Squith has a distinctive image of a barrier faced by suffragettes. Square 36, for example, depicts the government’s actions using an icon of a policeman in addition to jail bars and handcuffs, reminds players that the British government used incarceration as a tactic to silence women.

Out of the 50 total squares that compose Pank-a-Squith, 16 have an added consequence when a player lands on them, including missing a multitude of turns or having to return to a previous square. The final square makes you roll the dice again to cast the exact number needed. If not, you count back by what you are over by, adding another obstacle to winning. These repercussions make Pank-a-Squith a never-ending game.

Although some groups of women gained suffrage over a century ago, the Brennan Center for Justice suggests threats to women’s voting rights have not gone away. Just like Pank-a-Squith, the fight for women’s suffrage may never end.