In this session of Tabletop Tuesday, we will be exploring Kurt Vonnegut’s long-unpublished board game, its connections to his published work, and examining the research process behind its recent release in 2024.

In the early 1950s, the American author Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was struggling to make a living by writing and decided to create a board game as a way to earn money. He came up with a two-player wargame called GHQ (General Headquarters), which he then unsuccessfully pitched to board game companies. When Vonnegut’s writing career took off, he never returned to GHQ, with his notes and prototypes going into his archive.

In 2013, Geoff Engelstein, a tabletop game designer, heard about this unpublished game and was curious to learn more. He got in touch with Vonnegut’s archive and estate to see what remained of it, and the end result was the 2024 publication of GHQ (General Headquarters). Engelstein describes the journey to publication in his Developer Diary. 

This game also offers us a new perspective on Vonnegut’s life and work, since this WWII game involving the use of tanks and military forces to capture the enemy’s headquarters was created by a vehemently antiwar writer. For example, his son theorizes that creating a board game was one way in which Vonnegut coped with PTSD.

Join us to consider the relevance of this board game for Vonnegut's body of work and the value of the archive!

Tabletop Tuesdays is an event series held on the third Tuesday of each month. At these events, we feature a selection of board games and collection items from across SUL's holdings around a specific theme. Drop in to learn about the month's featured game(s) and/or try some of the board games we have for open play at the Silicon Valley Archives.