The Captain’s Mistress

Who was Captain Cook’s mistress? Was it a mermaid, waving from her watery palace? Or a maybe a local girl he picked up on his epic sea-journey?

Well, rumor has it that the legendary explorer Captain Cook was completely obsessed with the game “Four-in-a-Row” – he played it nightly to relax with his fellow shipmates. It helped to entertain the Captain, his officers and crew during the long voyages. He spent so much time playing that it soon became known as The Captain’s Mistress. The name stuck, and this two-player strategy game remains popular three centuries later.

The object of the game is simple, yet the strategies are endless. Players try to line up four of their hardwood “rounds” in a row, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. At the end of the game, you pull the bottom “gangplank” and the rounds drop back into the cabinet – not unlike the modern game “Connect Four.”

The cabinet is beautifully made, with brass fittings, a burlwood inlay, mitered joints and a lustrous stained finish.