The Jane Austen Game: A charming immersion into the great author’s literary world

I have a confession to make. 

I’ve only read one novel by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. In high school. 

Callowly, I told my teacher that I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. He, far more experienced in both life—and in dealing with ignorant and arrogant proclamations from young pucks like me, who fail even to realize the irony of their own pride and prejudice—assured me I would get it when I was older. 

He was right. Of course.

I’ve remedied the attitude, but I haven’t quite filled my wide gaps in Austen.

Good thing there is a new game, the Jane Austen Game, by Ellie Dix and Mandela Fernández-Grandon. The publisher, Laurence King, kindly sent me a copy to review.

The game is beautiful. Concept. Construction. Design. Illustrations by Barry Falls. All beautiful. Even the game’s guide booklet—which includes some background on Austen as well character summaries (John Mullan) of her heroines, who you play as—is beautifully written. And all, like Austen herself, extremely smart.

This is a game made by people who love Austen, know her work and literary world well, and care about spreading this passion with others. How ingenious to adapt it to a board game. That’s a complex task, which does show in the gameplay. My wife and I played on a recent weekend afternoon.

You get to play as one of Austen’s heroines (from her six completed novels) and can choose whether you want to pursue the route of Marriage (to suitors, based on the many and sundry men who populate her books) or of becoming a Woman of Independent Mind. I chose Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, of course, and set out to marry my man, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. My wife chose Anne Elliot from Persuasion and sought sweet, non-heteronormative independence.

Over the course of the game, you seek to earn more attributes (Book Learning, Commonsense, and Compassion) by visiting various locations (Going On an Outing, Calling on Friends, Improving Your Mind, and more) where you encounter characters (also as drawn from Austen’s rich social worlds and plots) and interacting with Events that result in gaining or losing attributes or having to take actions with the play cards.

The Events are clever and perfectly observed. They had us gasping in delight or cackling with laughter. Here’s a flavor:

• Arrival of the Officers: A military regiment arrives in the local town and causes a fair amount of swooning.
• Dreadful Banishment: You are expelled as a house guest with no explanation and must beg for funds for your journey. You fear your reputation will suffer badly.
• A Seductive Harp: Your most desired suitor is overtly seduced by another’s harp-playing.
• A Conference in the Shrubbery: You have a heart-to-heart with your most promising suitor in the shrubbery.
• An Incessant Stream of Dinners: Oh so many dinner invitations! How tedious it is to be polite.

Each round ends with a ball, where you can entertain or snub suitors you encounter throughout the course of the game (through the various cards you draw from). The game ends with an End of the Season Ball, where you determine whether or not you have earned enough points (in the form of attributes) for your available suitors (who are more and less difficult to win, Mr. Darcy being the hardest, of course) or your independent, intellectual singledom.

I ended up married to Mr. Henry Tilney, who I was not familiar with—though I felt excited to marry. (He’s the star stud of Northanger Abbey.) My wife, alas, did not become a Woman of Independent Mind. We weren’t sure of what that meant for her fate, and she joked, “Guess I’m becoming a spinster.” After the game, we consulted the Player Aids, which cards act as aide-memoires (I told you the game is smart), which indeed have tips that would have helped her achieve her goal.

The game rewards extensive knowledge and familiarity with Jane Austen’s novels as well as of immersive tabletop board games, which my wife and I have less of.

But that’s a good thing, too. For now I’ll have to finally, finally, tackle the rest of Austen’s oeuvre—and re-read Pride and Prejudice with far, far greater appreciation, which this game no doubt increased in its own right. Then I’ll just have to come back to the game to see if I can bag Mr. Darcy after all. 

The game makes for a great gift for the Austen lover in your life—or for the person you want to become an Austen lover in your life. 

On sale October 8, 2024 | $35.00 | 978139961899 | Laurence King

One of the earliest citations of the noun stroll, as in enjoying an evening stroll, comes from Jane Austen’s 1814 Mansfield Park. Earn some Book Learning attribute points and discover more!