About the Game

How to Play

Suffragetto is a contest of occupation between two opposing factions—the Suffragettes and the police—each aiming to occupy their opponent’s base while defending their own political home. Suffragetto lets players relive the militant street activism of the Suffragist Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

In the game, the goal of the Suffragettes is to break past Police lines and enter the House of Commons. At the same time, The Suffragettes must also prevent the Police from entering Albert Hall, an oft-used meeting space of the WSPU. It is the Police’s duty to break up a meeting of the Suffragettes, currently being held in Albert Hall, all the while, preventing the Suffragettes from entering the House of Commons. The game is won by whoever first succeeds in introducing six members into the building guarded by its opponents.

Who made the Game?

The British suffrage group, the Women’s Social and Poltical Union, created Suffragetto. There’s only one known surviving copy, which is held at Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries.

Suffragetto was one of many children’s games about “kings and queens, the British world view, and war and conflict” created in England during the early 1900s. These types of games offer a way for players to interact with these ideas—and sought to socialize these ideas through game play. Suffragetto draws on historical events, it is unique in its intent to disrupt traditional gender rules through domestic leisure.