A Forgotten Game, a Famous Name: Kurt Vonnegut’s GHQ Is Our Game of the Month

“I have invented a board game…it has the dignity and interest, I think, to become the third popular checkerboard game.” – Kurt Vonnegut pitching GHQ to game companies. 

In 1956, before Slaughterhouse-Five, before his literary fame, Kurt Vonnegut tried something unexpected: he designed a board game. He designed this game in an effort to earn a living while writing a novel that would eventually become Cat’s Cradle. While Kurt Vonnegut envisioned it to be “the third great checkerboard game”, GHQ unfortunately never joined the ranks of chess and checkers; the game was unsuccessfully published and thought to be lost forever.  

GHQ was rediscovered 70 years later in Vonnegut’s archives and brought to life by game designer Geoff Engelstein. Engelstein stumbled upon Vonnegut’s handwritten drafts of game rules, sketches, and diagrams – all labeled GHQ. With permission from the Vonnegut estate, and thanks to Engelstein’s tireless efforts, we now get to experience a game that nearly vanished.  

The premise? A sharp, strategic two-player war game played on an 8×8 checkerboard, where players maneuver infantry, tanks, artillery, and an airborne regiment to capture their opponent’s headquarters. “A nine-year-old can learn it. All the neighborhood kids can play it”, Kurt wrote in his pitch letter to game companies.  

We’re happy to announce Kurt Vonnegut’s GHQ: The Lost Board Game as our September Game of the Month. Each game comes with a copy of Vonnegut’s original notes, rare sketches and insights into his creative process. More than a game of strategy – it’s a look into a forgotten piece of history. For enthusiasts of Vonnegut’s oeuvre and literary memorabilia, GHQ isn’t just a game – it’s a piece of literary history. Resurrected from archives, GHQ is a reminder that even the literary greats had day jobs, side hustles, and “what if” projects tucked away in drawers. It’s a creative time capsule, a piece of mid-century Americana that captures Vonnegut at a crossroads—between rejection letters and literary fame, between youthful ambition and adult responsibility. Above all that, it’s a fun game to play!  

Sold exclusively at Barnes & Noble, buy your copy in store or online.