Everybody knows that Nikola Tesla was a genius. But with all the attention being paid to Tesla here in the 21st century, many kids today must wonder what happened to his rival, Thomas Edison. Well, soon everybody will have a chance to tinker with technology history by putting their (fake) money behind inventors like Tesla or his less remembered counterpart, Thomas Edison.
The company Artana is currently kickstarting a board game called Tesla vs Edison: War of Currents, which has already blown past its funding goal of $US20,000. The game allows players to act as an investor, giving money to an inventor of their choice from the late 19th century. Naturally, we can guess that countless people will be fighting over who gets to invest in Edison, an inventor who may be unfamiliar to many folks today who’ve grown up hearing about all of Tesla’s amazing accomplishments.
There are other 19th century inventors that players can invest in, but as you can tell from the title of the game, the real focus will be on the rivalry between Tesla and Edison. Who will you choose to invest in? The genius Tesla who’s so widely celebrated today? Or the scrappy Edison who is quickly becoming an underdog in the history of technology?
I have no doubt that countless little kids will be fighting with their Millennial parents, explaining that Thomas Edison is an often-overlooked genius who actually contributed to many of the inventions that Nikola Tesla gets credit for today.
But Millennials shouldn’t be discouraged by their know-it-all kids. Despite criticism that some people on the internet have turned Tesla into a cartoonish saint, many historians contend that Tesla actually does deserve recognition as a genius who helped invent our modern world. [Kickstarter]
H/T John Overholt
Comments
9 responses to “New Board Game Pits Tesla Against Edison, History’s Greatest Underdog”
“The genius Tesla who’s so widely celebrated today? Or the scrappy Edison who is quickly becoming an underdog in the history of technology?”
I’m going to bite and have to ask: is this article layered with sarcasm or is the author being legitimate?
Sarcasm.
Whooshed over the giz commenters over the weekend.
*whoosh*
:”D
Poe’s Law mate. You can never know.
Yeah, I was questioning this part too haha.
From what I understand that’s mostly correct is it not?
Tesla is pretty celebrated today and mostly invented the electrical system we use today. Edison made a competing system that is not used at all anymore and went around electrocuting animals to prove AC was bad. I believe he also had a hand in the first electric chair.
It’s overblown and has been cast into a “Heroic Tesla/villainous Edison” dichotomy.
Bit more nuanced than that- While Tesla had some great ideas, he also had some that were just plain wrong, or nuts, and he wasn’t a great collaborator. Edison was a ruthless businessman, but he also got a lot of innovation into people’s lives and without that sort of drive there’d have been nowhere near the electricity coverage and usage at the time, which was a pretty significant achievement. Edison’s real beef was with Westinghouse.
And the Electric Chair was generally considered a more humane method than the alternative (hanging) at the time.
Do we get to electrocute an elephant?
just backed it. looks fucking sick. can’t wait to play it.