The Cherry Ames Page: Nursing Game

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Cherry Ames' Nursing Game

Cherry Ames' Nursing Game box

Board game
Parker Brothers, 1959

Players collect rings from six hospital areas to "graduate" from nursing school.

Object of the game
Two to six players travel around the game board, which represents various phases of nurses' training, obtain six rings of six different colors, and strive be the first to "graduate" successfully from nursing school.
Game equipment
Playing board, six playing pieces, thirty-six colored rings, a spinner, and twenty "Cherry Ames" cards.
Game board
The game board represents a hospital, with nine large squares, some with colored borders, each representing an area or ward in which a student nurse must spend time. The areas are Training School, Medical (blue ring), Dr. Joe's Laboratory (orange ring), Orthopedics (green ring), Children's Ward (purple ring), Emergency (yellow ring), Nursery (white ring), Operating Room, and Surgical. The insides of the squares are laid out like mazes, with arrows indicating the path to travel through the area. Lamp symbols and Nurse's Cap symbols appear in various locations around the board. A player who lands on a Lamp symbol takes a "Cherry Ames" card and follows the directions on the card. A player who lands on a Nurse's Cap symbol takes a ring of the color that matches the band on the cap.
"Cherry Ames" cards
These cards direct the player to move a certain number of spaces ahead or back, to take a ring, or to lose a turn. For example: "A box of lollipops gets Cherry into trouble. Move 5 spaces back." "Cherry has tea with Dr. Upham. Move 2 spaces forward." "You have stumbled onto the secret of the 'Broom Closet'! Take any ring from the board."
Playing the game
Players begin at the Start square in the Training School area, using the spinner to determine the number of spaces to move. Upon successfully navigating through an area with a colored border, the player gets a ring of the matching color.
Winning the game
After a player has collected a ring in each of the six colors, the player "graduates" and wins the game by leaving the Surgical area with an exact count.