What if those afternoons of “goose to goose and shoot because it’s my turn” had been, without knowing it, a small Camino de Santiago in your own home? For years a hypothesis as suggestive as popular has been circulating: the game of the goose would be a symbolic map of the Jacobean route, designed by the Templars to codify stages, aids and dangers of this route. What’s true? Here we review the documented history of the game and the keys to this particular theory.

The best documented history places this board game in Renaissance Italy. Sources indicate that Francesco de Medici gave the Gioco dell’Oca as a gift to King Philip II between 1574 and 1587, from where it became popular in Europe. Museums such as the British Museum consider it one of the first mass-marketed board games, with a multitude of editions printed between the 17th and 19th centuries.

In parallel, hypotheses of more ancient origin have emerged (such as the link with the Festo Disc due to its spiral) and, especially, the Templar theory that connects the board with the Way of St. James.

The board: a path with indications for pilgrims

The Jacobean reading suggests that the game would be an encrypted map of the French Way, the most popular of the time, with its 63 squares understood as round-trip stages: from 1 to 31, the march to Santiago; from 32 to 63, the return. The goose would act as a protective sign and a good omen, an emblem that, according to the defenders of the hypothesis, would appear in the marks of stonemasons and in the toponymy of the route (Villafranca de Montes de Oca, El Ganso, Ocón…).

The theory states that each symbol on the board had a meaning that has not survived to the present day and that it served to give directions to pilgrims in a coded form.

Many agree that the first bridge on the gaming table would represent the Puente la Reina (Queen’s Bridge). The prison would be linked to the Parador de San Marcos (León), which in ancient times acted as a pilgrims’ hospital and prison. The inn would be a hostel or inn for walkers, and the well, a kind of metaphor for the bad days en route.

From the game to the square

If you want to see and play on a ‘Jacobean’ board at urban size, there is an essential stop on the French Way itself: the Plaza de Santiago, in Logroño, whose pavement sports a giant mosaic of the game with motifs of the route, including emblematic bridges and stages. It was installed in 1991 and today has become a photographic and recreational landmark for pilgrims and visitors.

Myth or reality?

This Templar origin of the game is curious, but what is the truth of it? The historical-editorial consensus says that the game was consolidated as a printed product from the 16th century onwards and spread throughout Europe. This is the basis documented by museums, catalogs and studies on printed games.

On the other hand, the Templar hypothesis is a cultural re-reading that superimposes the Way on the mechanics of the board and its iconography (bridges, inns, wells, labyrinths…). It is a widespread theory in the Jacobean field.

In other words: no need to choose. You can enjoy the game for what it is, a European classic with simple rules, and go through it with the eyes of a pilgrim, understanding each square as a nod to the Camino experience: the unexpected help (“goose to goose”), the shortcuts and stumbling blocks (bridges, wells), the test and the restart (death and return), and the goal as a garden: rest, celebration… and the beginning of another stage.