The Invicta board game Master Mind swept the 1970s; part of the charm of the British-made game was the box. The Invicta game had an Asian woman and a “distinguished” man sitting below her.
Many a college thesis could be written on the implications of this came. Questions include:
- Was he smarter than her? Was she smarter than he?
- Why was she standing?
- Why did she have her arm behind him?
- What was that dress?
- Aren’t all Asians smarter?
- Were you supposed to be able to try to beat them at the game, or were they playing against each other?
- Were they a couple?
- Was she his ????
The models in the photo were an accident; a bit about the history is online at the site of the University of Leicester. The woman was pulled right off the street the day of the shoot.
A bit about the cover:
Distinguished-looking Bill Woodward was then the owner of a chain of hairdressing salons and young Hong Kong born Cecilia Fung was studying for a computer science degree at the University of Leicester. Little did they know that the photo session at Leicester studio would produce a result which was destined to cut across all international barriers and become one of the world’s most famous and enduring images.