How did ladies spend their time when married to extremely rich men in an era before television, speed-dating and summer festivals? You build a dolls' house (a "dollhouse" if you are American). These incredibly detailed miniature houses and interiors were constructed between the 17th and the early 20th century, mostly by wealthy ladies who often paid artists and craftsmen to make all kinds of objects and parts for them.
Turn off your flat screen television and get lost in 17th, 18th and 19th century optical entertainment.
But, before the birth of modern multimedia, our ancestors were all but cut off from vivid graphics and virtual reality. Innovative low-tech devices delivered amazing effects and fulfilled almost the same role that television, cinema and media players do today. Some features of these even modern multimedia does not match.
Downloading cars, houses and aeroplanes is no science fiction.
Yet, downloading objects is already possible with a familiar computer configuration. At least, if the objects are made of paper and if you are willing to spend some time cutting and pasting. Paper cut-outs have a long history, but thanks to the internet they are making a comeback.
The newest generation of board games is more fascinating than most computer games.