John Rogers created several groups that depicted people playing checkers. The first of these, Checker Players, was modeled in 1859 and received so much publicity that Rogers decided to devote all of his time to sculpting. Checkers up at the Farm was completed some fifteen years later and was Rogers’s second most popular piece, with a total sale of five thousand copies. The artist’s wife, Hattie, was the model for the farmer’s wife who watches the final moments of the game.