Having gathered some information about ancient board games played (and subsequently spread) through the ages, I decided to look at some more modern examples of games using a combination of information gathered from two books; 'How We Played: Games from Childhoods Past' and 'The Encyclopaedia of Games'.
Monopoly
The origins of monopoly date back to the late 1800's when games based around properties became immensely popular. It is often thought that the game Monopoly bears a striking resemblance to 'The Landlord's Game' which was patented 30 years before Charles Darrow secured the patent for Monopoly. Elizabeth Maggie, the owner of 'The Landlords Game' had never properly marketed the game; however it gradually grew in popularity as friends and acquaintances created homemade copies. When Darrow had played The Landlords Game in the early 1930's it had evolved from a simple property game where rents were charged for landing on opponents squares- to include names for individual properties, the concept of collecting groups of properties, and placing houses and hotels to increase rent (Also the inclusion of Community chest and Chance cards).
In historical context, the game massively became successful at the time not because of rules of the game, but rather through the unique combination of competition and power struggle through acquisition of properties. In a time where The Great Depression meant times were hard for most of the population, the game offered a brilliant means of escapism by offering players a chance to feel 'powerful' and wealthy. Ironically whereas Charles Darrow took Monopoly to such a level that it became an Icon for the Capitalist culture (players battling it out for property and money, whilst aiming to bankrupt their rivals), Elizabeth Maggie had developed the game as a means to demonstrate the flaws of Capitalism (landlords charging unfair rent).
This Capitalist status leads to it being banned in several places including Cuba, China and North Korea. One of Fidel Castro's first acts after seizing power in Cuba was to denounce the game as 'Symbolic of an imperialistic system'.
Charles Darrow, brought two key aspects to the development of Monopoly. Having not really invented the game, on the other hand he used his draughtsmanship skills to produce an attractive looking game board. With his business prowess, he quickly copyrighted his version and began to quickly produce copies - selling them to both local shops and friends. Eventually he was led to approach the games manufacturers Parker Brothers as he identified a more commercial avenue was needed. They initially rejected the game, stating that there were '52 Fundamental errors' but soon changed their stance when Darrow had sold 5000 copies by Christmas (1934) just in Philadelphia and New York.
Parker Brothers offered him a high royalty which he 'accepted and never regretted'. By the age of 46 he retired and when he died in 1967, he left his heirs a fortune.
Just one year after acquiring the rights to Monopoly they had to expand their work force after receiving demand of over 20,000 copies a week. Furthermore they discovered that there were two patents that were similar to Darrow’s (The Landlords Game and Finance). To save themselves a large scandal they bought the rights to both for small amounts.
The success of Monopoly was so high that they rapidly secured deals of foreign versions of the game. In the UK Waddington’s took the game and made a few alterations (Dollars to Pounds, Property Names). In the Second World War Waddington’s were commissioned to produce special copies to send to POW camps, which included a secret map out of the camp and real money that coincided with where they were positioned. It is also said that the Great Train Robbery of 1963 passed their time by playing Monopoly with real money - the two million pounds from the Heist.
From when the Parker Brothers in the Mid 1930's acquired the rights to Today, Monopoly has sold over 125 million copies, been sold in more than 40 countries and is available in upwards of 20 languages.
Risk
Risk was invented by a French film director called Albert Lamorisse and initially released as 'La Conquete du monde'.The rules often vary as publishers in slightly different countries chose to use slight variations or different rules. (I couldn't find much more about the process behind the origin of Risk; however in the anniversary edition of Risk, Hasbro included a brief history of the game):
RISK TIMELINE
1950s - Parker Brothers forms an affiliation with the Miro Company in France.
1957 - A representative of Miro approaches Parker Brothers with La Conquete du Monde (French for "The Conquest of the World"), a game designed by Albert Lamorisse. Lamorisse (a movie writer and director best known for The Red Balloon) and Michael I. Levin are co-credited with the game design at BoardGameGeek.com.
1959 - Parker Brothers first publishes the Risk Continental Game in the United States.
1986 - The game Castle Risk (played on a map of Europe) is published.
1993 - The rules for Secret Mission Risk, which had been a variant in Europe, are added to the United States edition.
1999 - A limited edition of Risk is published in France, as 10,000 copies of Risk Edition Napoleon are released. An expansion in 2000 added the Ottoman Empire.
2001 - Risk players can now conquer the moon and underwater territories with Risk 2210 AD.
2002 - Risk moves to Middle-earth with the release of Lord of the Rings Risk.
2003 - Risk travels deeper into Middle-earth with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition.
2004 - Risk: God storm is published, injecting mythology into the game of world domination.
2005 - Risk: Star Wars - The Clone Wars Edition is published in concert with the release of the third Star Wars prequel, Revenge of the Sith.
2006 - Risk: Star Wars - Original Trilogy Edition is published. The game features three factions, each with its own victory conditions.
2008 - A new basic edition of Risk is published by Hasbro.
Numerous unofficial expansions and new maps have also been published through the years
(Directly sourced from http://boardgames.about.com/od/risk/a/risk_history.htm )
Cluedo (Clue) - (Note used http://www.cluedofan.com/overview.htm to further source the origins of the game)
Cluedo (or Clue as it is known in America) is a game with several international connections. Originally devised in England by Anthony Pratt (a solicitors clerk from Birmingham), it made its Appearance in 1948 published by John Waddington Ltd. This was after Pratt, his wife and a few of his friends had come to pitch the idea to Waddington’s in 1946. The present day editions are published by Hasbro (as part of the Parker Bros games collection/series). As a Crime Fiction game, it is believed that Pratt based the mansion board on Scalford Hall, Leister shire - once owned by a Colonel Colman of Colman's Mustard (Colonel Mustard character references it?)
Scrabble
Like the man behind Monopoly (Charles Darrow), Alfred Butts (the creator of scrabble) found himself out of work due to the great depression. As a huge fan of wordplay based games and crossword puzzles, he found out that there was no such game out on the market. Discovering this hole in the market, he devised his own prototype game, Lexiko, in 1931. Although retaining the 100 letter tiles of scrabble, there was no board. Games would be played off the rack, with the first player to construct a seven letter word to be the winner. Each turn tiles could be exchanged and later a points system was introduced - meaning players could total their 'score' at the end of each round.
After pitching his concept and prototype to various publishers and being turned down, Butts joined forces with Jim Brunot. Brunot and his wife protected the game using the title Scrabble, refined the gameplay and began to manufacture boards by hand. Beginning in 1949, the first and second years saw losses, with a total of around 7200 sold in that time. When Jack Strauss, the chairman of Macy's in New York, became hooked on Scrabble in 1952, he made a large order for the game and had large in store promotions( This lead to four and a half Million sets being sold over the next 2 and a half years).
Eventually due to the high demand, the Brunots decided to license Selchow and Righter (one of the leading American games companies) to market Scrabble in North America. Soon UK distribution rights were granted to J.W Spear and Sons plc. In their first year of selling to the UK, four and a half million sets were sold.
Currently Scrabble is being sold in 120 Countries, produced in 31 languages, can also be bought in braille and played on the computer.
Trivial Pursuit
In 1979 photo editor Chris Hanley and sportswriter Scott Abbott purchased a brand new game of scrabble. Due to the fact that the pieces rarely stayed in the box long, this was their eighth copy. This lead Hanley and Abbott to start wondering just how many people had bought multiple copies of the same game. They then realised that there was a gap in the market that could be exploited - making them begin to develop their own game; Trivial Pursuit. Given that they were both reporters, the focus of the game revolved around current or past affairs. The game reflects this with its focus being on 'who, what, when, where and why'.
The next step for Hanley and Abbot was to form a company and market it. They enlisted Hanley's brother John and his friend Ed Werner to join them. Through raising money by investors they managed to raise forty thousand dollars. Unfortunately in1982 high production cost ($75) to low sale price ($15) they were in a large decline. However this changed when they managed to gain the interest of American games company Selchow and Righter with the idea. In 1983 the company launched a huge public relations campaign - mailing them to several Hollywood stars and also presenting it at the New York Toy Fair. The return was seen by year three. Half a million units had been sold. This is progressed further and the following year twenty million units were sold.
Today the game is distributed in 19 different languages, across 30 countries.
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