Parker Brothers is an American toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883,
the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known
products are Monopoly, Cluedo, Sorry!, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija,
Aggravation, and Probe. Parker Brothers is currently a subsidiary of the
multinational entertainment company Hasbro.
History Parker Brothers was founded by George S.
Parker. Parker's philosophy deviated from the prevalent theme of board game
design; he believed that games should be played for enjoyment and did not need to
emphasize morals and values. He created his first game, called Banking, in 1883
when he was 16. Banking is a game in which players borrowed money from the
bank and tried to generate wealth by guessing how well they could do. The
game included 160 cards which foretold their failures or successes. The game
was so popular among family and friends that his brother, Charles Parker, urged
him to publish it. George approached two Boston publishers with the idea, but was
unsuccessful. Not discouraged, he spent $40 to publish 500 sets of Banking. He
eventually sold all but twelve copies, making a profit of $100.
Parker founded his game company, initially called the George S. Parker
Company, in his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts in 1883. When George's
brother Charles joined the business in 1888, the company's name was changed to
its more familiar form. In 1898 a third brother, Edward H. Parker, joined the
company. For many years, George designed most of the games himself, and wrote all
the rules. Many games were based on important events of the day: Klondike
was based on the Alaskan gold rush, and War in Cuba was based on the impending
Spanish–American War. The game industry was growing, and the
company was becoming very profitable. In 1906, Parker Brothers published the game
Rook, their most successful card game to this day, and it quickly became the
best-selling game in the country. During the Great Depression, a time when many
companies went out of business, Parker Brothers released a new board game
called Monopoly. Although the company had originally rejected the game in
1934, they decided to publish it the next year. It was an instant success,
and the company had difficulty keeping up with demand. The company continued to
grow throughout the next several decades, producing such lasting games as
Clue, Risk, and Sorry!. Parker Brothers marketed its first
puzzle in 1887. The most highly sought of Parker puzzles are the wooden Parker
Pastimes. Parker also produced children's puzzles, as well as the
Climax, Jig-A-Jig, Jig Wood, and Paramount lines. According to Jigsaw
Puzzles: An Illustrated History and Price Guide, by Anne D. Williams, Parker
Bros. closed the Pastime line in the 1950s and their die-cut puzzles were
phased out in the late 1970s. Even after George Parker's death, the
company remained family-owned until 1968, when General Mills purchased the
company. After this, Parker Brothers produced the first Nerf ball, which
became another major national hit. In the UK during the 1970s, Parker Bros.
was the games division of Palitoy, and produced a variety of releases such as
Escape from Colditz. The company began to produce electronic versions of their
popular board games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They also produced
video games for various systems during the early 1980s, with home ports of many
popular arcade games like Sega's Frogger and Gottlieb's Q*Bert. At this time, the
company ventured into the toy market with the electronic action figure, Rom
the Spaceknight, in 1977. Although the toy proved a failure, the licensed comic
book published by Marvel Comics ran for years after the toy was discontinued.
In early 1983, Parker Brothers spent US$15 million establishing a book
publishing branch; their first titles featured the American Greetings
franchises, Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake. The branch published twelve
titles by February 1984; sales of these books totalled 3.5 million units. Parker
Brothers also operated a record label around the same time; one of its
releases, based on Coleco's Cabbage Patch Kids and involving Tom and Stephen
Chapin, was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of
America in July 1984. In 1985, General Mills merged the
company with their subsidiary Kenner; this new company, Kenner Parker Toys
Inc., was acquired by Tonka in 1987. Tonka, including Parker Brothers, was
bought by Hasbro in 1991. See also
Cluedo List of Hasbro games
Monopoly My Monopoly
Probe Risk
Scrabble Waddingtons
References Further reading
From Hostility to Reverence: 100 Years of African-American Imagery in Games
Don Kader, "Collecting Black Memorabilia", Collectors' Showcase, 16.
External links The Game Makers, a book by Philip
Orbanes, chronicles the history of Parker Brothers.
Vintage Parker Brothers and other games Parker Brothers on the History Channel
The story of Parker's early games The General Mills/Parker Brothers
Merger: Playing by Different Rules, a book by Ellen Wojahn, chronicles how
incompetent and visionless management destroyed the company in just a few
years. New York Historical Society owns many
examples of Parker Bros. games, such as: The Good Old Game of Corner Grocery,
1887 Chivalry: The Greatest Modern Board Game
of Skill Round the World Joe
Young People's Geographical Game. Salem, MA: Parker Bros., ca.1890