As the home of more than 1,500 different tabletop games in its history that dates back more than a century, Parker Brothers has long been one of the most iconic names in gaming. Initially founded by George S. Parker in 1883, the company has published some of the most popular board games of all time, including Monopoly, Clue, Risk and many more.
George S. Parker was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and got his start in the realm of gaming at just 16 years old, when he published a card game called Banking. The game had players borrowing money from a bank and attempting to generate more wealth by guessing on how well they could possibly do. George’s brother Charles encouraged him to seek wider publication of Banking, and after George had been shot down by other publishers in the Boston area he opted to self-publish. He made 500 copies of the game and ended up having just a dozen left over.
It was from there that George founded his game company, first called Geo. S. Parker & Company. He soon published two more games: a card game called Famous Men and a board game called Baker’s Dozen. Charles officially joined the business in 1888, and the company was henceforth renamed as Parker Brothers. A decade later, Edward H. Parker joined the company as well.
Besides games, Parker Brothers produced various other toys, some of the most notable being puzzles, which they introduced around the turn of the 20th century. The most notable of these consisted of the Parker Pastime line, a wooden puzzle line featuring handcut pieces. At one point, Parker Brothers employed 225 puzzle cutters and cranked out nearly 15,000 puzzles per week. The images depicted in the Pastime line were color portraits consisting of everything from cute animals to military scenes and even scenes from popular literature. The line of puzzles was discontinued in the mid-1950s. Parker Pastime puzzles are still highly sought-after today and regularly fetch upwards of $200 or more in online auctions.
George remained the primary game designer for Parker Brothers, releasing games based on then-current events, such as War in Cuba (based on the Spanish-American War). He also released the card game, Rook, in 1906. George and his wife, Grace, designed the cards in Rook so that it would be marketable to those of certain religious affiliations (such as those within the Mennonite culture) who had objections to the face cards in a standard deck. The Ace was replaced with a 1 card, and the Jack, Queen and King were replaced with 11, 12, and 13, respectively; a 14 card was also added. The four suits of hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds were also replaced with colors – red, green, yellow, and black. There was also the Rook card itself, which served as the Joker equivalent. Though jokingly referred to by many as “missionary poker,” Rook was significantly successful for Parker Brothers, becoming the best selling game in the country, and is still played today.
For the full version of this article, pick up The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Tabletop Games, available now.
