Waddingtons

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Waddingtons
foundation= 19th Century
fate=Acquired
defunct=1994
successor=Hasbro
location = Leeds & London
industry = Board & Card Games
products = "Monopoly"
"Cluedo"

Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and Wilson Barratt, under the name "Waddingtons Limited". The name was changed to "Waddington's House of Games", then "John Waddington Limited", then "Waddington Games", and finally just "Waddingtons".

The company was initially established as a printing business, entering into game production in 1922, due to a boom in demand for playing cards during World War I.cite journal
first=Jason M.
last=Brown
title=The Tabletop Trio
journal=Knucklebones
month=November
year=2006
publisher=Jones Publishing] Waddingtons subsequently sold both original games (especially tie-ins for UK television programmes) and games licensed from other publishers.

Waddingtons became the UK publisher of Parker Brothers' Monopoly, while Parker licensed Waddingtons' Cluedo. In 1941, the British Secret Service had the company create a special edition of Monopoly for World War II prisoners of war held by the Germans. [cite web
url=http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10021
title= How board game helped free POWs
author=Brian McMahon
publisher="Mental Floss" magazine
date=November 29 2007
accessdate=2007-12-07] Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by the International Red Cross.

The company was eventually bought by Hasbro in 1994. [ [http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/section.asp?catid=1456 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council] ]

Among the games published by Waddingtons were:
* "Air Charter"
* "Battle of the Little Big Horn"
* "Blast Off!"
* "Buccaneer"
* "Campaign"
* "Careers"
* "Cluedo"
* "Escape From Atlantis"
* "Formula 1"
* "Game of Nations"
* "Go" (not the Chinese game of Weiqi, but based on world travel)
* "Golfwinks"
* "Key to the Kingdom"
* "Lexicon"
* "Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs"
* "Monopoly"
* "Mine a Million"
* "Purple People Eater"
* "Railroader"
* "Ratrace"
* "Risk"
* "Scoop!"
* "Sorry!"
* "Spy Ring"
* "Subbuteo"
* "The Vampire Game"
* "Totopoly"
* "Ulcers"

References

2. In Avid Merrion's Bo! In The USA during a conversation with Justin Timberlake, Avid claimed that "He'd get in touch with Waddingtons" when Justin said that he'd enjoyed Avid's idea for a board game, "Avid Meats Justin".

External links

*bgg publisher|95|Waddingtons Games
* [http://www.wopc.co.uk/waddingtons/index.html Waddingtons - A brief history]