Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
manufacturer established by
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...
in
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
,
, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of
McLoughlin Brothers
McLoughlin Bros., Inc. was a New York publishing firm active between 1858 and 1920. The company was a pioneer in color printing technologies in children's books. The company specialized in retellings or bowdlerizations of classic stories for c ...
, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States. It became a division of
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
in 1984.
History
Foundation
Milton Bradley found success making board games. In 1860, Milton Bradley moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, and set up the state's first color lithography shop. Its graphic design of
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
sold very well, until Lincoln grew his beard and rendered the likeness out-of-date.
Struggling to find a new way to use his lithography machine, Bradley visited his friend George Tapley. Tapley challenged him to a game, most likely an old English game. Bradley conceived the idea of making a purely American game.
He created ''The Checkered Game of Life'', which had players move along a track from Infancy to Happy Old Age,
in which the point was to avoid Ruin and reach Happy Old Age. Squares were labeled with moral positions from honor and bravery to disgrace and ruin. Players used a spinner instead of dice because of the negative association with gambling.
[
By spring of 1861, over 45,000 copies of ''The Checkered Game of Life'' had been sold. Bradley became convinced board games were his company's future.][
When the ]American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
broke out in early 1861, Milton Bradley temporarily gave up making board games and tried to make new weaponry. However, upon seeing bored soldiers stationed in Springfield, Bradley began producing small games which the soldiers could play during their down time. These are regarded as the first travel games in the country. These games included chess, checkers, backgammon, dominoes, and "The Checkered Game of Life." They were sold for one dollar a piece to soldiers and charitable organizations, which bought them in bulk to distribute.
Kindergarten movement
The Milton Bradley Company took a new direction in 1869 after Milton Bradley went to hear a lecture about the kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
movement by early education pioneer, Elizabeth Peabody
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic de ...
. Peabody promoted the philosophy of the German scholar Friedrich Froebel. Froebel stated that through education children learn and develop through creative activities. Bradley would spend much of the rest of his life promoting the kindergarten movement both personally and through the Milton Bradley Company.
In the late 1860s, Bradley became involved in the kindergarten movement. Deeply invested in the cause, his company began manufacturing educational items such as colored papers and paints. The company was hurt by Bradley's generosity as he gave these materials away free of charge. Due to the Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1896, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing st ...
of the late 1870s, his investors told him either his kindergarten work must go or they would go. Bradley chose to keep his kindergarten work. His friend George Tapley bought the interest of the lost investors and took over as president of the Milton Bradley Company.
Milton Bradley was an early advocate of Friedrich Froebel's idea of Kindergarten. Springfield's first kindergarten students were Milton Bradley's two daughters, and the first teachers in Springfield were Milton, his wife and his father. Milton Bradley's company's involvement with kindergartens began with the production of "gifts," the term used by Froebel for the geometric wooden play things that he felt were necessary to properly structure children's creative development. Bradley spent months devising the exact shades in which to produce these materials; his final choice of six pigments of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet would remain the standard colors for children's art supplies through the 20th century.
By the 1870s, the company was producing dozens of games and capitalizing on fads. Milton Bradley became the first manufacturer in America to make croquet
Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.
Its international governing body is the Wor ...
sets. The sets included wickets, mallets, balls, stakes, and an authoritative set of rules to play by that Bradley himself had created from oral tradition and his own sense of fair play.[ In 1880, the company began making jigsaw puzzles.
The company's educational supplies turned out to be a large portion of their income at the turn of the century. They produced supplies any grade school teacher could use, such as toy money, multiplication sticks, and movable clock dials. Milton Bradley continued producing games, particularly parlor games played by adults. They produced "Visit to the Gypsies," "Word Gardening," "Happy Days in Old New England," and "Fortune Telling." They also created jigsaw puzzles of wrecked vehicles, which were popular among young boys.][
]
Later years
When Milton Bradley died in 1911, the company was passed to Robert Ellis, who passed it to Bradley's son-in-law Robert Ingersoll, who eventually passed it to George Tapley's son, William. In 1920, Bradley bought out McLoughlin Brothers, which went out of business after John McLoughlin's death.[
Milton Bradley began to decline in the 1920s and fell dramatically in the 1930s during the ]Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. Fewer people were spending money on board games. The company kept losing money until 1940, when they sank too low and banks demanded payment on loans.[
Desperate to avoid bankruptcy, the board of directors persuaded James J. Shea, a Springfield businessman, to take over presidency of the company. Shea immediately moved to decrease the company's debt. He began a major renovation of the Milton Bradley plant by burning old inventory that had been accumulating since the turn of the century.
With the outbreak of ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Milton Bradley started producing a universal joint created by Shea used on the landing gear of fighter planes. They also reproduced a revised version of their game kits for soldiers, which earned the company $2 million.[ Milton Bradley did not stop creating board games, although they did cut their line from 410 titles to 150. New games were introduced during this time, such as the patriotic ''Game of the States,'' '' Chutes & Ladders'' and '']Candyland
''Candy Land'' (also ''Candyland'') is a simple racing board game published by Hasbro. The game requires no reading and minimal counting skills, making it suitable for young children. No strategy is involved as players are never required to ma ...
.''[
The advent of the television could have threatened the industry, but Shea used it to his advantage. Various companies acquired licenses to television shows for the purpose of producing all manner of promotional items including games.][ In 1959, Milton Bradley released ''Concentration,'' a memory game based on an ]NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
television show of the same name; the game was such a success that editions were issued annually into 1982, long after the show was cancelled in 1973 (similar practices were used for box game adaptations of the game shows ''Password
A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
'' and ''Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'').
Milton Bradley celebrated their centennial in 1960 with the re-release of ''The Checkered Game of Life,'' which was modernized. It was now simply called ''The Game of Life
''The Game of Life'', also known simply as ''Life'', is a board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, rol ...
'' and the goal was no longer to reach Happy Old Age, but to become a millionaire. ''Twister
Twister may refer to:
Weather
* Tornado
Aviation
* Pipistrel Twister, a Slovenian ultralight trike
* Silence Twister, a German homebuilt aircraft design
* Wings of Change Twister, an Austrian paraglider design
Entertainment
* ''Twister'' (198 ...
'' made its debut in the 1960s as well. Thanks to Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
's suggestive comments as Eva Gabor
Eva Gabor ( ; February 11, 1919 – July 4, 1995) was a Hungarian-American actress, businesswoman, singer, and socialite. She voiced Duchess and Miss Bianca in the animated Disney Classics, ''The Aristocats'' (1970), ''The Rescuers'' (1977), ...
played the game on his show, ''Twister'' became a phenomenon.[ In the 1960s, Milton Bradley games were licensed in Australia by John Sands Pty Ltd.
In 1967, James Shea Jr. took over as president of Milton Bradley (becoming CEO in 1968) succeeding his father. During his presidency, Milton Bradley bought ]Playskool
Playskool is an American company that produces educational toys and games for children. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and is headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
History
The Playskool Institute was established by Lucille King in 192 ...
Mfg. Co. the E.S. Lowe Company, makers of ''Yahtzee
Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley (a company that has since been acquired and assimilated by Hasbro). It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a development of earlier ...
'', and Body Language.
During the 1970s and 1980s, electronic games became popular. Milton Bradley released ''Simon
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
'' in 1978, which was fairly late in the movement. By 1980, it was their best-selling item.[
In 1979, Milton Bradley also developed the first hand-held cartridge-based console, the ]Microvision
The Microvision (aka Milton Bradley Microvision or MB Microvision) is the first Handheld console, handheld game console that used interchangeable ROM cartridge, cartridges and in that sense is reprogrammable. It was released by the Milton Bradley ...
.
In 1983, seeing the potential in the new Vectrex
The Vectrex is a vector display-based home video game console–the only one ever designed and released for the home market, developed by Smith Engineering. It was first released for the North America market in November 1982 and then Europe and ...
vector-based video game console, the company purchased General Consumer Electronics (GCE). Both the Vectrex and the Microvision were designed by Jay Smith.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Milton Bradley marketed a series of games (such as ''HeroQuest
''HeroQuest'', sometimes written as ''Hero Quest'', is an adventure board game created by Milton Bradley in conjunction with the British company Games Workshop. The game was loosely based around archetypes of fantasy role-playing games: the ...
'' and ''Battle Masters
''Battle Masters'' is a miniature wargame by Milton Bradley, made in collaboration with Games Workshop in 1992. It is thematically similar to ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'', but with much simpler game mechanics. Like other Milton Bradley/Games ...
'') in North America that were developed in the United Kingdom by Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''.
Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...
(GW) that drew heavily from GW's Warhammer Fantasy Warhammer Fantasy can mean:
* ''Warhammer Fantasy'' (setting), the fictional setting of the various games and media
* ''Warhammer'' (game), a table-top fantasy miniature wargame, and origin of the franchise
*''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'', the success ...
universe, albeit without explicit reference to the Warhammer product line.
Hasbro ownership
In 1984, Hasbro bought out Milton Bradley ending 124 years of family ownership. The 1990s saw the release of ''Gator Golf ''Gator Golf'' is a children's miniature golfing game. It was released in 1994 by the American game company Milton Bradley. In the game, children take turns putting into the mouth of a motorized plastic alligator figure, which then flings the ball ...
,'' ''Crack the Case,'' ''Mall Madness
''Mall Madness'' is a shopping themed board game released by Milton Bradley in 1988.
An electronic talking edition was released in 1989, followed by redesigns released in 1996, 2004, and 2020.
Objective
The game's objective is to be the firs ...
,'' and ''1313 Dead End Drive
13 Dead End Drive is a murder-themed board game originally released by Milton Bradley in 1993. It was followed in 2002 by a spinoff, '' 1313 Dead End Drive''. Currently, Winning Moves Games USA publishes the game in the USA.
The story behind the ...
.''[
In 1991, Hasbro acquired Milton Bradley's former arch-rival ]Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
. In 1998, Milton Bradley merged with Parker Brothers to form Hasbro Games. After the consolidation, Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers turned into brands of Hasbro before being dropped in 2009 in favor of the parent company's name, since adjusted to Hasbro Gaming.
See also
*List of Milton Bradley Company products
This is a list of products produced by the Milton Bradley Company.
Board games
* 13 Dead End Drive (1993)
* The Adventures of Superman (1940)
** Superman and Superboy Game (1967)
** Superman II (1981)
* Aggravation (1962)
* The American Dream Gam ...
*Milton-Bradley Company (building)
The Milton-Bradley Company is a historic former factory complex at Park, Cross, and Willow Streets in Springfield, Massachusetts. The factory was built beginning in about 1880, and expanded over the next decades to include a variety of brick multi ...
, the company's Springfield factory from the 1880s to the 1960s
References
External links
*
Cornell Exhibit on Games with MB Kindergarten Curriculum
Milton Bradley Games
Information and parts at Gamepart.com
MB Portuguese edition Games
All portuguese list
{{Authority control
American companies established in 1860
American companies disestablished in 1998
1860 establishments in Massachusetts
1998 disestablishments in Massachusetts
Toy companies of the United States
Board game publishing companies
Companies based in Hampden County, Massachusetts
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1998
Manufacturing companies established in 1860
Game manufacturers
Former Hasbro subsidiaries
1984 mergers and acquisitions