Timeline Games-Toys
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3000BC The earliest 6-sided dice
date to about this time from a site in northern Iraq.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.W5)
c1500BCE A court to play ulama was built about
this time in Chiapas, Mexico. Olmecs used latex balls for the game.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.81)
c500BCE The game of Go was devised in China about
this time.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.128)
43CE The Romans brought with
them the board game latrunculi (little soldiers), when they
conquered Britain.
(Arch, 1/05, p.39)
56CE Huan Tan, Go strategist,
died. In his book “Xin Lun” (New Treatise) he advised that the best
approach to the game is to spread your pieces widely so as to
encircle the opponent.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.128)
990 A set of instructions on
chess, the Versus de Scachis (Poem About Chess), emerged in
Switzerland about this time. The game had begun in India before the
6th century.
(Arch, 1/05, p.40)(Econ, 10/29/11, p.97)
1530 Florence, Italy, held the
first lottery, La Lotto de Firenze. It was followed by similar
drawings in Genoa and Venice to raise funds for various public
projects.
(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R34)(http://www.logiuocodellotto.com/)
1530 The game of bingo can be
traced back to a lottery game called "Il Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia"
played in Italy about this time. By the eighteenth century, the game
had matured, and in France, playing cards, tokens, the reading out
of numbers had been added to the game. In the nineteenth century,
Bingo was widely used in Germany for educational purposes to teach
children spelling, animal names, and multiplication tables.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_%28U.S.%29)
1620 May 17, The 1st
merry-go-round was seen at a fair in Philippapolis, Turkey.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1702 Meijin Dosaku, go-master
to the shogun of Japan, died. He was the 4th head of the Honimbo go
school and is held by many Japanese to have been the game’s greatest
player.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.129)
1722 Apr 30, Game of Billiards
was mentioned in New England Courant.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1742 Aug 29, Edmond Hoyle
(1672-1769) published his "Short Treatise" on the card game whist.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1769 Aug 29, Edmond Hoyle
(b.1672), English games expert, died.
(MC, 8/29/01)
1788 Rules were set for the
game of cricket.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.81)
1791 A document was released in
2004 from Pittsfield, Mass., that contained a 1791 bylaw to protect
the windows of a new meeting house from baseball players.
(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A2)
1834 Nov 1, The 1st published
reference to poker was as Mississippi riverboat game.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1836 May 18, Wilhelm Steinitz
was born. The Czech-born world chess champion (1866-94) later became
a naturalized American.
(HN, 5/18/99)(SC, 5/18/02)
1844 Sep 25-1844 Sep 27, The
first int’l. cricket match was played between the USA and Canada at
the St George's Cricket Club, Bloomingdale Park, NY. Canada won by
23 runs.
(Econ, 7/24/10,
p.83)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v_Canada_%281844%29)
1860 Jul 25, The 1st US
intercollegiate billiard match was between Harvard and Yale.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1860 Milton Bradley started a
lithograph company in Springfield, Mass. In 1866 Bradley launched
the board-game industry in North America with “The Checkered Game of
Life,” which innovated on earlier representations of life as a board
game. By 1880 he expanded into manufacturing jigsaw puzzles. Hasbro,
short for Hassenfeld Brothers, bought Milton Bradley in 1992.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Life)(SFC, 6/11/08, p.G3)
1861 Henry Morton founded the
Paris Manufacturing Co. in South Paris, Maine. The company made
various toys and then desks from the late 1800s. In 1978 it became
Paricon Inc.
(SFC, 1/23/08, p.G5)
1862 Frederick August Otto
Schwartz (FAO Schwartz) opened up a toy shop in Baltimore 6 years
after arriving in America from Germany. In 1870 he moved to New
York. In 1880 he moved to larger quarters on Union Square.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F3)(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.B1)
1865 Oct 10, John Wesley Hyatt
patented a new method for manufacturing billiard balls. He used
melted glue and cloth as an alternative to the ivory balls in use,
but his 1st products did not work well. [see Apr 6, 1869]
(MC, 10/10/01)(ON, 11/03, p.3)
1867 The US Playing Card Co.
began business. In 2003 its brands included Bee, Hoyle, Aviator and
Bicycle (b.1885).
(WSJ, 4/29/03, B12)
1869 Apr 6, John and Isaiah
Hyatt applied for a new patent using collodion to manufacture
billiard balls. They later named their product celluloid. It was
similar to that made by English inventor Alexander Parkes, who
patented the process in England in 1855. The new plastic could be
molded and mass produced, but was very flammable and exploded when
struck with excessive force. [see Jun 15]
(HNQ, 5/8/98)(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)(MC,
4/6/02)(PCh, 1992, p.467)(ON, 11/03, p.3)
1870 Frederick August Otto
Schwartz (FAO Schwartz) opened up his 1st NYC store on Broadway
called Schwartz Toy Bazaar.
(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.B1)
1871 Jul 25, A carrousel was
patented by Wilhelm Schneider in Davenport, Iowa.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1873 Modern lawn tennis made
its debut. It was a variation of a game played for centuries by
royals. Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, a British army officer,
devised the game for the entertainment of guests at his country
estate.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(Econ, 4/24/04, p.81)
1875 Apr 17, The game of
"snooker" was invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain.
(HN, 4/17/98)
1876 The medieval game of court
tennis arrived in the US. It was the fore-runner of lawn tennis,
which was already being played in the US.
(SFC, 5/15/98, p.D7)
1886 A board game called "The
Game of Baseball" was made with a lithographed game board by the
McLoughlin Brothers. In 1999 the boxed game was worth $3,000.
(SFC, 4/7/99, Z1 p.7)
1877 In Germany the Steiff Toy
Co. was founded. They made their first teddy bears in 1903 with
black, shoe-button eyes.
(SFC, 1/21/98, Z1 p.3)
1877 In Germany the S.
Gunthermann manufacturer of metal vehicles and other toys was
founded in Nuremberg about this time.
(SFC, 9/19/06, p.G3)
1889 The dexterity game “Pigs
in Clover” was built by Charles Crandall. It dared a player to move
little balls into a center pen.
(SFC, 9/10/02, p.A15)
1890 In Chicago Henry C.
Niemann organized the H.C. Niemann & Co. to make tables. In 1909
the company moved to the 1800 block of Rockwell Street. It closed in
1929.
(SFC, 5/14/08, p.G6)
1890 Parker Brothers introduced
its board game Across the Continent. The game was re-released a
number of times until 1952.
(SFC, 6/25/08, p.G3)
1891 Dec 1, The Canadian, Dr.
James B. Naismith, sports figure, inventor, teacher, invented the
game of basketball at the YMCA in Springfield, Mass. A janitor
provided peach baskets instead of the requested boxes.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.126)(DTnet, 11/28/97)(MC,
12/1/01)
1895 The Montgomery Ward
catalog offered the game of Tiddledy Winks for 20 cents.
(WSJ, 12/17/03, p.B1)
1895 The J&E Stevens Co.
began making Rival toy stoves. The mass-produced cast-iron toys were
sold with a coal bucket, a tea kettle, frying pan and cooking pot.
The company was in business until the 1930s.
(SFC, 3/19/97, z1 p.3)
1895 The US Bowling Congress
began keeping league records.
(WSJ, 5/24/08, p.A7)
1898 Aug 16, Edwin Prescott
patented a roller coaster.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1899 Apr 13, Alfred Moser
Butts, inventor of the board game Scrabble, was born.
(HN, 4/13/98)(MC, 4/13/02)
1900 Joshua Lionel Cowen
(1877-1965), inventor, along with some partners founded Lionel Corp
in NYC. Operation were later based outside Detroit and Lionel grew
to become the world’s largest toy maker in the 1950s. [see 1901]
(WSJ, 11/17/04,
p.B1)(www.fact-index.com/j/jo/joshua_lionel_cowen.html)
1901 Feb 5, Loop-the-loop
centrifugal RR (roller coaster) was patented by Ed Prescot.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1901 Joshua Lionel Cowen (22)
set up a battery-powered toy train to draw customer attention to
goods in a store display window. This marked the beginning of Lionel
Trains.
(SFEC, 8/15/99, Z1 p.8)
1902 S.W. Erdnase published
“The Expert at the Card Table.” The book revealed secrets behind
card tricks and cheating techniques. The real identity of the author
was a mystery.
(WSJ, 8/16/00, p.A1)
1903 Feb 15, The 1st Teddy Bear
was introduced in America by Morris & Rose Michtom.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1907 In France the bowling game
of petanque or boule assumed its current form after possible origins
in ancient Greece or Egypt. Similar to bocce ball it is played on a
dirt court with baseball sized steel balls. In 1998 it was seeking
Olympic recognition. The French version was born near Marseille as a
sport for the masses. In 1959 France held the 1st annual petanque
world championship.
(WSJ, 1/5/98, p.20)(WSJ, 8/30/07, p.A7)
1909 Rose Cecil O’Neill
(1874-1944), illustrator, drew the 1st Kewpie doll for an issue of
Ladies Home Journal. By 1911 they were being produced as dolls and
figurines.
(www.lambiek.net/oneill_rose.htm)(SFC, 5/14/08,
p.G6)
1912 Prizes were added to boxes
of Cracker Jacks. [see Feb 19, 1913]
(HFA, ‘96, p.67)(SFC, 7/29/98, Z1 p.23)(AH,
10/01, p.34)
1912 The Durable Toy &
Novelty Co. began making toy registering banks about this time. Its
office was in NYC and its factory in Cleveland, Ohio.
(SFC, 4/2/08, p.G2)
1912 Heinrich Muller and
Heinrich Schreyer started the Schreyer & Co. toy company in
Nuremberg, Germany. The name was shortened to Schuco in the 1920.
They began making “Yes/No” toys in 1921 and after WWII these were
called “Tricky” toys. In 1999 Schuco became part of the Simba
Dickie Group.
(SFC, 4/23/08, p.G6)
1913 Feb 19, The 1st prize was
inserted into a Cracker Jack box. [see 1912]
(MC, 2/19/02)
1913 Dec 21, The first
crossword puzzle, created by Arthur Wynne, the English-born New York
journalist, was published in the New York World.
(AP,
12/21/97)(www.fun-with-words.com/first_crossword.html)
1913 Strombeck-Becker
Manufacturing Co. of Moline Illinois was incorporated by J.F.
Strombeck and R.D. Becker. They made wooden handles and tent poles
and expanded into toys in 1919 and dollhouse furniture in 1931. In
1962 the company dropped out of the toy business.
(SFC, 8/20/08, p.G4)
1913 Mary McAboy of Missoula,
Montana, began hand-making Skookum Indian dolls and acquired a
patent for it in 1914. Skookum was a Siwash Indian word that roughly
means bully good.
(SFC, 6/17/98, Z1 p.3)(SFC, 3/16/05, p.G4)
1914 The Toy Tinkers Company of
Evanston, Ill., made the Tinkertoy Wonder Builder construction set
out of wood as its first product. It sold for 50 cents. Toy Tinkers
was sold in 1952 to A.G. Spalding. It was later acquired by Hasbro
who made its parts out of plastic. Hasbro was named after the
Hassenfeld Brothers.
(SFC, 2/5/97, z-1 p.7)(SFC, 4/8/98, Z1 p.6)(SFC,
8/15/98, p.E4)
1915 May 28, John B. Gruelle
patented the Raggedy Ann doll.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1917 Jun 28, The Raggedy Ann
doll invented.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1918 The game “Consult El Caro”
was 1st built. A metal ball fell into a recessed hole containing
answers to questions.
(SFC, 9/10/02, p.A15)
1921 Wyandotte Toys of
Wyandotte, Mich., was founded and initially concentrated on toy
pistols.
(SFC, 2/15/03, p.E7)
1928 Norman Angell (1872-1967),
English journalist, made one venture into economics, when he
invented a card game, described in “the Money Game” (1928). This was
an attempt to explain matters such as deflation and inflation in
visual terms which the ordinary person could understand.
(www.samuelbrittan.co.uk/text160_p.html)
1928 John von Neumann,
mathematician, conceived the strategies of game theory. In 2000
Robert Wright authored "Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny." In the
40’s and 50’s Neumann and John Nash developed game theory as a
branch of mathematics.
(WSJ, 1/23/97, p.A12)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.75)
1929
Apr 1, Louie Marx introduced the Yo-Yo in the US.
(OTD)(HN, 4/1/01)
1929 Aug 26, The 1st US roller
coaster was built.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1929 The game of beano involved
dried beans and was first played in the US at an Atlanta carnival.
It was based on an Italian game that dated back to 1530. In New York
the name mutated to “Bingo” when Edwin Lowe, a toy salesman, took it
there.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A25)(SFC, 7/25/98, p.B5)
1930 Herman G. Fisher
(1898-1975) and Irving L. Price co-founded the Fisher-Price toy
company in East Aurora, NY. Quaker Oats Company acquired the firm in
1969. Mattel Inc. acquired Fisher-Price in 1993.
(www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/274/)(WSJ, 12/21/05, p.A8)
1930 A competition began in
India, known as the Empire Games. It gathered the British empire's
athletes as a way to bind together the Britain’s vast dominions. The
games later became known as the Commonwealth Games.
(AP, 10/1/10)
1931 Frederick August Otto
Schwartz (FAO Schwartz) moved to uptown NYC to its flagship Fifth
Avenue store. In 1986 it moved across the street.
(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.B1)
1932 Kenton Hardware
Manufacturing Co., founded in Ohio in 1890 as a lock maker, began
making toy concrete mixers under the Jaeger brand name. The company
closed in 1952.
(SFC, 5/28/08, p.G2)
1932 The Danish LEGO Group was
founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen.
(www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=group)
1933 Mar 7, George Darrow added
some copyrighted art work to the board game Monopoly and began
selling it commercially in Philadelphia. He sold it to Parker
Brothers in 1934. The game had originally been patented in 1904 as
the Landlord’s Game by Elizabeth J. Magie. In Oct 1929 Ruth Hoskins
brought a version to Atlantic City, refined the rules and street
names. It was later introduced to George Darrow.
(HN, 3/7/98)(WSJ, 2/3/05,
p.W12)(http://richard_wilding.tripod.com/history.htm)
1934 Dec, Parker Brothers
purchased the game of Monopoly from George Darrow and rewrote the
rules. George Parker had rejected the 1st version of Monopoly
submitted by Darrow and cited 52 fundamental errors. In 2003 Philip
E. Orbanes authored "The Game Makers: The Story of the Parker
Brothers, from Tiddley winks to Trivial Pursuit."
(Econ, 11/22/03,
p.81)(www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo11.htm)
1934 Daisy Manufacturing
introduced a Buck Rogers toy pistol.
(SFC, 4/13/05, p.G4)
1935 Jan, Parker Brothers
launched the Monopoly game acquired from George Darrow and by mid
February were selling 20,000 sets per week.
(www.monopolycollector.com/)
1935 Mar 16, Aron Nimzowitsch
(b.1886), a Latvian-born Danish chess player, died. In 1925 he
authored “My System,” which he described as a chess manual based on
entirely new principles.
(WSJ, 3/22/08,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Nimzowitsch)
1939 William Gruber and Harold
Graves produced the 1st View-Master in Portland. 2 cameras were used
to create stereo images. They were introduced at the New York
World’s Fair and became an overnight sensation. In 2009 Fisher-Price
eliminated almost all of its View Master titles, except for a
handful of children’s titles.
(SFC, 8/31/00, p.C8)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.34)
1941 Jan 11, Emanuel Lasker
(b.1868), German mathematician and chess player, died. In 1927 he
authored “Lasker’s Manual of Chess.”
(WSJ, 3/22/08,
p.W10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker)
1943 Mar 9, Bobby Fischer
(d.2008), first American world chess champion (1972-1975), was born.
He later authored “Bobby Fischer’s Games of Chess.”
(HN, 3/9/99)(SFC, 9/7/01, p.D5)(SFC, 1/19/08,
p.A2)
1943 Apr 7, The NFL adopted its
free substitution rule.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1943 Richard James (d.1974)
observed a torsion spring balance bounce off a ship’s deck while
working at a Philadelphia shipyard and conceived the idea of a
"slinky" toy for children, named by his wife Betty James (d.2008).
In 1945 they founded James Industries. In 1998 the company was sold
to POOF Products of Michigan.
(IBCC, 10/97, #9)(SSFC, 11/23/08, p.B9)
1944 Jul 13, Erno Rubik,
inventor (Rubik's cube), was born in Budapest.
(MC, 7/13/02)
1946 Aug 21, Lev Alburt, USSR
International Chess Master (1976), was born.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1946 Lincoln Toys began
operating in Walkerville, Ont., and continued to 1958.
(SFC, 10/1/08, p.G6)
1946 The Mattel toy company was
co-founded by Ruth Handler, her husband Elliot, and Harold “Matt”
Mattson. The name came from a combination of Matt and Elliot. In
2009 Jerry Oppenheimer authored “Toy Monster: The Big, Bad world of
Mattel.”
(WSJ, 2/18/09, p.A15)
1947 Parker Brothers launched
the board game Clue.
(Econ, 11/22/03, p.81)
1947 Tonka toys were introduced
by Mound Metalcraft, located in Mound, Minnesota, near Lake
Minnetonka.
(SFC, 8/23/06, p.G7)
1948 Spud Melin (d.2002) and
Richard Knerr (1925-2008) started a mail-order toy company in
southern California named Wham-O to market sling-shots. In 1982 they
sold the company to Kransco Manufacturing for $12 million.
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1948 The London-based Mondo
company began producing rubber balls for a local fistball game. It
grew to become a major maker of prefabricated running track.
(SFC, 3/17/11, p.72)
1950 Mar 2, Silly Putty was
introduced to the public. Silly Putty was accidentally invented in
1943 by James Wright of General Electric.
(www.sillyputty.com/silly_science/silly_science.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/zwree)
1951 Mar 8, The Int’l. Table
Tennis Federation banned Egypt for refusing to play Israel.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1951 May 23, Anatoli Karpov,
world chess champion (1975-85), was born in the USSR.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1951 The video game NIM was
created for the Festival of Britain. It was played on Nimrod, a
computer developed by the Ferranti electronics firm.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.12)
1952 Apr 25, American Bowling
Congress approved use of an automatic pinsetter.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1952 May 1, Mr. Potato Head was
introduced.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1954 May 1, Legos, founded by
Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, became a registered
trademark in Denmark.
(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllego.htm)
1955 Jan 19, "Scrabble" debuted
in the board game market.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1955 Wham-O purchased a plastic
disc from building inspector Fred Morrison, who had developed it
after watching Yale students toss Frisbee Co. pie tins [see Jan 13,
1957].
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)
1957 Jan 13, The Wham-O Company
produced the 1st Frisbee. It was initially called the Pluto Platter.
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)(MC, 1/13/02)
1957 Jun 7, Mrs. Elizabeth S.
Kingsley, double-Crostic puzzle creator, died.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1957 Jul 22, Walter "Fred"
Morrison applied for a patent for a "flying toy" which became known
as the Frisbee.
(AP, 7/22/07)
1958 Jun 19, Entrepreneurs
Richard Knerr and Arthur Melin sought a trademark for a plastic
cylinder based on a similar toy in Australia. Wham-O began selling
the Hula Hoop following a demonstration of a rattan hoop imported
from Australia. After one year teenagers in the US purchased some
100 million hoops at a suggested retail price of $1.98.
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)(SFC, 6/19/08, p.C3)
1958 Legos, the toy Lego
building block kit with simple red bricks, was introduced with
8-stud bricks that could be combined 24 ways. The company was
founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932. Legos
became a registered trademark in 1954. The name was derived from
“les godt,” Danish for play well.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.B8)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.76)
1958 In central Moscow Detsky
Mir (Children's World), a new huge toy store, opened. In 2008 the
hulking block-long building across from the KGB's notorious Lubyanka
headquarters closed for a 3-year, $200 million renovation project.
(AP, 7/2/08)
1959 Mar 9, The Barbie doll was
unveiled at the American Toy Fair in New York City. The Barbie Doll
No. 1 was introduced by Mattel Toy Company for $3. Ruth Handler
(d.2002), co-founder of Mattel, had spotted the German Bild-Lilli
doll in 1956 and asked toy designer Jack Ryan (d.1991) to create a
version for American girls. The first dolls were produced by Mattel
Toy Co. in Hawthorne, Ca. In 1994 one sold for $4000 as a
collector’s item.
(WSJ, 12/9/94, p.R-8)(SSFC, 4/28/02, p.A2)(SFC,
5/31/05, p.E1)(WSJ, 2/18/09, p.A15)
1959 Parker Brothers launched
the board game Risk.
(Econ, 11/22/03, p.81)
c1960 The Visible Man toy was
created by Marcel Jovine (d.2003 at 81) and was soon followed by
Visible Woman.
(SFC, 1/28/03, p.A15)
1960s The DoodelMaster Magic
Screen toy, made in England, was acquired by Ohio Art Toy and
renamed Etch A Sketch.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.C6)
1961 Mattel toys introduced the
Ken doll, and marketed it as Barbie’s boyfriend.
(SFC, 1/14/98, Z1 p.2)
1962 Denys Fisher, an English
inventor, made a tool to help draw waves for scientific use, but it
was not adopted. His family thought it would a good toy for children
and in 1965 it was made into a kit and showed at an int’l. toy show.
Kenner bought the toy and sold it as the Spirograph.
(SFC, 10/17/07, p.G2)
1963 Apr 13, Gary Kimovich
Kasparov, world chess champion (1985-2000), was born in the USSR.
(MC, 4/13/02)(SFC, 1/16/04, p.D19)
1964 Feb 2, The G.I. Joe action
figure debuted as a popular American toy.
(MC, 2/2/02)(SFC, 7/10/04, p.F11)
1965 Nov 1, Edward Headrick
(d.2002) of Wham-O patented the Flying Saucer, an improved Frisbee
with concentric ridges that improved flight.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A20)
1967 Aug 28, Charles Darrow, US
inventor of Monopoly, died.
(MC, 8/28/01)
1969 The US National Commission
on Product Safety recommended that 8 toys be banned including the
Zulu toy gun, which shot plastic darts, the Empire Little Lady
Stove, which had racks that could heat to 600 degrees, and the Bird
of Paradise slingshot, with razor-sharp missiles. The commission
urged Congress to pass new legislation banning toys based on their
electrical, mechanical or thermal qualities.
(WSJ, 12/3/07, p.B1)
1970 Aug, The first
all-computer championship was held in New York and won by CHESS 3.0
(CDC 6400), a program written by Slate, Atkin and Gorlen at
Northwestern University. Six programs had entered the first
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) North American Computer
Championships. The event was organized by Monty Newborn. The other
programs were DALY CP, J Brit, COKO III, SCHACH, and the Marsland
CP.
(http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/comphis.htm)
1971 Keith Wylie (1945-1999),
British croquet star, in the Open Championship completed "the
sextuple peel," which involved knocking a ball through 6 hoops using
another ball. He authored "Expert Croquet Tactics" in 1985.
(SFC, 12/7/99,
p.B4)(www.mauicroquetclub.org/people/KeithWylie.htm)
1972 Sep 1, American Bobby
Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland,
defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. In 2004 David Edmonds
and John Eidinow authored "Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the
Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time."
(AP, 9/1/97)(SSFC, 2/07/04, p.M1)
1973 Jul 4, Leonid Stein
(b.1934), Soviet Grandmaster chess player from the Ukraine, died of
a heart attack.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Stein)
1974 Hungarian professor Erno
Rubik designed the Rubik's Cube. Sales peaked at 100 million in
1980. Some 250 million units were sold worldwide.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(SFC, 8/8/03, p.D1)
1974 Gary Gygax (1938-2008) and
David Arneson (d.2009 at 61), having founded Tactical Studies Rules
(TSR), published Dungeons & Dragons, a role-playing game. Gygax
and Don Kaye had founded Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), a publishing
firm in 1973. In 1997 TSR was sold to Wizards of the Coast.
(Econ, 3/15/08,
p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax)(SFC, 4/11/09, p.B3)
1975 Apr 3, Bobby Fischer
(1943-2008) was stripped of world chess title for refusing to defend
it.
(www.bobby-fischer.net/)
1975 Sep 26, Herman G. Fisher
(b.1898), co-founder of the Fisher-Price toy company (1930), died.
In 1930 he got together with Irving Price and Helen Schelle to
establish a toy company under the name of Fisher-Price.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Fisher)
1975 Edward Headrick (d.2002)
invented the golf, for Frisbee players.
(SFC, 9/26/03, p.A1)
1975 Mattel introduced its
"Growing up Skipper" doll. When her arms were twisted she would grow
taller and her breasts would get larger.
(SFC,1/22/97, Z1 p.7)
1977 Apr 23, Dr. Allen Bussey
completed 20,302 yo-yo loops in Waco, Texas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco,_Texas)
1978 Jul 11, Christa Tybus of
London set a 24 hrs hula-hoop record.
(www.recordholders.org/en/list/hulahoop.html)
1979 Feb 25, James Williams and
Gene Stewart of Redwood City won the 18th world championship domino
tournament in San Francisco.
(SFC, 2/20/04, p.E4)
1979 David Sudnow authored
“Pilgrim in the Microworld.” It described his obsession with a game
called Breakout on the Atari 2600. It came out in paperback in 1983.
(Econ, 12/10/11,
p.10)(www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9780446375214)
1979 Canadian Scott Abbott, a
sports editor for The Canadian Press, and Chris Haney (1950-2010), a
photo editor for Montreal's The Gazette, created the Trivial Pursuit
game. With the help of John Haney and Ed Werner, they completed the
development of the game, which was released in 1982. Hasbro bought
the rights to game for $80 million in 2008.
(AP,
6/2/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_Pursuit)
1980 May 22, The computer game
Pac-Man was first released in Japan. Pac-Man, with its characters:
Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, epitomized the arcade games of the
1980s.
(SFC, 7/5/97,
p.E1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man)
1982 John Maynard (1920-2004),
English biologist, authored "Evolution and the Theory of Games."
(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.B7)
1984 May 26, A frisbee was kept
aloft for 1,672 seconds in Philadelphia.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1984 In Russia Alexander
Pajitnov, a computer programmer at the Moscow Academy of Science,
invented the game "Tetris" on an old Electronica 60 computer. He
gave up the rights to the game to the State for ten years. In 1996
rights for the game reverted back to Pajitnov. He and Henk Rogers
soon founded Blue Planet Software to manage the Tetris rights.
(SFC, 7/7/96, C5)(SFC, 6/3/09, p.C5)
1986 The Mashantucket Pequot
Tribal Nation opened its first bingo hall in Connecticut. Since the
invention of the internet, however, bingo online has become the
preferred method of play.
(Econ, 5/17/08,
p.40)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_bingo)
1987 The “Winnie the Pooh”
stuffed animals, the original toys of author A.A. Milne, given to
publisher E.P. Dutton in 1947, were turned over to the New York
Public Library. In 1998 the British requested that they be returned
to England.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A12)
1989 The Brooklyn Salvation
Army began to allow the Elite Pool Checker Club to play regularly in
their library.
(WSJ, 10/22/02, p.A17)
1990 Dec 26, Garry Kasparov
beat Anatoly Karpov to retain chess championship.
(http://tinyurl.com/hmp9d)
1991 Mar, The video game
“Street Fighter II” was released in Japan by Capcom. It introduced
female characters. It was a sequel to Capcom's 1987 fighting game
Street Fighter.
(SFC, 2/15/11, p.E5)
1990 Toy company FAO Schwartz
sold out to Dutch Company Koninklijke Bijenkorf Beheer.
(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.B1)
1991 The war strategy game
Civilization, created by Sid Meier (b.1954), was published and
became a sensation among PC gamers.
(WSJ, 7/2/10,
p.W9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier)
1992 Sep 1, Defying a U.S.
government warning, Bobby Fischer announced he would play his
one-time rival, Boris Spassky, in a $5 million chess match in
Yugoslavia despite United Nations-imposed sanctions.
(AP, 9/1/97)
1992 The video game “Mortal
Combat II” was released. It became know for its bloody graphics.
(SFC, 2/15/11, p.E5)
1993 Apr 4, Alfred Mosher Butts
(b.1899), US architect and inventor of the Scrabble game, died.
(WSJ, 6/28/01, p.B1)(MC, 4/4/02)
1993 Aug 19, Mattel and Fisher
Price toys announced a merger.
(http://tinyurl.com/bxdjz)
1993 Mattel introduced its
“Earing Magic Ken” doll, which gave him a pierced left ear.
(ST, 7/29/04, p.C8)
1993 The fantasy card game
Magic: The Gathering was created.
(SFC, 9/1/04, p.B1)
1993 The computer game "Mortal
Combat" sparked a controversy in Congress over video game violence.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.E1)
1993 The computer game "Myst"
swept the US with its eerie puzzle plot.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.E1)
1994 Aug 31, In the London
Intel Speed Chess Grand Prix a Pentium computer beat world chess
champ Gari Kasparov.
(www.correspondencechess.com/campbell/apctcol/c9411.htm)
1994 Dec 3, Japan’s Sony Corp.
launched its PlayStation game console.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A8)(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.4)
1994 John Bowes (1928-2005), SF
businessman, and John Rosekrans sold the assets of their Kransco
Group Cos. to Mattel and netted over $350 million. Kransco had
acquired Wham-O and popularized such toys as Frisbee, Slip’N-Slide,
and hula hoop.
(SFC, 10/28/05, p.B7)
1995 The colonization board
game “Settlers of Catan” began a new boom in board games.
(Econ, 8/30/08, p.52)
1995 The first Internet
gambling casino opened, but games could only be played for fun. The
first real money Internet casino opened in 1996.
(SFC, 7/2/07, p.C1)
1996 Dec 15, The Tyco Toys
Tickle Me Elmo stuffed animal that giggles and says "that tickles"
when squeezed retailed for $30 and was flying out of stores. It was
based on a character from the children’s TV show Sesame Street.
(WSJ, 12/16/96, p.B1)(WSJ, 9/15/06, p.B1)
1997 May 1, Virtual Pets began
to be marketed by Tiger Electronics and Bandai Ltd. of Japan. The
egg-sized gadgets played out the lives of various animals on a
liquid crystal display.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.B1)
1997 May 3, World chess
champion Garry Kasparov won the first game of his rematch with IBM's
Deep Blue computer. However, he lost the six-game match.
(AP, 5/3/98)
1997 May 4, IBM's Deep Blue
computer defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov, evening their
six-game series at one game apiece.
(AP, 5/4/98)
1997 May 6, World chess
champion Garry Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue computer played to a
draw in game three of their six-game match.
(AP, 5/6/98)
1997 May 11, The "Deep Blue"
IBM computer demolished an overwhelmed Garry Kasparov and won the
six-game chess match between man and machine in New York.
(AP, 5/11/98)
1997 Jul 10, Walter Korn
(b.1908), Czech-born chess authority, died. His books included "The
Art of Chess Competition."
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A18)
1998 Mar 31, Starcraft, a
military science fiction real-time strategy video game, was released
in South Korea. It was developed by Blizzard Entertainment, a
California-based company.
(Econ, 10/30/10,
p.71)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft)
1998 Oct 22, The US government
announced one of the biggest toys recalls ever, advising parents to
remove batteries from Fisher-Price Power Wheels cars and trucks
because of faulty wiring.
(AP, 10/22/99)
1998 Nov 27, Shoppers on Black
Friday crowded shopping centers and the new Furby toys, a furry
talking toy, was creating a mania. Black Friday was used to describe
the big shopping day following Thanksgiving that put stores into the
black.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.A1)
1999 Mar 20, The 128-acre
Legoland California, a children’s theme park, was scheduled to be
completed in Carlsbad by the Danish toy company.
(USAT, 5/7/98, p.1D)(SFC, 1/9/99, p.B8)(SFEC,
2/7/99, p.T3)
1999 David Gonzales began
selling 2-inch figurines of fictional barrio residents in vending
machines across the country. The "Homies" sales grew and in 2004 a
Mijos line, short for "Mis Hijos," (My Kids), was introduced through
K-Mart.
(WSJ, 3/24/04, p.B1)
2000 May 6, The 1st geocaching
cache was found hidden outside Portland, Oregon, by Mike Teague.
[see May 3]
(WSJ, 3/19/02, p.A20)
2000 Gary Kimovich Kasparov
(37), world chess champion (1985-2000), lost to Vladimir Kramnik
(25).
(MC, 4/13/02)(SFC, 1/16/04, p.D19)
2001 The first commercial
alternate reality game (ARG), called “The Beast,” was produced as
part of a promotional campaign for Steven Spielberg’s film “A.I.:
Artificial Intelligence.”
(Econ, 3/7/09, TQ p.16)
2001 MGA Entertainment
introduced the Bratz line of dolls based on a design by Carter
Bryant, a designer from Mattel. The doll became very popular and
threatened the Barbie franchise of Mattel. In 2008 the 2 companies
faced each other in court. A jury ruled that the Bratz dolls were
conceived while Bryant was employed by Mattel. On August 26 a
federal jury in Riverside, Ca., awarded Mattel $100 million in
damages. On Dec 3 a federal judge banned MGA Entertainment Inc. from
making and selling Bratz dolls after the holiday season. In January,
2009, a federal judge said the company can continue to sell the toy
line through 2009.
(WSJ, 5/23/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/18/08, p.B1)(SFC,
8/27/08, p.C3)(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A9)(SFC, 1/8/09, p.C2)
2002 Jun 28, Spud Melin (77),
co-founder of Wham-O (1948), died in Costa Mesa, Ca.
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)
2002 Aug 12, Edward Headrick
(78), the man who made the Frisbee soar, died in California. He
created the sport of disc golf in the 1970s.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A19)
2003 Feb 7, Garry Kasparov
(39), chess master, played to a 3-3 tie against the Deep Junior
computer program.
(SFC, 2/8/03, p.A2)
2003 Aug 18, A 24-year-old
woman from China tipped over 303,621 dominos, breaking a
long-standing record for the world's longest solo domino topple.
(AP, 8/18/03)
2003 Aug 24, Dan Knights of San
Francisco set a world record at the World Rubik's Game Championships
in Toronto. His record time was an average of 20 sec.
(SFC, 8/26/03, p.A15)
2003 Oct 23, A 3-day dominos
tournament began at the Ocho Rios resort in Jamaica.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.D3)
2003 Dec 4, Toy seller FAO
Schwartz filed for bankruptcy.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.B2)
2003 James Zug authored
"Squash: A History of the Game."
(WSJ, 9/26/03, p.W16)
2004 Feb 11, It was reported
that Mattel planned to introduce a line of toys capable of receiving
digital signals from a new Batman TV cartoon show scheduled for the
Fall.
(WSJ, 2/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 12, Mattel released
news that Barbie would have a new boyfriend named Blaine, an
Australian boogie boarder. Barbie’s new “Cali Girl” lined was set to
debut in the summer.
(ST, 7/29/04, p.C8)
2004 Billy Gaines and Duncan
Carrroll, graduates of Carnegie Mellon Univ., developed a Web site
called bpong.com along with a multiplayer online beer-pong game.
Beer pong had gained popularity on college campuses in the 1990s.
(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A10)
2004 Japan’s video game makers
introduced the Nintendo DS (dual screen) and Sony PSP (PlayStation
Portable).
(Econ, 2/26/11, p.70)
2005 Mar 17, Toys R Us agreed
to become a privately owned company in a $6.6 billion buyout deal
that included 2 equity firms and a real estate developer.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.C1)
2005 Disney launched a free
online game called Virtual Magic Kingdom in conjunction with its
50th anniversary. It became very popular and in 2008 fans protested
plans to shut the site down.
(WSJ, 5/20/08, p.B1)
2006 Nov 11, Sony Corp.
launched its new PlayStation 3 (PS3) in Japan.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.63)
2006 Nov 17, Japan’s Sony Corp.
launched its new PlayStation 3 (PS3) in the USA.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Dec 5, In Germany world
chess champion Vladimir Kramnik lost the sixth and decisive game
against computer program Deep Fritz, ceding a hard-fought Man vs.
Machine match 4-2.
(AP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 12, Online political
groups, the Campaign to Defend the Constitution and the Christian
Alliance for Progress, demanded that Wal-Mart dump Left Behind:
Eternal Forces, a new computer game in which players must either
kill or convert non-Christians.
(SFC, 12/12/06, p.A1)
2006 Julian Dibbell authored
“Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading
Virtual Loot.”
(Econ, 12/10/11, p.7)
2006 The word game Bananagrams,
created by Rhode Island native Abraham Nathanson (1929-2010), made
its debut at the London Toy Fair. In 2009 it was named game of the
year by the Toy Industry Association.
(SFC, 6/11/10, p.C7)
2007 Apr 24, The video game
“Lord of the Rings Online,” developed by Turbine Inc., was released
for the Microsoft Windows platform. It initially cost players $40
plus a subscription for each month played.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.7)
2007 Jul 7, Jack Odell
(b.1920), British creator of the Matchbox miniature toys (1953),
died. The toys were made by Lesney Products, founded by Leslie and
Rodney Smith in 1947. The company went public in 1960 and bankrupt
in 1982, when it was sold to Hong Kong’s Universal International
Ltd. In 1997 Mattel acquired Matchbox.
(WSJ, 1/14/07, p.A4)
2007 Aug 2, Beijing and
Washington agreed to cooperate more closely on product and food
safety as the US recalled almost 1 million toys due to lead
concerns. Mattel apologized to customers as it recalled nearly a
million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were
found to have excessive amounts of lead.
(AP, 8/3/07)(SFC, 8/3/07, p.D1)(AP, 8/2/08)
2007 Sep 21, Mattel Inc,
apologized for damaging China's reputation after recent massive
recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods
that were actually up to scratch.
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Oct 14, In California Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation banning toys that contain toxic
plastic softeners, i.e. phthalates, becoming the first state in the
US to do so.
(SFC, 10/16/07, p.A1)
2007 Dec 12, Thailand smashed
through the 100-gold barrier at the SEA Games as they continued
their relentless pursuit of top spot on the medals table.
(AFP, 12/12/07)
2007 Edward McPherson authored
“The Backwash Squeeze & Other Improbable Feats: A Newcomer's
Journey into the World of Bridge.”
(WSJ, 8/4/07, p.P8)
2007 Mark Pincus founded Zynga
Game Network. The company had a smash hit with the social online
game FarmVille in 2009. By the end of 2010 the San Francisco-based
company was valued at $5.4 billion.
(SFC, 11/19/10, p.D8)
2008 Jan 14, Richard Knerr
(82), co-founder of the toy company that popularized the Hula Hoop,
Frisbee and other fads that became classics, died. Knerr started
Wham-O in 1948 with his childhood friend Arthur "Spud" Melin.
(AP, 1/17/08)
2008 Mar 4, Gary Gygax
(b.1938), co-creator of the role-playing Dungeons & Dragons
game, died in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Gygax and Don Kaye had founded
Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) in 1973. In 1974 Gygax and David
Arneson published D&D. In 1997 TSR was sold to Wizards of the
Coast.
(WSJ, 3/8/08, p.A7)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.102)
2008 Apr 29, The videogame
“Grand Theft Auto IV,” produced by Take-Two Interactive Software,
hit the stores with expectations of record sales. First week sales
topped $50 million.
(WSJ, 4/29/08, p.B7)(WSJ, 5/8/08, p.B8)
2008 Jun 10, In NYC a million
pieces of stainless steel toy parts assembled into a nearly
seven-story model skyscraper glimmered under the hot sun. It was
created by American artist Chris Burden (b.1946). The 16,000-pound
(7,250-kg) "poetic interpretation" of the 30 Rock Building at
Rockefeller Center was made of replicated Erector set pieces from
the toy created by A.C. Gilbert in 1912.
(Reuters, 6/11/08)
2008 Oct 29, In Germany
Viswanathan Anand of India retained his world chess title by drawing
with the white pieces against Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik.
(AP, 10/30/08)
2008 Nov 13,The 38th Chess
Olympiad started in Dresden, Germany. It included 146 teams in the
open division, often referred to as the men's division although it
includes a few women. The separate women's division included 111
teams.
(AP, 11/19/08)
2008 Nov 25 Armenia won its
second straight gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Germany by
defeating China 2.5-1.5 in the 11th and final round.
(AP, 11/26/08)
2009 Jan 30, Hans Beck (79),
creator of the colorful plastic Playmobil toy figures that sold by
the millions around the world, died in Germany. Beck had created and
developed the 3-inch (7.5-centimeter) tall line of figures for the
company in 1971. they were dubbed Playmobil and brought to market in
1974.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Apr 9, Dave Arneson (61),
co-creator of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game (1974) and a
pioneer of role-playing entertainment, died after a two-year battle
with cancer.
(AP, 4/10/09)(SFC, 4/11/09, p.B3)
2009 May 27, Toys R Us Inc.
said it acquired toy retailer FAO Schwarz, which has struggled for
years through bankruptcies amid tough competition from discount
stores.
(AP, 5/28/09)
2008 Jul 9, US electronic games
publisher Activision under Bobby Kotick closed its merger with the
gaming arm of Vivendi, a French media conglomerate, in a deal valued
at $18.8 billion.
(Econ, 8/15/09,
p.60)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard)
2009 Oct 1, Mattel planned to
release its Mindflex toy, which allowed users to lift a ball and
send it through an obstacle course using brain control interface
technology.
(SSFC, 9/6/09, p.A8)
2009 Sep 9, In South Korea
performers from around the world have gathered on the South Korean
island of Jeju for this week's international Delphic Games,
popularly known as the "Culture Olympics." The first Delphic Games
of the modern era were held in Russia in 2000 and the second in
Malaysia in 2005.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 24, Japan’s Tokyo Game
Show, billed as the world's largest computer entertainment fest,
kicked off with hopes that depressed sales of game consoles will
enjoy a holiday resurrection.
(AP, 9/24/09)
2009 Sep 24, In Spain Garry
Kasparov soundly defeated Anatoly Karpov in an exhibition chess
match marking the 25th anniversary of their first title bout.
(AP, 9/25/09)
2009 Oct 1, Mattel planned to
release its Mindflex toy, which allowed users to lift a ball and
send it through an obstacle course using brain control interface
technology.
(SSFC, 9/6/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 10, The
hotly-anticipated video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was
launched in Britain amid a political row over its levels of
violence.
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Dec 5, The Defense Advance
Research projects Agency (DARPA) conducted an experiment challenging
teams around the country to locate the submit the correct geographic
coordinates of 10 weather balloons in return for a $40,000 cash
prize. Over 4,000 teams participated and the winning answer came
after 8 hours and 56 minutes. Social networking sites played a major
role in the game theory simulation. Riley Crane, a post doc research
fellow at MIT’s media lab, led the winning team using an elaborate
information gathering pyramid.
(SFC, 12/7/09, p.A9)
2009 Nov 10, Activision
released its new video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” Sales
over the next 5 days brought in $550 million breaking records in
several countries.
(Econ, 12/5/09,
p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Warfare_2)
2009 Dec, Finnish computer game
developer Rovio Mobile released “Angry Birds,” a puzzle video game.
It was inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds and
was first released for Apple's iOS.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds)
2009 James McManus authored
“Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker.”
(SSFC, 12/20/09, Books p.E6)
2009 Silly Bandz, rubber band
bracelets of various shapes, became a fad among kids in Alabama and
then across the nation. Robert Croak of Ohio began manufacturing and
marketing the product after seeing a similar item from Japan in
2007. A pack of 24 was priced at around $5.
(SSFC, 7/11/10, Par
p.12)(http://tinyurl.com/3ac3cm6)
2010 Jan 4, The Norwegian Chess
Federation said Magnus Carlsen (19) is the youngest person to hold
the title since ratings were introduced in 1971.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2010 Feb 9, Walter Fredrick
Morrison (90), the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, died at
his home in Monroe, Utah. Morrison began manufacturing his flying
discs in 1948. He sold the production and manufacturing rights to
his "Pluto Platter" in 1957. The plastic flying disc was later
renamed the "Frisbee," with sales surpassing 200 million discs.
(AP, 2/11/10)
2010 Mar 27, In Russia former
Soviet world chess champion Vasily Smyslov (89) died of heart
failure. Smyslov beat Mikhail Botvinnik in 1957 to become the
seventh world champion, before losing in a re-match the following
year. His career in the top flight of world chess spanned some four
decades. He was beaten by Garry Kasparov in 1984 in the
Candidates Final match for the right to challenge Anatoly Karpov for
the world title, which Kasparov went on to capture.
(Reuters, 3/27/10)
2010 May 8, In Hungary Andor
Lilienthal (99), the last surviving member of 27 original
grandmaster chess players, died in Budapest.
(AP, 5/8/10)
2010 May 31, Chris Haney
(b.1950), co-creator of the Trivial Pursuit (1979) game, died in
Toronto.
(SFC, 6/2/10, p.C4)
2010 Oct 3, In India the
troubled Commonwealth Games got underway with a glittering opening
ceremony in a fortress-like New Delhi after a shambolic run-up that
threatened to derail the event.
(AFP, 10/3/10)
2010 Oct 14, In India the
Commonwealth Games ended after 11 days of fiery competition that
went some way to mending the damage done to Indian pride and
prestige tarnished by the chaotic buildup to the event.
(AFP, 10/14/10)
2010 Nov 2, San Francisco’s
Board of Supervisors passed a law that cracks down on the popular
practice of giving away free toys with unhealthy restaurant meals
for children. The law, which would take effect on December 1, would
allow toys to be given away with kids' meals that have less than 600
calories, contain fruits and vegetables, and include beverages
without excessive fat or sugar. Mayor Newsom vetoed the measure on
Nov 13. On Nov 23 the board overrode the veto.
(Reuters,
11/3/10)(http://tinyurl.com/25458to)(SFC, 11/24/10, p.C1)
2010 Nov 4, Microsoft released
Kinect, a motion-tracking peripheral for the Xbox console.
Scientists soon found uses multiple other uses for the device.
(SFC, 1/10/11, p.D1)
2010 Nov 9, The $60 Activision
Blizzard video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops” was released. It raked
in a record $360 million in the first 24 hours of sales and $650
million in the first 5 days.
(SFC, 11/12/10, p.D3)(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.3)
2010 Nov 27, In China an
"extraordinary" Asian Games closed after 15 days of thrills and
spills that saw China reinforce its sporting credentials as 45
countries and territories took part. China’s final gold tally
reached 199 and its total medals to 416, both Asian Games records.
(AFP, 11/27/10)
2010 Bruce Lourie and Rick
Smith authored “Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of
Everyday Things.”
(SFC, 3/12/10, p.F8)
2011 Jan 25, It was reported
that Poland's state-run National Remembrance Institute has created a
new game called "Kolejka," or "Queue," to help young Poles
understand the hardships of life under communism. It goes on sale
Feb. 5.
(AP, 1/25/11)
2011 Feb 26, In Japan
Nintendo's latest game machine, offering glasses-free 3-D images,
went on sale ahead of a global rollout. Analysts said it promises to
be the world's first 3-D mass-market product.
(AP, 2/26/11)
2011 Mar, IBM began teaching a
computer chip, called Synapse, to play Pong. The chip was designed
to learn through experience and after a few weeks it was nearly
unbeatable.
(SFC, 11/7/11, p.D1)
2011 Apr 15, Indictments were
unsealed in Manhattan against 11 people including the founders of
three of the largest online poker sites open to US players.
PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were charged with
bank fraud, money laundering and violating gambling laws.
(SFC, 4/16/11, p.A6)(Econ, 4/23/11, p.68)
2011 Apr 19, Sony Corp. in the
US noticed unauthorized activity on its network, and discovered that
data had been transferred off the network the next day. The
company's general counsel gave the FBI information about the breach
on April 22.
(AP, 5/4/11)
2011 Apr 20, South Korean
telecoms operator KT rolled out Kibot, a robot playmate for
children, in a move aimed at cashing in on the potentially lucrative
industry.
(AFP, 4/20/11)
2011 Apr 21, Mattel Inc, after
waging a seven-year legal war against a tiny California company,
suffered a surprise defeat after a US jury decided that MGA
Entertainment Inc is the rightful owner of the once-billion dollar
line of pouty-lipped Bratz dolls.
(AP, 4/21/11)
2011 May 23, Bradley Franzen
(41) pleaded guilty in a Manhattan court to bank fraud, money
laundering and illegal gambling offenses. The US president of a
Costa Rica-based company faced up to 30 years in prison for
illegally processing payments for Internet poker firms.
(AFP, 5/23/11)
2011 May 25, Austrian
authorities filed incitement charges against a right-wing politician
for commissioning a video game that required players to target and
stop mosques, minarets and muezzins as they pop up on a screen.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 Jun 19, Japanese game
maker Sega said hackers have stolen the personal data of some 1.29
million customers of the, in a theft via a website of its European
unit.
(AP, 6/19/11)
2011 Jun 27, The US Supreme
Court refused to let California regulate the sale or rental of
violent video games to children, saying governments do not have the
power to "restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed"
despite complaints about graphic violence.
(AP, 6/27/11)
2011 Oct 14, An Austrian court
found right-wing politician Gerhard Kurzmann not guilty of charges
of incitement for posting a video game called "Moschee Baba," that
required players to target and stop mosques, minarets and muezzins
as they appear on a screen.
(AP, 10/14/11)
2011 Nov 8, Activision released
the video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” developed Infinity
Ward and Sledgehammer Games. It sold a record $750 million in its
first five days.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR
p.3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_Modern_Warfare_3)
2011 Nov 11, Indonesia opened
the 26th Southeast Asian Games with more than 6,000 athletes from 11
countries participating in the biennial games.
(AP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 22, In Indonesia the
Southeast Asian Games were formally closed by Indonesia Vice
President Budiono. Indonesia earned a table-topping 182 golds among
476 medals, followed by Thailand with 109 among 329.
(AP, 11/22/11)
2011 Dec 16, Zynga, a SF-based
game company, went public for $10 a share, valuing the company at $1
billion. Shares closed down 5% at $9.50.
(SFC, 12/16/11, p.A1)(SFC, 12/17/11, p.A1)
2011 Jane McGonigal authored
“Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can change
the World.”
(Econ, 3/19/11, p.94)
Go to
http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Games, Toys
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