WEBVTT

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Quick trivia question.

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What do these classic
board games have in common?

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They were all made by these
brothers, the Parker brothers.

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For over 100 years,
Parker Brothers was

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America's number one

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game maker with over
1,800 game titles

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and billions sold worldwide.

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But their rise to a
board game monopoly

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is full of risks
that boggle the mind.

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Did you know that one of
their best-selling games

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eventually became
an Olympic sport?

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- That's crazy to me.

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Or that one of
their biggest hits of the 1960s

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was actually invented
in the 1880s?

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- Talking to dead
people, big business.

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And you'll
never believe

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where this iconic product
got its catchy name.

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You may think you know
all about the toys

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that built America, but
there's more to this story.

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I'm Adam Richmond.

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Do not pass Go, roll
again for the full story

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behind Parker Brothers.

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In 1969, Parker Brothers is
one of the top toy companies

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in America, thanks to their
bread and butter product,

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board games.

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But a new CEO, Eddie
Parker, has just taken over,

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and he's about to either
revolutionize the toy industry

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or sink his family's legacy.

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He's taking a big risk

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with their company's
latest product,

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which is not their
hit game Risk.

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In fact, it's not a
board game at all.

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It's a ball?

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And not just any ball,

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it's an indoor ball that
will go on to become

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a $500 million goldmine.

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But which ball?

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And why did America's
biggest board game company

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do a total 180
and go from making

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the quiet, thoughtful games
that built their brand

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to bouncing off the walls?

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To understand that, we
need to make a quick detour

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back to the beginning.

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Before Parker Brothers
was even in business

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and board games lived up to
their name by being boring.

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Less than two decades
after the Civil War,

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the country is rebuilding
and innovating.

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The Brooklyn Bridge
has recently opened.

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Telephones have just connected
the east coast to the Midwest

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and Americans are beginning to
enjoy a totally new concept,

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leisure time.

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- Americans used to
spend the time working,

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eating, and sleeping,

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but then Saturdays
became a half day,

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and electricity
got commercialized,

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One person
taking advantage

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of that leisure time is
16-year-old George Parker,

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the youngest of three brothers
in Salem, Massachusetts.

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Instead of working
in a factory line

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like he might've done
just a generation ago,

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they're doing something
relatively rare in America.

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Playing board games.

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- Even though board games had
been around since the 1820s,

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more than 60 years later,

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there still wasn't a
lot to choose from.

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And the games that did exist,

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like Milton Bradley's The
Checkered Game of Life

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tried to impart some sort of
moral wisdom about the church.

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Tired of dull
morality lessons,

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George decides to
make his own fun game.

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- Think you're really
onto something.

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Encouraged by
his brothers

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and inspired by titans of
industry like Vanderbilt

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and Rockefeller,
young George earns $50

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selling currants picked
from the family orchard

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then quickly publishes 500 sets

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of his new game called Banking.

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It's actually more
exciting than it sounds,

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at least for the time.

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- Banks officially became
chartered in the 1860s.

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So by the 1880s, banking
and banks are a hot topic.

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Everyone wants to learn more,

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and that was the genius
behind the Banking game.

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It allowed everyone
to experience banking

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without using real money.

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Gone are the dull
morality lessons of old.

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Here's a game built
around the thrill

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of making tons of money,

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even if it's just pretend money.

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In short order, George
enlists his older brothers,

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Charles and Edward to join him.

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And they form, you guessed
it, Parker Brothers.

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By the late 1880s, their
catalog features 29 games,

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most invented by George himself.

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He's also responsible
for doing something

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unheard of at the time,

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advertising in newspapers
and magazines.

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- Back in the late 19th century,

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spending money on advertising
for toys and games

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was not something
that anyone did.

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Consumers would go to
their local toy shop

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and talk to the toy store owner

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and see what was new that way.

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So when Parker Brothers decided
to invest in advertising,

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it was a really expensive risk.

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The risk pays off.

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Annual sales grow from
$500 their first year

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to a whopping $110,000 by 1898,

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over $3.6 million today.

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Now a wealthy man in his 30s,

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George's philosophy
remains the same,

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games shouldn't impart
morals, they should be fun.

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Case in point, in 1902
on a trip to England,

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he discovers a popular
new ball bouncing game

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named for the sounds
it makes, ping pong.

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Recognizing the game's potential

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to be a massive American hit,

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George quickly
acquires the rights

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to use the name
Ping Pong in the US.

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Costing just $1 for the set,

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which includes two paddles,
several balls

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and a net you can string
across any table.

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The game is an overhand
smash for Parker Brothers,

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and will even go on to become
an Olympic sport in 1988,

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thanks in part to George Parker
popularizing it in the US.

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Annual sales in 1902
reached $346,000,

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over 11 million today.

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And by 1910, they're America's
biggest game company,

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surpassing Milton
Bradley for the top spot.

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But there's a problem.

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- Parker Brothers had a
trademark on Ping Pong,

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but that didn't
stop rival companies

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from creating their
own copycat games

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and just calling
them table tennis.

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Ping Pong sales plummet

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as more customers buy the
cheaper knock-off versions.

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So George sets his
sights on creating

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a completely original game,
one that can't be copied

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and will allow him to have
an exclusive monopoly.

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The good news is a man
is about to come calling

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with just such a game.

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The bad news, oof,
wait 'til you find out.

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- What in God's name
were you thinking?

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It's the 1920s and Parker
Brothers is the top game maker

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in the country, beating former
number one, Milton Bradley.

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Sales hit an all-time
high of $1.3 million,

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over 19 million today.

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And another banner year
seems in the books for 1929.

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Nothing can stop the fun
and games except this.

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- The Great Depression
was a shocking event,

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and it forces these
industries either to economize

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and survive or to go into
chapter 11 bankruptcy.

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Forced to lay
off nearly half his workers,

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George considers
selling the company

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unless they find a miracle.

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As fate would have
it, a Philadelphia man

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named Charles Darrow
might have that miracle.

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But when Parker Brothers
execs test drive

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the new submission,
they hate it.

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- It was a game that
taught against

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the evils of monopolies.

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How landlords shouldn't
be allowed to

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increase their rents.

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Yet when Darrow
publishes the game himself,

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it's a surprise hit,

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quickly selling out in
Philadelphia's Wanamaker's

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and New York's
iconic FAO Schwarz.

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So maybe Parker Brothers
was wrong about this game.

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- What in God's name
were you thinking?

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Whoops.

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- Now get him in here
before someone else does.

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They
quickly right the ship,

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buying the rights from Darrow

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for the hit real
estate game, Monopoly.

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Parker Brothers is ready
to take the world by storm.

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And George is thrilled
to finally have a game

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that can't be copied without
infringing on his trademark.

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There's one problem.

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Someone else already
patented a similar game

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30 years earlier.

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What's worse, she even pitched
it to George Parker himself.

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This game
will open people's eyes.

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- I'm afraid it has
no chance of success.

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Having been
burned before with copyrights,

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George takes inspiration

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from the very game
he seeks to publish.

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- I'll sell you the
rights to my game.

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By buying
out the competition

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for just 500 bucks.

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With the market cornered,
Parker brothers releases

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the new and improved
Monopoly in 1935

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and it's an instant hit,

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even in the middle
of the depression,

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or maybe because
of the depression.

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- It was just a fantasy
that so many people

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who were hit so hard
economically

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just couldn't resist.

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By the end of 1936,

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they sell over 1.8
million copies,

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earning an unprecedented
$1 million in profit,

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over $15 million today.

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It will go on to be
published in 47 languages

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and played by over
a billion people,

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making it the best
selling privately patented

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board game of all time.

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But in the 1940s, things
begin to slow down.

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Sales of Monopoly slump
to 1/10 of their peak,

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while George Parker,
now in his 80s, retires,

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passing the reins to his
son-in-law, Robert Barton.

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Inheriting sluggish sales,
Barton scours the globe

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for the next trend in games.

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While investigating
popular titles in the UK,

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he discovers a killer
game with a dark history.

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- A British factory worker
by the name of Anthony Pratt

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was actually holed
up in his house

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during the World War II
air raids with his wife.

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- There was not much
they could do except read

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detective novels by candlelight,

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and it inspired them to create
a murder mystery board game.

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When Barton
acquires the American rights

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for Clue in 1949, the
timing could not be better,

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and "Sam Spade" boost interest

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in mystery-based entertainment.

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That year,

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Clue helps Parker Brothers hit
$2.6 million in sales.

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But they aren't the
only post-war success story.

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Old rival Milton Bradley has
a massive hit for younger kids

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called Candy Land.

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While a Long Island
company triple word scores

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with Scrabble, a game

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that quickly rivals
Monopoly in sales.

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For the first time in decades,

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Parker Brothers is in
danger of getting booted out

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of their number one spot.

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So to beat back the competition,

00:10:42.563 --> 00:10:45.574
they're gambling on a
risky French alliance

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to help them conquer the world.

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It's the 1950s and Parker
Brothers is realizing

00:10:52.575 --> 00:10:54.585
they're no longer the
only game in town,

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but instead of trying to
copy Milton Bradley's success

00:10:57.247 --> 00:10:59.248
with the grade school crowd,

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Parker Brothers aims to conquer
the teen and adult market

00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:06.597
by making an American version
of a popular French game

00:11:06.756 --> 00:11:09.842
called La Conquete Du Monde.

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Ooh la la, sounds lovely,
but what does it mean?

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To conquer the world.

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While many Parker Brothers
execs think the game

00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:20.861
has a certain je ne sais quoi,

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its title has some worried
about making a faux pas.

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- In the 1950s,
America was tired.

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We had World War II.
We had the Korean war.

00:11:29.705 --> 00:11:31.447
There was a lot going
on, a lot of death,

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a lot of blood.

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- Educators were wary of
games and toys for kids

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that were based on war.

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So Parker Brothers
was a little hesitant

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about creating a game
called To Conquer the World.

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The solution
to the problematic title

00:11:45.387 --> 00:11:47.463
comes from an unlikely place.

00:11:47.556 --> 00:11:50.057
A Parker Brothers salesmen
simply combines the initials

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of his four
grandchildren and voila.

00:11:56.556 --> 00:11:58.640
Thanks to clever
ads like this one,

00:11:58.725 --> 00:12:02.478
Risk is the must have
holiday item of 1959,

00:12:02.571 --> 00:12:04.822
stuffing $1 million in revenue

00:12:04.981 --> 00:12:06.398
into their Christmas stockings.

00:12:06.483 --> 00:12:10.077
But an influx of popular,
active toys like the Frisbee

00:12:10.236 --> 00:12:13.581
and Hula Hoop proves to
be a serious competition.

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So Parker Brothers decides
their next board game

00:12:16.242 --> 00:12:18.085
should be more
active and lively,

00:12:18.244 --> 00:12:20.746
which is ironic since
the game they acquire

00:12:20.839 --> 00:12:23.332
is all about
talking to the dead.

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Spending nearly $1 million
on the most expensive

00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:29.338
product acquisition in
the company's history,

00:12:29.431 --> 00:12:32.433
the Ouija Board is older
than Parker Brothers itself.

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- The Ouija board can
actually trace its roots

00:12:34.603 --> 00:12:36.604
back to the 1880s in America,

00:12:36.688 --> 00:12:39.765
when spiritualism was
really, really popular.

00:12:39.849 --> 00:12:42.109
People wanted to
commune with the dead.

00:12:42.194 --> 00:12:44.186
They wanted answers
and they wanted it

00:12:44.270 --> 00:12:46.947
in a really inexpensive
and meaningful way.

00:12:47.032 --> 00:12:48.616
During World War I,

00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:50.951
the Ouija Board
became so commonplace

00:12:51.036 --> 00:12:53.954
that it made the cover of
the Saturday Evening Post,

00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:57.124
and over a five month
period during World War II,

00:12:57.283 --> 00:13:01.537
a single New York department
stores sold 50,000 of them.

00:13:01.630 --> 00:13:05.707
Now in the late 1960s during
the height of the Vietnam War,

00:13:05.792 --> 00:13:08.877
Parker Brothers is betting
that Americans are once again

00:13:08.962 --> 00:13:13.465
seeking answers and Ouija
happily provides those answers.

00:13:13.550 --> 00:13:16.393
- Parker Brothers
sells 2.3 million units

00:13:16.553 --> 00:13:19.054
of the Ouija Board in 1967.

00:13:19.138 --> 00:13:21.306
It outsold their number
one game, Monopoly,

00:13:21.391 --> 00:13:23.734
by 300,000 units.

00:13:23.819 --> 00:13:27.154
That's insane. I mean,
what a huge success.

00:13:27.239 --> 00:13:29.898
The following
year, going out on top,

00:13:29.991 --> 00:13:33.735
Robert Barton retires, passing
the reins to his nephew,

00:13:33.829 --> 00:13:37.998
Eddie Parker, and Eddie's first
decision is a radical one.

00:13:38.083 --> 00:13:40.576
Instead of trying to find
the next big board game,

00:13:40.660 --> 00:13:44.004
Eddie searches for the next
Hula Hoop or Frisbee craze,

00:13:44.163 --> 00:13:46.665
an active toy that
will get kids moving.

00:13:46.749 --> 00:13:49.251
Incredibly, the toy
that he discovers

00:13:49.344 --> 00:13:52.012
dates back to prehistoric times,

00:13:53.682 --> 00:13:54.473
sort of.

00:13:59.262 --> 00:14:02.857
It's 1969, Vietnam,
Woodstock, the moon landing,

00:14:04.109 --> 00:14:05.526
the times are
definitely changing.

00:14:05.685 --> 00:14:08.279
And Parker Brothers
is no exception.

00:14:08.363 --> 00:14:11.198
Eager to move the company
forward as the next generation

00:14:11.357 --> 00:14:14.109
of toy buyers seek
more dynamic toys,

00:14:14.193 --> 00:14:16.445
Eddie Parker meets
with Reyn Guyer,

00:14:16.538 --> 00:14:19.874
the man behind Milton
Bradley's recent hit, Twister.

00:14:21.543 --> 00:14:25.546
And Guyer's new toy idea
has a mammoth origin story.

00:14:25.630 --> 00:14:27.548
- After his success
with Twister,

00:14:27.632 --> 00:14:31.302
Reynolds Guyer came up with
this idea for a caveman game,

00:14:31.386 --> 00:14:34.638
with rocks that were made
out of this foam material.

00:14:34.797 --> 00:14:37.057
- So he's sitting around with
his team when they get bored,

00:14:37.216 --> 00:14:40.052
and they start taking
these foam rocks

00:14:40.145 --> 00:14:42.387
and bouncing them
off of this net.

00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.641
And he has his Eureka moment.

00:14:45.725 --> 00:14:47.902
- He goes "hey, let's
scrap the caveman game

00:14:48.061 --> 00:14:50.979
and make a game just
about the foam balls."

00:14:51.072 --> 00:14:53.490
Guyer's old
employer, Milton Bradley,

00:14:53.650 --> 00:14:54.992
passes on the new idea,

00:14:55.076 --> 00:14:57.661
allowing Parker Brothers
to snag the rights,

00:14:57.746 --> 00:15:00.748
except they don't like the
indoor volleyball game.

00:15:00.832 --> 00:15:02.750
They just like the ball.

00:15:02.834 --> 00:15:06.337
They even come up with a
clever name for it, Nerf.

00:15:06.421 --> 00:15:08.580
While some claim Nerf stands for

00:15:08.673 --> 00:15:11.833
non-expanding recreational foam,

00:15:11.918 --> 00:15:14.920
which is not even
remotely factual.

00:15:15.004 --> 00:15:18.173
The actual source of the
name is even more bizarre.

00:15:18.266 --> 00:15:21.176
- In the '60s, drag
racing was really popular,

00:15:21.260 --> 00:15:23.604
and there were trucks that
moved the dragsters in

00:15:23.763 --> 00:15:25.522
the position and they
had foam on

00:15:25.607 --> 00:15:27.432
the bumper so it's not to
scratch them.

00:15:27.517 --> 00:15:29.601
And they called that a Nerf.

00:15:29.686 --> 00:15:32.604
Parker Brothers thought
that it applied to the ball,

00:15:32.697 --> 00:15:35.023
since it was soft,
fun, and safe.

00:15:35.116 --> 00:15:38.026
Marketing it as
the world's first indoor ball,

00:15:38.119 --> 00:15:41.038
Parker Brothers puts all
of their mighty resources

00:15:41.122 --> 00:15:44.041
behind the new toy,
including this 1970 ad

00:15:44.125 --> 00:15:45.617
featuring The Monkees.

00:15:45.702 --> 00:15:46.961
- Hey, what are
those things anyway?

00:15:47.045 --> 00:15:48.453
- They're Nerf balls.

00:15:48.538 --> 00:15:50.881
Spongy foam that
doesn't hurt anything.

00:15:50.966 --> 00:15:53.717
Nerf quickly
flies off the shelves.

00:15:53.802 --> 00:15:57.805
In fact, four million Nerf
balls are sold that year,

00:15:57.889 --> 00:16:02.551
boosting total revenue for
Parker Brothers to $36 million,

00:16:02.644 --> 00:16:05.104
double what it had been
just a decade earlier.

00:16:06.889 --> 00:16:10.901
Parker Brothers turns Nerf
into a juggernaut in 1972,

00:16:10.986 --> 00:16:13.737
thanks in part to commercials
with enthusiastic jingles

00:16:13.822 --> 00:16:15.480
selling their newest product.

00:16:15.573 --> 00:16:18.567
Nerf footballs, ra ra ra

00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:20.902
Selling an
all-time high of eight million

00:16:20.987 --> 00:16:24.740
footballs in 1979,
Parker Brothers soars

00:16:24.824 --> 00:16:29.003
into the record books with
$100 million in sales.

00:16:29.087 --> 00:16:31.755
But as America
rolls into the '80s,

00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.591
a new trend has Parker
Brothers in the crosshairs.

00:16:35.011 --> 00:16:38.013
launching a new line of
Nerf products with this ad.

00:16:38.172 --> 00:16:39.506
The
world is your arcade

00:16:39.590 --> 00:16:41.016
when you take aim with Nerf.

00:16:43.344 --> 00:16:45.595
- Nerf guns made
me feel like Rambo.

00:16:45.688 --> 00:16:48.431
The best part was because
the foam balls don't hurt,

00:16:48.525 --> 00:16:51.693
you can hit your kid brother
in the face and run away.

00:16:51.778 --> 00:16:53.195
I'm sure my mom
didn't appreciate it.

00:16:53.354 --> 00:16:54.521
Set
your sights on Nerf,

00:16:54.605 --> 00:16:56.189
'cause it's Nerf or nothin'.

00:16:56.274 --> 00:16:59.284
By 1982, Parker
Brothers' total annual sales

00:16:59.443 --> 00:17:02.120
near $200 million.

00:17:02.205 --> 00:17:05.282
But some executives feel that
number could be even higher

00:17:05.375 --> 00:17:08.034
if they ventured into the
home video game market

00:17:08.127 --> 00:17:10.379
made wildly popular by Atari,

00:17:10.463 --> 00:17:13.549
whose sales just
topped two billion.

00:17:13.708 --> 00:17:15.792
So Parker Brothers
spends a small fortune

00:17:15.885 --> 00:17:18.804
making home video games
based on hit arcade games,

00:17:18.888 --> 00:17:21.798
including Star Wars and Frogger.

00:17:21.882 --> 00:17:24.142
But the timing
couldn't be worse.

00:17:24.302 --> 00:17:25.552
- Like any bubble,

00:17:25.636 --> 00:17:27.053
eventually you're going
to go off the cliff.

00:17:27.146 --> 00:17:29.314
And so here in America, in 1983,

00:17:29.399 --> 00:17:31.558
we had this video game crash.

00:17:31.642 --> 00:17:35.395
Reporting $10
million in losses in 1985,

00:17:35.488 --> 00:17:38.240
the company is in
serious trouble.

00:17:38.399 --> 00:17:41.151
Meanwhile, a couple of
newspaper guys from Canada

00:17:41.235 --> 00:17:43.069
have struck it big
with the surprise hit

00:17:43.154 --> 00:17:44.988
board game of the '80s.

00:17:45.072 --> 00:17:48.083
So in a last gasp to
turn things around,

00:17:48.167 --> 00:17:50.752
what popular question
and answer game

00:17:50.837 --> 00:17:53.830
did Parker Brothers
acquire in 1988?

00:17:53.923 --> 00:17:57.083
- In the early '80s,
Trivial Pursuit gave birth

00:17:57.168 --> 00:18:01.513
to the adult game category,
and all of a sudden,

00:18:01.598 --> 00:18:04.016
everybody was having
Trivial Pursuit parties.

00:18:04.100 --> 00:18:06.685
So it really became a
cultural phenomenon.

00:18:06.769 --> 00:18:10.180
A few years
later, toy conglomerate Hasbro

00:18:10.264 --> 00:18:13.516
makes Parker Brothers an
offer they can't refuse,

00:18:13.610 --> 00:18:17.270
buying them out for over
half a billion dollars,

00:18:17.355 --> 00:18:18.605
and eventually merging them

00:18:18.698 --> 00:18:21.191
with former rival
Milton Bradley.

00:18:21.284 --> 00:18:23.952
But Parker Brothers can
hold their head high,

00:18:24.111 --> 00:18:25.362
because of the top
five best-selling

00:18:25.446 --> 00:18:26.696
patented board games

00:18:26.781 --> 00:18:28.540
of all time, Parker Brothers

00:18:28.699 --> 00:18:30.459
is directly responsible

00:18:30.543 --> 00:18:32.452
for over half of them.

00:18:32.536 --> 00:18:33.462
One even became

00:18:33.546 --> 00:18:35.047
a cult classic film.

00:18:35.884 --> 00:18:37.301
Started
with just 50 bucks

00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:40.212
by a teenager who
revolutionized an industry

00:18:40.305 --> 00:18:43.724
when he dared to believe
that games should be fun.

00:18:43.808 --> 00:18:45.768
Parker
Brothers kind of fun.