WEBVTT

00:00:01.668 --> 00:00:03.669
Candy Land, Battleship,

00:00:03.753 --> 00:00:06.171
Twister, the Game of Life.

00:00:06.256 --> 00:00:08.915
These iconic games come from
one of the biggest names

00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:10.417
in the toy industry.

00:00:10.510 --> 00:00:12.002
Milton Bradley!

00:00:12.086 --> 00:00:15.264
Since Milton Bradley
founded his company in 1860,

00:00:15.423 --> 00:00:17.507
over 200 classic game titles

00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:19.926
have sold billions
around the world.

00:00:20.020 --> 00:00:21.178
But the surprising story

00:00:21.262 --> 00:00:23.272
of how they climbed
the ladder of success

00:00:23.356 --> 00:00:25.682
wouldn't be possible
without a few twists-

00:00:25.775 --> 00:00:27.350
- People were
afraid of the game.

00:00:27.435 --> 00:00:29.278
They didn't want
young kids playing it.

00:00:29.437 --> 00:00:30.270
Turns-

00:00:30.363 --> 00:00:31.938
- That game would
not have existed

00:00:32.032 --> 00:00:34.450
if it had not been for
the polio epidemic.

00:00:34.609 --> 00:00:36.359
And Abe
Lincoln's beard?

00:00:36.444 --> 00:00:38.945
- Abe grew a beard, and suddenly
they launch an industry.

00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.289
- That's insane!

00:00:40.448 --> 00:00:41.790
I'm growing a beard
now.

00:00:41.949 --> 00:00:42.949
You may think you know

00:00:43.043 --> 00:00:45.118
all about the toys
that built America,

00:00:45.211 --> 00:00:46.787
but there's more to the story.

00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:47.871
I'm Adam Richmond.

00:00:47.964 --> 00:00:49.465
Choose your game
piece and get ready

00:00:49.624 --> 00:00:54.127
for the start-to-finish story
of, guess who, Milton Bradley.

00:01:00.310 --> 00:01:05.222
In 1966, the Milton Bradley
Company is in trouble.

00:01:05.807 --> 00:01:07.232
They haven't had a bonafide hit

00:01:07.391 --> 00:01:09.318
since Candy Land
over a decade ago,

00:01:09.477 --> 00:01:10.977
and they're getting crushed

00:01:11.071 --> 00:01:13.730
by their biggest
competitor, Parker Brothers.

00:01:13.823 --> 00:01:15.991
So, Milton Bradley
bets its future

00:01:16.076 --> 00:01:18.744
on a radically new kind of game.

00:01:18.828 --> 00:01:22.581
But when it debuts at the
1966 Toy Fair in New York,

00:01:22.665 --> 00:01:23.749
no one likes it.

00:01:23.833 --> 00:01:26.418
Sears refuses to put
it in their catalog,

00:01:26.577 --> 00:01:28.012
calling it too risque,
while others deem it to be

00:01:28.175 --> 00:01:29.917
prompting Milton
Bradley to announce

00:01:30.001 --> 00:01:32.086
they will cancel production.

00:01:32.179 --> 00:01:34.030
So, what was this
controversial game

00:01:34.089 --> 00:01:36.016
and how did it go from
the brink of death

00:01:36.175 --> 00:01:38.369
to becoming an icon in the
National Toy Hall of Fame?

00:01:38.431 --> 00:01:41.358
before the Milton Bradley
Company even existed

00:01:41.517 --> 00:01:42.851
and the United States itself

00:01:42.944 --> 00:01:47.531
was in danger of no longer
existing, way back in 1860.

00:01:47.616 --> 00:01:49.366
A divided America
is in the middle

00:01:49.451 --> 00:01:51.610
of a heated presidential race.

00:01:51.694 --> 00:01:55.623
Vying for the Republican
nomination is Abraham Lincoln,

00:01:55.707 --> 00:01:57.866
who is kind of a big deal.

00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:01.462
And one person eager to cash
in on Lincoln's popularity

00:02:01.621 --> 00:02:04.882
is 24-year-old printmaker
Milton Bradley.

00:02:04.966 --> 00:02:06.800
The Springfield,
Massachusetts man

00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.378
churns out thousands
of lithograph prints

00:02:09.471 --> 00:02:11.129
of the presidential candidate,

00:02:11.214 --> 00:02:13.715
which sell very well
at first.

00:02:13.808 --> 00:02:16.894
But when Honest Abe
decides to grow a beard,

00:02:17.053 --> 00:02:20.814
he inadvertently ruins Milton's
new business in the process.

00:02:22.475 --> 00:02:24.818
- And the moment he began
to appear in newspapers

00:02:24.903 --> 00:02:29.073
wearing his new beard,
sales of the poster dried up

00:02:29.157 --> 00:02:32.484
and Bradley had this
big unsold inventory.

00:02:32.568 --> 00:02:34.244
On the
verge of bankruptcy,

00:02:34.404 --> 00:02:36.163
Milton is at the
end of his rope.

00:02:37.990 --> 00:02:41.001
Luckily, his best friend has
the cure for what ails him:

00:02:41.160 --> 00:02:42.577
a new kind of game.

00:02:42.662 --> 00:02:44.421
- George, I don't have the
money to gamble on card games.

00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:47.341
- Well, this isn't cards.

00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:49.593
While chess,
checkers, and backgammon

00:02:49.752 --> 00:02:51.178
have been around for centuries,

00:02:51.337 --> 00:02:54.181
a new board game is
gaining popularity.

00:02:54.340 --> 00:02:57.592
- His close childhood
friend named George Tapley

00:02:57.677 --> 00:03:02.264
has with him one of the very
first American board games,

00:03:02.357 --> 00:03:04.358
called the Mansion of Happiness.

00:03:04.517 --> 00:03:06.518
The game is
typical of the era,

00:03:06.611 --> 00:03:10.188
as in it's kind of
preachy and boring.

00:03:10.281 --> 00:03:12.357
- Games in the
mid- and late-1800s

00:03:12.442 --> 00:03:15.869
were incredibly education
focused and morally focused.

00:03:16.028 --> 00:03:18.780
They weren't exactly fun
the way we think of now.

00:03:18.873 --> 00:03:21.625
Yet even this
preachy game has its perks.

00:03:21.710 --> 00:03:23.127
- Four, five, six.

00:03:23.286 --> 00:03:25.379
The Mansion of Happiness.
- Well done.

00:03:25.463 --> 00:03:28.465
Because it gives
Milton a brilliant idea.

00:03:28.624 --> 00:03:29.800
- I think it's magnificent.

00:03:29.884 --> 00:03:32.127
He'll use his
idle lithograph machine

00:03:32.211 --> 00:03:33.962
to make a new board game,

00:03:34.046 --> 00:03:37.391
one that's more fun than the
puritanical fare of the day.

00:03:37.550 --> 00:03:38.642
Milton gets to work,

00:03:38.801 --> 00:03:40.719
using the pattern of a
standard checkerboard

00:03:40.812 --> 00:03:44.639
to create the
Checkered Game of Life.

00:03:44.733 --> 00:03:48.977
The object is to move from
infancy to happy old age,

00:03:49.061 --> 00:03:50.821
avoiding ruined
by earning points

00:03:50.905 --> 00:03:52.731
for landing on positive spaces

00:03:52.824 --> 00:03:56.493
like honesty,
perseverance, or college,

00:03:56.652 --> 00:04:01.415
while avoiding bad spaces
like idleness, crime, and...

00:04:01.908 --> 00:04:02.908
Suicide?

00:04:03.001 --> 00:04:05.169
- While a game that
involves suicide

00:04:05.253 --> 00:04:07.829
doesn't really seem
like a whole lot of fun,

00:04:07.922 --> 00:04:10.665
Milton Bradley realized he
couldn't reinvent the wheel,

00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:14.094
and he was hoping that this
would really create a success.

00:04:14.253 --> 00:04:16.680
- The Checkered Game of
Life is an instant hit,

00:04:16.765 --> 00:04:19.767
selling 40,000 copies
in less than a year.

00:04:19.926 --> 00:04:24.229
Milton seems poised to take
the world by storm, until...

00:04:25.440 --> 00:04:27.608
Remember that divided nation?

00:04:27.767 --> 00:04:29.935
It seems Milton's new
business will have to wait

00:04:30.028 --> 00:04:34.189
'til the war is over,
but fate has other plans.

00:04:34.273 --> 00:04:39.870
- A company of Massachusetts
infantrymen are in Springfield.

00:04:40.029 --> 00:04:41.446
And when Bradley walks past,

00:04:41.539 --> 00:04:43.448
he noticed that they
had nothing to do.

00:04:43.533 --> 00:04:46.785
That's when he
has another brilliant idea.

00:04:46.878 --> 00:04:49.037
He'll help boost morale
by giving the soldiers

00:04:49.121 --> 00:04:50.547
copies of his new game.

00:04:51.958 --> 00:04:54.218
The only problem: The
Checkered Game of Life

00:04:54.302 --> 00:04:57.971
is too big to fit in
a soldier's backpack.

00:04:58.130 --> 00:05:00.215
So, he cleverly decides
to shrink the board

00:05:00.299 --> 00:05:01.883
and everything
that goes with it,

00:05:01.968 --> 00:05:04.886
even including pieces to
play chess and checkers,

00:05:04.979 --> 00:05:09.057
creating the first ever
mass-produced travel-sized game.

00:05:09.150 --> 00:05:14.729
- It's reported that Bradley
sold 270,000 of these

00:05:14.823 --> 00:05:15.814
within the first year.

00:05:15.907 --> 00:05:18.567
This, more so than
the Game of Life,

00:05:18.651 --> 00:05:20.318
established his business.

00:05:20.411 --> 00:05:22.571
And with movies,
radio, and television

00:05:22.664 --> 00:05:24.832
still decades from taking off,

00:05:24.991 --> 00:05:27.409
board games are one of
the most popular forms

00:05:27.502 --> 00:05:28.827
of home entertainment,

00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:30.579
which is good news
for Milton Bradley.

00:05:30.672 --> 00:05:32.422
- Milton Bradley is doing great.

00:05:32.507 --> 00:05:34.916
He's got games, he's
getting into puzzles.

00:05:35.009 --> 00:05:39.337
He is really cashing in
on fads that are going on.

00:05:39.422 --> 00:05:42.007
- One of those
fads: traveling,

00:05:42.100 --> 00:05:44.935
made glamorous by the
popular Jules Verne novel

00:05:45.019 --> 00:05:47.345
"Around the World in 80 Days."

00:05:47.430 --> 00:05:50.098
And when famed
journalist Nellie Bly

00:05:50.191 --> 00:05:54.352
actually pulls off the epic
journey in just 72 days,

00:05:54.445 --> 00:05:57.022
Milton Bradley launches
a new board game

00:05:57.106 --> 00:05:58.824
to capitalize on the craze.

00:06:00.109 --> 00:06:02.202
By 1900, Milton Bradley

00:06:02.287 --> 00:06:05.539
is the most prolific
gaming company in America.

00:06:05.698 --> 00:06:09.710
But in 1911, at the
happy old age of 74,

00:06:09.869 --> 00:06:11.545
Milton Bradley dies.

00:06:11.629 --> 00:06:12.880
And without their founder,

00:06:12.964 --> 00:06:15.707
the company struggles to
find another breakout hit

00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:18.468
like they had with the
Checkered Game of Life.

00:06:19.888 --> 00:06:21.722
Throughout the 1910s and '20s,

00:06:21.881 --> 00:06:24.299
they released titles
like Uncle Wiggily,

00:06:24.383 --> 00:06:27.969
Pirate and Traveler,
and something called...

00:06:28.054 --> 00:06:29.471
Cootie?

00:06:29.564 --> 00:06:34.142
But as you can probably guess,
none stand the test of time,

00:06:34.235 --> 00:06:38.655
until finally, in 1934, a
man submits a game to them

00:06:38.814 --> 00:06:39.740
that will go on to become

00:06:39.899 --> 00:06:42.159
the country's
best-selling board game.

00:06:42.318 --> 00:06:45.162
Only, it won't be
for Milton Bradley.

00:06:45.321 --> 00:06:47.322
- Milton Bradley
gets back to him

00:06:47.415 --> 00:06:50.492
and they just give a
terse, "No thank you."

00:06:50.585 --> 00:06:52.243
When Parker
brothers swoops it up,

00:06:52.328 --> 00:06:53.837
they overtake Milton Bradley

00:06:53.996 --> 00:06:55.672
as America's biggest game maker

00:06:55.831 --> 00:06:57.382
with the number one game...

00:06:58.751 --> 00:06:59.927
Monopoly.

00:07:00.086 --> 00:07:02.504
- It was the perfect
game at the perfect time.

00:07:02.588 --> 00:07:04.181
By the
end of the 1930s,

00:07:04.265 --> 00:07:06.099
with no big hits like Monopoly

00:07:06.258 --> 00:07:08.093
to help them weather
the Great Depression,

00:07:08.186 --> 00:07:11.271
the Milton Bradley Company
is on its deathbed.

00:07:11.430 --> 00:07:14.608
Ironically, they're about
to be nursed back to life

00:07:14.692 --> 00:07:15.692
in a hospital.

00:07:19.864 --> 00:07:23.200
It's 1940, and Milton Bradley
is close to going belly up.

00:07:23.284 --> 00:07:25.527
After a string of
lackluster games

00:07:25.611 --> 00:07:27.112
and a crippling depression,

00:07:27.196 --> 00:07:30.365
they've lost money
11 years in a row.

00:07:30.449 --> 00:07:32.867
To save the company, they
cut their board game line

00:07:32.961 --> 00:07:37.714
from 410 titles to 150 and
focus on building parts

00:07:37.799 --> 00:07:39.800
for World War II
fighter jets instead.

00:07:41.127 --> 00:07:43.053
The government contracts
keep them going.

00:07:43.137 --> 00:07:45.296
But after the war,
they need to find

00:07:45.390 --> 00:07:47.966
a way to become
profitable, fast.

00:07:48.050 --> 00:07:51.728
Then, in 1949, retired
school teacher Eleanor Abbott

00:07:51.813 --> 00:07:53.221
solves their problem.

00:07:53.305 --> 00:07:57.567
- She was recovering from
polio in a San Diego hospital,

00:07:57.652 --> 00:08:00.070
and she took pity on
all the poor children

00:08:00.154 --> 00:08:01.905
and decided she
would cheer them up

00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:04.482
by inventing a simple
children's game.

00:08:04.567 --> 00:08:07.485
- A game that didn't
require any reading skills.

00:08:07.570 --> 00:08:09.496
You didn't have to
know your numbers.

00:08:09.580 --> 00:08:13.324
All you had to know were
colors to have a success.

00:08:13.409 --> 00:08:16.995
That game, of
course, is Candy Land,

00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:19.506
designed with even the
youngest child in mind.

00:08:19.590 --> 00:08:21.425
When she sees how
much joy it brings

00:08:21.509 --> 00:08:23.501
to her fellow polio patients,

00:08:23.586 --> 00:08:25.929
she's encouraged to bring
the game to Milton Bradley,

00:08:26.088 --> 00:08:27.756
who buy it on the spot.

00:08:27.840 --> 00:08:29.182
Why were they so eager?

00:08:29.341 --> 00:08:33.186
- Milton Bradley snapped up
Candy Land because they knew

00:08:33.271 --> 00:08:35.430
young children could play
the game by themselves

00:08:35.514 --> 00:08:36.598
or with another kid.

00:08:36.691 --> 00:08:38.600
They didn't really
need adult supervision.

00:08:38.684 --> 00:08:41.102
- Parents were keeping
their children inside,

00:08:41.195 --> 00:08:44.197
but needed something inexpensive
to keep them occupied.

00:08:44.356 --> 00:08:46.783
Candy Land actually
kept these kids safe

00:08:46.942 --> 00:08:48.785
during the polio epidemic.

00:08:48.870 --> 00:08:50.195
Candy Land
quickly becomes

00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:52.706
Milton Bradley's
best-selling board game,

00:08:52.865 --> 00:08:54.958
and it will go on to
be one of the top 10

00:08:55.043 --> 00:08:57.285
best-selling board
games of all time,

00:08:57.369 --> 00:09:00.789
with over 40
million copies sold.

00:09:00.882 --> 00:09:05.052
By the end of the decade,
with sales of $4.5 million,

00:09:05.136 --> 00:09:08.388
Milton Bradley is no
longer in the red,

00:09:08.473 --> 00:09:10.307
and they keep the
good times rolling

00:09:10.391 --> 00:09:12.550
throughout the '50s and '60s.

00:09:12.635 --> 00:09:15.053
Highlights include
an updated version

00:09:15.137 --> 00:09:17.981
of the game that started
it all, the Game of Life,

00:09:18.066 --> 00:09:20.642
complete with a clever
new ad campaign.

00:09:20.726 --> 00:09:23.153
- I made $50,000 in
the stock market today.

00:09:23.237 --> 00:09:25.897
That's life!

00:09:25.981 --> 00:09:28.408
While lowlights
include Mystery Date,

00:09:28.493 --> 00:09:30.243
a game for young girls

00:09:30.402 --> 00:09:33.330
with a commercial that
has not aged well.

00:09:33.414 --> 00:09:34.572
When
you open the door,

00:09:34.665 --> 00:09:35.990
will your mystery
date be a dream

00:09:37.326 --> 00:09:39.160
Or a dud?

00:09:39.245 --> 00:09:42.330
Milton Bradley makes the
best games in the world.

00:09:42.414 --> 00:09:43.748
Except
not in this case.

00:09:43.841 --> 00:09:45.917
The game is a dud

00:09:46.001 --> 00:09:48.261
with consumers, since
it debuts just in time

00:09:49.602 --> 00:09:53.354
with their next game that
embraces the changing time.

00:09:53.939 --> 00:09:55.856
So, what's in the box?

00:09:55.941 --> 00:09:59.443
- In 1965, a designer
named Reynolds Guyer

00:09:59.602 --> 00:10:03.197
was creating a promo
for a shoe campaign

00:10:03.281 --> 00:10:05.190
and he kinda had
this eureka moment.

00:10:05.275 --> 00:10:08.110
He thought, "How about if
we put a mat on the floor

00:10:08.194 --> 00:10:11.530
"and create a game for people
to play with your feet?"

00:10:11.614 --> 00:10:13.699
And that's how Twister was born.

00:10:13.783 --> 00:10:15.450
When he pitches
it to Milton Bradley,

00:10:15.535 --> 00:10:18.712
they love the idea and
rush it into production.

00:10:18.872 --> 00:10:21.048
There's just one problem:

00:10:21.133 --> 00:10:25.878
Their factories make board
games, not large vinyl mats.

00:10:25.971 --> 00:10:29.306
That's when they have a
eureka moment of their own.

00:10:29.391 --> 00:10:31.392
They'll source out
Twister's vinyl mats

00:10:31.476 --> 00:10:33.978
to a company that
already manufacturers...

00:10:35.647 --> 00:10:38.149
Shower curtains.
- Well done.

00:10:38.308 --> 00:10:40.142
Twister debuts
a few weeks later

00:10:40.226 --> 00:10:43.645
at the 1966 Toy Fair
in New York City,

00:10:43.738 --> 00:10:46.740
where it falls flat on its face.

00:10:46.825 --> 00:10:49.401
- Twister got off
to a terrible start.

00:10:49.485 --> 00:10:51.403
It was considered too risque

00:10:51.487 --> 00:10:53.581
and major department
stores wouldn't carry it.

00:10:53.740 --> 00:10:56.333
- People were actually scared
of this game when it came out.

00:10:56.418 --> 00:10:57.910
"Don't let the kids
play with Twister.

00:10:58.138 --> 00:11:00.306
Dismissing
the lukewarm response,

00:11:00.390 --> 00:11:02.975
Milton Bradley releases
the game anyway.

00:11:03.059 --> 00:11:05.052
But sales are dismal

00:11:05.136 --> 00:11:08.222
and the difficult decision
is made to cancel production.

00:11:08.315 --> 00:11:11.141
It's about to be curtains
for this colorful curtain,

00:11:11.226 --> 00:11:13.152
until this curtain opens up-

00:11:13.236 --> 00:11:16.146
- Here's Johnny!

00:11:16.231 --> 00:11:17.448
And saves the day.

00:11:20.654 --> 00:11:21.904
It's May 3rd, 1966, But first,
Milton Bradley's Chutes & Ladders

00:11:22.788 --> 00:11:25.132
and Milton Bradley is
about to close the lid

00:11:25.291 --> 00:11:28.135
on their dead-on-arrival
game, Twister,

00:11:28.294 --> 00:11:31.054
but their PR team has
a final Hail Mary.

00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:34.891
In an attempt to save the
day, they miraculously get NBC

00:11:34.976 --> 00:11:38.312
to feature the game
on "The Tonight Show."

00:11:38.396 --> 00:11:39.554
Here's Johnny!

00:11:39.638 --> 00:11:41.806
- Now, picture this.

00:11:41.891 --> 00:11:44.893
Ed McMahon is on the
couch, doing the spinner,

00:11:44.977 --> 00:11:47.645
laughing as only
Ed McMahon does.

00:11:47.730 --> 00:11:51.316
Johnny Carson is down on the
floor on the Twister mat,

00:11:51.400 --> 00:11:54.661
twisting and turning and
contorting with Eva Gabor

00:11:54.746 --> 00:11:57.581
in a low-cut dress, and
the audience eats it up.

00:11:57.740 --> 00:11:59.657
I mean, everyone loves it.

00:11:59.742 --> 00:12:02.586
And so do the
roughly 12 million viewers

00:12:02.670 --> 00:12:04.579
watching at home,
because the next day

00:12:04.663 --> 00:12:06.256
there are lines around the block

00:12:06.341 --> 00:12:08.416
at toy stores
across the country.

00:12:08.501 --> 00:12:10.093
And by December of that year,

00:12:10.252 --> 00:12:11.753
Milton Bradley's factories

00:12:11.837 --> 00:12:15.340
are churning out 40,000
boxes of Twister a day,

00:12:15.424 --> 00:12:17.851
yet it still isn't enough
to keep up with demand.

00:12:17.935 --> 00:12:20.103
- Twister became
such a huge success

00:12:20.188 --> 00:12:22.189
that by the end of 1967,

00:12:22.348 --> 00:12:24.441
they had sold over
three million copies,

00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:28.922
Teenagers, kids in
college loved the game.

00:12:29.296 --> 00:12:32.140
By 1968,
advertising their wide range

00:12:32.225 --> 00:12:34.309
of hit games for all ages,

00:12:34.394 --> 00:12:36.061
annual earnings
for Milton Bradley

00:12:36.145 --> 00:12:40.482
reach $4 million on
sales of $69 million,

00:12:40.641 --> 00:12:43.727
thanks in large part
to their * new hit.

00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:46.312
But Twister isn't their
only star of the era.

00:12:46.397 --> 00:12:50.075
In 1964, Milton Bradley
airs this classic commercial

00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.819
showing kids how much
fun it can be to-

00:12:52.903 --> 00:12:55.071
- Operate?

00:12:55.164 --> 00:12:56.322
- Butterfingers!

00:12:56.416 --> 00:12:57.907
While the game
would go on to sell

00:12:57.992 --> 00:13:00.076
over 45 million copies,

00:13:00.169 --> 00:13:02.671
it was invented by a
University of Illinois student

00:13:02.755 --> 00:13:05.749
as part of a school project,
which he got an A for.

00:13:05.833 --> 00:13:08.418
He then sold the Operation
idea to Milton Bradley

00:13:08.502 --> 00:13:10.595
for just 500 bucks.

00:13:10.680 --> 00:13:12.255
Guess he wasn't a finance major.

00:13:14.100 --> 00:13:17.594
In 1967, during the
height of the Vietnam War,

00:13:17.687 --> 00:13:20.355
Milton Bradley adapts
a pencil-and-paper game

00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:23.442
from the turn of the 20th
century and releases-

00:13:23.601 --> 00:13:24.434
- Battleship!

00:13:24.527 --> 00:13:26.019
Complete
with this fun ad

00:13:26.112 --> 00:13:27.195
to show you could
play it anywhere.

00:13:27.354 --> 00:13:29.781
You sunk my battleship!

00:13:29.866 --> 00:13:31.441
Even next to the water.

00:13:31.525 --> 00:13:34.286
In 1973, Milton Bradley
acquires the rights

00:13:34.445 --> 00:13:36.038
to the surprise hit game-

00:13:36.122 --> 00:13:37.197
- Yahtzee!

00:13:37.281 --> 00:13:39.282
Which, thanks
to ads like this-

00:13:39.366 --> 00:13:40.709
- It's a rainy day.

00:13:40.793 --> 00:13:42.794
- That's a good time
to play Yahtzee.

00:13:42.953 --> 00:13:46.372
Will go on to sell
more than 50 million copies.

00:13:46.457 --> 00:13:49.217
Reportedly invented by a
wealthy Canadian couple

00:13:49.302 --> 00:13:52.879
to play with friends aboard
their, what else, yacht,

00:13:52.972 --> 00:13:54.890
the game actually
traces its roots

00:13:54.974 --> 00:13:57.059
to several traditional
dice games,

00:13:57.143 --> 00:14:01.229
including poker dice, and
Cheerio from cherry old England.

00:14:01.388 --> 00:14:03.807
The following year,
Connect Four hits stores

00:14:03.891 --> 00:14:06.068
marketed as vertical checkers.

00:14:06.152 --> 00:14:07.819
And it quickly
becomes a sensation

00:14:07.904 --> 00:14:11.907
once this classic
commercial airs in 1977.

00:14:11.991 --> 00:14:13.241
- I won.
- Where, I can't-

00:14:13.326 --> 00:14:15.327
- Here, diagonally.

00:14:15.411 --> 00:14:18.571
Pretty sneaky, sis.

00:14:18.664 --> 00:14:20.248
By the
end of the 1970s,

00:14:20.407 --> 00:14:23.335
Milton Bradley is at
the top of their game,

00:14:23.419 --> 00:14:26.746
especially after acquiring the
second-largest manufacturer

00:14:26.831 --> 00:14:30.342
of preschool toys in
the country, Playskool.

00:14:30.918 --> 00:14:32.418
But as the '80s approach

00:14:32.503 --> 00:14:35.004
and kids' toys rocket
into the future,

00:14:35.089 --> 00:14:36.598
Milton Bradley is about to get

00:14:36.682 --> 00:14:39.342
some out-of-this-world
competition

00:14:39.426 --> 00:14:41.436
and find themselves in danger

00:14:41.521 --> 00:14:44.940
of being blasted out of the
gaming industry forever.

00:14:49.687 --> 00:14:52.105
It's the late-1970s, and
Milton Bradley is riding high

00:14:52.198 --> 00:14:54.032
on a string of top-selling games

00:14:54.117 --> 00:14:57.110
like Twister, Operation,
and Battleship.

00:14:57.203 --> 00:14:59.204
But they're about
to get shot down

00:14:59.288 --> 00:15:01.039
by a radical new kind of game.

00:15:01.198 --> 00:15:02.791
- So, by the 1970s,

00:15:02.950 --> 00:15:05.044
board games were already
over 100 years old.

00:15:05.329 --> 00:15:07.738
They were tired, and
Milton Bradley noticed

00:15:07.831 --> 00:15:11.408
that arcade games and video
games were on the rise

00:15:11.501 --> 00:15:14.337
and the American public
just flocked to them.

00:15:14.496 --> 00:15:16.672
Milton Bradley saw the
writing on the wall

00:15:16.757 --> 00:15:18.582
and they had to pivot.

00:15:18.666 --> 00:15:20.501
That's when
Milton Bradley executives

00:15:20.585 --> 00:15:22.762
turn to inventor Ralph Baer,

00:15:22.846 --> 00:15:25.014
who has just returned
from a trade show

00:15:25.173 --> 00:15:27.508
where he saw a new
pattern recognition game

00:15:27.601 --> 00:15:30.770
called
Touch Me.

00:15:31.438 --> 00:15:34.598
Ralph thinks he can
improve on the crude name.

00:15:34.691 --> 00:15:37.276
When he pitches it to
Milton Bradley, they agree.

00:15:37.361 --> 00:15:40.196
Love the concept, hate the name,

00:15:40.939 --> 00:15:42.856
One executive
suggests it reminds them

00:15:42.941 --> 00:15:46.369
of the old children's
game Simon Says.

00:15:46.453 --> 00:15:49.196
And just like that,
Simon is born,

00:15:49.289 --> 00:15:50.873
complete with a slick commercial

00:15:50.957 --> 00:15:53.709
and a great price,
Vincent Price.

00:15:53.868 --> 00:15:55.878
You either
do what Simon Says

00:15:55.962 --> 00:15:58.214
or else go down the drain.

00:15:58.298 --> 00:15:59.790
The musical
game even gets

00:15:59.883 --> 00:16:03.544
a special midnight release
party at Studio 54.

00:16:03.628 --> 00:16:07.139
- I don't know how many
games have a release party,

00:16:07.224 --> 00:16:09.299
especially at a disco.

00:16:09.384 --> 00:16:11.894
- They wanted to create
it as a big trendy thing,

00:16:12.053 --> 00:16:13.896
so where else would
you go at that time?

00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:15.139
Studio 54.

00:16:15.223 --> 00:16:17.391
So, they had David
Bowie and Diana Ross.

00:16:17.437 --> 00:16:18.687
- Just so wild.

00:16:18.846 --> 00:16:22.098
Simon Says snort a line of
off Cher's

00:16:23.684 --> 00:16:24.943
An instant success,

00:16:25.102 --> 00:16:28.688
Simon soon becomes Milton
Bradley's top-selling item,

00:16:28.773 --> 00:16:30.866
leading them to
release this commercial

00:16:30.950 --> 00:16:33.452
announcing the company's
bold new direction.

00:16:42.787 --> 00:16:44.963
- Milton Bradley creates
an entire division

00:16:45.122 --> 00:16:47.966
specifically geared
towards electronics.

00:16:48.051 --> 00:16:51.136
Think about this: Milton
Bradley does board games.

00:16:51.220 --> 00:16:52.888
What do they know
about video games?

00:16:52.972 --> 00:16:54.714
Apparently not much,

00:16:54.807 --> 00:16:57.884
because just two years
after Microvision's release,

00:16:57.968 --> 00:17:01.063
Milton Bradley's
earnings fall 37%,

00:17:01.222 --> 00:17:04.900
forcing them to write off their
entire video game enterprise

00:17:04.984 --> 00:17:07.819
as a $30-million loss,

00:17:07.904 --> 00:17:10.906
the company's first net
loss since the 1940s.

00:17:10.990 --> 00:17:13.733
Having staved off
bankruptcy twice before,

00:17:13.826 --> 00:17:16.986
it looks like the end of
the road for Milton Bradley,

00:17:17.071 --> 00:17:22.659
until 1984, when they get
bought out for $350 million

00:17:22.752 --> 00:17:24.244
and become part of the biggest

00:17:24.328 --> 00:17:27.339
toy company in America, Hasbro.

00:17:27.498 --> 00:17:29.841
In an ironic twist,
a few years later

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.336
Hasbro also acquires
Parker Brothers,

00:17:33.421 --> 00:17:36.431
who eventually merge with their
old nemesis, Milton Bradley,

00:17:36.516 --> 00:17:39.434
to form Hasbro Gaming.

00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:40.769
The two former rivals

00:17:40.928 --> 00:17:43.847
with over two centuries
of experience between them

00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:46.433
are a big reason
why Hasbro is now

00:17:46.517 --> 00:17:49.695
the number-one toy
company in the world,

00:17:49.779 --> 00:17:53.865
especially after 2020 sees a
huge boost in board game sales

00:17:53.950 --> 00:17:56.702
with everyone stuck at
home during the pandemic.

00:17:56.861 --> 00:17:59.612
- It's amazing to me
that people predict

00:17:59.697 --> 00:18:01.781
old-fashioned board
games will go away.

00:18:02.959 --> 00:18:04.200
But I think board
games are important

00:18:04.285 --> 00:18:07.120
because it's not so
much the game itself

00:18:07.204 --> 00:18:09.706
but the conversations that
happen around the game

00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:11.800
that make games so wonderful.

00:18:11.884 --> 00:18:14.544
Today, if you buy
a copy of the Game of Life,

00:18:14.628 --> 00:18:16.388
Battleship, or Twister,

00:18:16.547 --> 00:18:19.299
you'll see the Hasbro
logo on the box.

00:18:19.392 --> 00:18:21.885
But of course, those
games wouldn't be possible

00:18:21.969 --> 00:18:26.064
without the man who started
it all, Milton Bradley,

00:18:26.223 --> 00:18:29.067
and, of course, Abe
Lincoln's beard.