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The History of
Yahtzee
"The Yacht
Game" was invented by a wealthy Canadian couple in the 1954. It
became popular amongst their friends when they started playing
aboard their yacht.
Their friends enjoyed
the game so much that two years later, the couple approached Edwin
S. Lowe to see if he could produce sets that they could give to
their friends. Lowe had previously made his fortune by selling Bingo
sets in the 1920's and he immediately saw the potential of the game.
Lowe acquired the rights to the game and renamed it 'Yahtzee' in
exchange for the price of the first 1,000 games sold.
Given the complicated
nature of Yahtzee, it didn't immediately sell well. However, this
began to change when Yahtzee parties were invented and the
popularity of the game increased due to word of mouth.
The E. S Lowe company
and the rights to Yahtzee were eventually sold to The Milton Bradley
Company (MB Games) in 1973. Subsequently, Hasbro Inc acquired MB in
September 1984. They retain the rights to the game today and are one
of the biggest toy makers in the world.
Today, 50 million
Yahtzee games are sold annually and Hasbro estimates 100 million
people play the game on a regular basis.
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