Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers, Salem, Mass., USA.
Parker Brothers is an American toy and game manufacturer and brand founded in 1883. The company has published over 1,800 games; among their best known products are Sorry!, Risk, The Game of Cities, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Black Cat Fortune Telling, Aggravation, Quit (1904), Rook (1910), Militac (1916), Pit (1919), Old Maid, Touring (1926), Hop Off (1927), Lindy (1927), Monopoly (1935), Cluedo (licensed from UK publisher), Flinch (1938), Contack (1939), Funny Bones, Cabbage Patch Kids (1984) and Probe. It has been determined that the manufacturer of Parker Bros cards was Standard Playing Card Co of Chicago. Their playing card brands included Rembrandt, Bellevue and Castle Bridge. Parker Brothers is currently a subsidiary of the multinational entertainment company Hasbro.
Parker Games’ English subsidiary was at Ivy Lane, London, from 1908 to around 1920.
By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
Member since January 30, 2009
Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.
His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.
Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.
Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.
His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.
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