Parker Brothers (known as Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. It remained family owned until bought in 1968, and branched into Nerf toys and media. Among its products were Monopoly, Clue (licensed from the British publisher and known as Cluedo outside of North America), Sorry!, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, Bop It, Scrabble (under a joint partnership with Milton Bradley in the United States and Canada), and Probe. In the 21st century, the trade name ceased use, with former products being marketed under the "Hasbro Gaming" label, with the logo shown on Monopoly games.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 Parker Brothers in the context of Ouija
The Ouija (/ˈwiːdʒə/ WEE-jə, /-dʒi/ -jee), also known as a Ouija board, spirit board, talking board, or witch board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", and occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a planchette (a small heart-shaped piece of wood or plastic) as a movable indicator to spell out messages during a séance. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, which is moved about the board to spell words. The name "Ouija" is a trademark of Hasbro (inherited from Parker Brothers), but is often used generically to refer to any talking board.
Spiritualists in the United States believed that the dead were able to contact the living, and reportedly used a talking board very similar to the modern Ouija board at their camps in Ohio during 1886 with the intent of enabling faster communication with spirits. Following its commercial patent by businessman Elijah Bond being passed on 10 February 1891, the Ouija board was regarded as an innocent parlor game unrelated to the occult until American spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.
In this Dossier
Parker Brothers in the context of Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (/ˈhæzbroʊ/; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions.
Among Hasbro's products are Transformers, G.I. Joe, Power Rangers, Rom the Space Knight, Micronauts, M.A.S.K., Monopoly, Furby, Nerf, Potato Head, Bop It!, Play-Doh, Twister, and My Little Pony, and with the Entertainment One (now Lionsgate Canada) acquisition on December 30, 2019, franchises like Peppa Pig and PJ Masks. Hasbro also spawned TV shows to promote its products, such as Family Game Night on Discovery Family, which has been co-owned by Hasbro since 2010. The company sold Entertainment One to Lionsgate (now Starz Entertainment) on December 27, 2023, however, it kept eOne's family brands and eOne's stake in Astley Baker Davies, placing them into a new division known as Hasbro Entertainment, formed on August 16, 2023. The company celebrated their 100th anniversary on December 6, 2023. Hasbro primarily competes with Mattel.
Parker Brothers in the context of Milton Bradley Company
Milton Bradley Company, simply known as Milton Bradley (MB), was an American board game manufacturer that was established by Milton Bradley (1836–1911) in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States. It was acquired by Hasbro in 1984 and merged, with Hasbro subsidiary Parker Brothers in 1998. The brand name continued to be used by Hasbro until 2009.
Parker Brothers in the context of Merlin (console)
Merlin (also known as Merlin The Electronic Wizard, stylized as MERLIN) is a handheld electronic game first made by Parker Brothers in 1978.
The game was invented by former NASA employee Bob Doyle, his wife Holly, and brother-in-law Wendl Thomis. Merlin is notable as one of the earliest and most popular handheld games, selling over 5 million units during its initial run, as well as one of the most long-lived, remaining popular throughout the 1980s. A version of the game was re-released in 2004 by the Milton Bradley Company.