Mayfair Games
Industry | Board games |
---|---|
Defunct | 1997 |
Fate | Acquired |
Successor | Ironwind, Inc. |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Darwin Bromley |
Products | Role Aids, DC Heroes, Board games |
Mayfair Games was an American publisher of
Dice games | |
---|---|
Services | Foreign and domestic game distribution |
Website | mayfairgames.com |
History
Mayfair Games was founded in 1981[3] by Darwin Bromley in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company was created to publish Empire Builder, a railroad game designed by Bromley and Bill Fawcett. In 1982, Mayfair Games expanded its focus to include Role Aids, a line of role-playing game supplements.[4]
In 1993, Mayfair was sued by TSR, Inc., who argued that Role Aids violated their 1984 trademark agreement, being advertised as compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.[5] The court found that some of the line violated the trademark, but the line as a whole did not violate the agreement,[6] and Mayfair continued publishing the line until the rights were bought by TSR.[5]
In 1996, Mayfair Games became the publisher of The Settlers of Catan in the US.[1] The company shut down for financial reasons in 1997 but was subsequently bailed out by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), who purchased most of their assets and restarted operations as Ironwind, Inc. This new company operates publicly under the Mayfair Games trademark.[7]
On February 9, 2018, Mayfair announced it had sold all of its assets to the North American branch of
Company type | Dice games |
---|---|
Services | Foreign and domestic game distribution |
Website | mayfairgames.com |
Notable games
This list includes games published by Mayfair and games licensed by Mayfair from other publishers.
- 1830: The Game of Railroads and Robber Barons and other 18XX games
- Agricola
- Bang!
- Catan games
- Caverna
- Cosmic Encounter
- Discworld: Ankh-Morpork
- Encounters[11]
- Empire Builder games
- I.C.B.M.
- Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King
- Patchwork
- Role Aids
- Saboteur
- Sim City: The Card Game
- Steam
- Tigris and Euphrates
- Underground
- The Worlds of Boris Vallejo
See also
- Going Cardboard, a documentary
References
- ^ a b Raphel, Adrienne (2014-02-12). "The Man Who Built Catan". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
- ^ a b Machkovech, Sam (2016-01-08). "Asmodee becomes board gaming's new monster, acquires English rights to Catan". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2016-11-17. On February 9, 2018 they announced they sold their remaining IP right to Asmodee North America.
- ^ "Mayfair Games, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
- ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ^ a b Appelcline, Shannon. "Chronomancer (2e) - Product History". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ TSR, Inc. v. Mayfair Games, Inc., 1993 WL 79272 (N.D. Ill.)
- ^ A Brief History of Game #9: Ice, Part Two: 1993-Present
- ^ "Asmodee Acquires Catan™ from Mayfair Games | Mayfair Games". www.mayfairgames.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
- ^ "Larry Roznai | Mayfair Games". www.mayfairgames.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
- ^ Hall, Charlie (February 9, 2018). "The company that helped lead a revolution in board games is shutting down". Polygon. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ Miller, John Jackson (2003), Scrye Collectible Card Game Checklist & Price Guide, Second Edition, p. 688.
External links
- Official website
- Mayfair Games listing at BoardGameGeek