Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of

card Card or The Card may refer to: * Various types of plastic cards: **By type *** Magnetic stripe card ***Chip card ***Digital card **By function *** Payment card **** Credit card ****Debit card **** EC-card **** Identity card **** European Health Ins ...

and

board games Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

. The company was founded by John Waddington of

Leeds, England Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populatio ...

and the manager, actor and playwright

Wilson Barrett Wilson Barrett (born William Henry Barrett; 18 February 1846 – 22 July 1904) was an English manager, actor, and playwright. With his company, Barrett is credited with attracting the largest crowds of English theatregoers ever because of his suc ...

, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed in 1905 to ''John Waddington Limited'', then ''Waddington's House of Games'', then ''Waddington Games'', and finally just ''Waddingtons''.

Founding and history

The company was established as a printing business, and at first 'practically all its business related to the theatre'. It entered into game production in 1922, due to a boom in demand for playing cards around

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Waddingtons subsequently sold both original games (especially tie-ins for UK television programmes) and games licensed from other publishers. Waddingtons became the UK publisher of the US

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by 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. Among its products wer ...

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

, while Parker licensed Waddingtons'

Cluedo ''Cluedo'' (), known as ''Clue'' in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players (depending on editions) that was devised in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt. The game was first manufactured by Waddingt ...

. In 1941, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence section 9 (MI9) had the company create a special edition of Monopoly for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

held by the Germans. Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by fake charitable organisations.

Victor Watson Victor Hugo Watson (26 September 1928 – 25 February 2015) was a British businessman and philanthropist. He served as the Chairman of Waddingtons 1977 to 1993. Waddingtons employed over 3,000 people, mainly in Leeds, and were involved in ...

, the grandson of Victor Hugo Watson was its chairman from 1977 to 1993. While well known for games, they never provided more than 15% of profit; Victor continued his father Norman's emphasis on improving packaging technology, such as folding cartons and microwave trays. From the 1970s the popularity of

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s hurt game sales, and after Victor's retirement, the company was bought by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

in 1994. Beginning in 1994,

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

-themed

jigsaw puzzles A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

were released annually until 2007. The first twelve in the series depicted a scene from a

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Christmas. The final puzzle depicted a scene from the fairy tale

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

. The small number of puzzles, combined with them being limited editions, has made these puzzles highly collectable. Further jigsaws have been produced since 2010 by a new company, using the same brand name.

Games

Among the games published by Waddingtons were: * ''

4000 A.D. ''4000 A.D.'' is a science fiction conquest board game published by Waddingtons in 1972. Description ''4000 A.D.'' is a game of conquest and expansion for 2–4 players that uses no dice or random elements. Players conquer star systems, then u ...

'' * ''

Air Charter Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

'' * ''Astron'' * ''Battle'' * ''

Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

'' * ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typi ...

'' * ''Bigfoot'' * ''

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

'' * '' Blast Off!'' * '' Blockbusters'' (standard, ''Junior'', Gold Run card game, and ''Super''- 2nd edition game with Gold Run included) * ''

Boggle ''Boggle'' is a word game invented by Allan Turoff and originally distributed by Parker Brothers. The game is played using a plastic grid of lettered dice, in which players look for words in sequences of adjacent letters. Rules One player be ...

'' * ''

Buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 1688, ...

'' * ''

Campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed * Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * B ...

'' * ''Camelot'' * ''

Careers The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

'' * ''

'' (1949) * '' Don't Miss The Boat'' * '' Escape from Atlantis'' * ''

Equals Equal(s) may refer to: Mathematics * Equality (mathematics). * Equals sign (=), a mathematical symbol used to indicate equality. Arts and entertainment * ''Equals'' (film), a 2015 American science fiction film * ''Equals'' (game), a board game ...

'' * ''

Exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

'' * ''

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

'' * '' Game of Nations'' * '' Go'' (not the Chinese game of

Weiqi Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to ...

, but based on world travel) * '' Golfwinks'' * ''Grade Up to Elite Cow'' * ''

Key to the Kingdom is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kyoko Shitou. The manga was serialised in Kadokawa Shoten's '' Asuka Fantasy DX''. The manga is licensed and published in North America by CMX and in Taiwan by Kadokawa Shoten's subsidia ...

'' * ''Keyword'' * ''Kimbo'' * ''Lexicon'' (1932) * '' Lose Your Shirt'' * ''

Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have b ...

'' * ''Major Battles and Campaigns of General George S. Patton'' (1973) * ''Make-Shift'' (1980) * ''Milestones'' * ''

'' * '' Mine a Million'' (rebranded as ''The Business Game'') * ''

Purple People Eater Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pur ...

'' * ''

Railroader Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

'' * '' Ratrace'' * ''

Rich Uncle (board game) Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling **Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...

'' * ''

Risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environme ...

'' * ''Safari Round Up'' * ''Scoop!'' * '' Sorry!'' * ''

Speculate (Share Trading game) In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many ...

'' * ''

Spy Ring Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining Secrecy, secret or Confidentiality, confidential information (Intelligence assessment, intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the Consent ...

'' * ''

Subbuteo Subbuteo ( ) is a tabletop football game in which players simulate association football by flicking miniature players with their fingers. The name is derived from the neo-Latin scientific name ''Falco subbuteo'' (a bird of prey commonly known ...

'' * ''

Tens wikt:transcutaneous, Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS or TNS) is the use of electric current produced by a device to stimulate the nerves for therapeutic purposes. TENS, by definition, covers the complete range of transcutaneou ...

'' (variation of

Triominoes Triominoes is a variant of dominoes using triangular tiles published in 1965. A popular version of this game is marketed as Tri-Ominos by the Pressman Toy Corp. Composition A triomino is in the shape of an equilateral triangle approximately on e ...

) * ''

Tour of London Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

'' * '' Twelve Days of Christmas Super Delux Double sides Puzzle'' * ''

Top Trumps ''Top Trumps'' is a card game first published in 1978. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent's card. A wide variety of different packs of ''Top Tru ...

'' * '' Totopoly'' * ''

Ulcers An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...

'' * ''

The Vampire Game ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' * ''

Whot Whot is a card game played with non-standard deck in five suits: circles, crosses, triangles, stars and squares. It is a shedding game similar to Crazy Eights and was one of the first commercial games based on this family. The game has been ad ...

!''

References

External links

*
Waddingtons Playing Cards - a Brief historyWaddingtons Board Game Archive
{{Waddingtons Card game publishing companies Board game publishing companies Playing card manufacturers Companies based in Leeds History of Leeds Companies disestablished in 1995