Philip E. Orbanes is an American board game designer, author, founding partner and former president of Winning Moves Games in
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the beach ...
. Orbanes is a graduate of the Case Institute of Technology (now
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...
). He was a Senior Vice President for Research and Development at
Parker Brothers
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 owne ...
until the 1990s. Orbanes has also served as Chief Judge at U.S. National and World
Monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
tournaments.
Orbanes has written three books about the board game Monopoly (his book ''The Monopoly Companion'' has been printed in three distinct editions). His ''Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game and How It Got That Way'' is considered the definitive reference book.
[ He also wrote a book about the history of ]Parker Brothers
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 owne ...
from the 1880s to the start of the 21st century. His book about the card game Rook, however, is only available as part of a package with the game's cards, published by Winning Moves Games. Orbanes also authored articles for ''The Games Journal'' on acquiring the rights to out of print games, and the card game, Canasta
Canasta (; Spanish language, Spanish for "basket") is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two par ...
.
Orbanes was prominently featured in the documentary '' Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story'' for his role serving as the Chief Judge at U.S. and World Monopoly Championships for over 30 years.
Life
Philip E. Orbanes was born in 1947. When in college, he started his first game company. Orbanes went to work for Parker Bros. at age 32 as head of research and development.[ He then created the Speed Die for the ]Monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
game adding it to Winning Moves' Monopoly Mega Edition (2006).
Bibliography
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References
Case Western Reserve University alumni
Living people
People from Gloucester, Massachusetts
Year of birth missing (living people)
American board game designers
American male writers
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