Selchow and Righter was a 19th- and 20th-century game manufacturer best known for the games '' Parcheesi'' and ''

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

''. It was based in Bay Shore, New York. It dates back to 1867 when it was founded as E. G. Selchow & Co. In 1880, to reflect his new partnership with John Righter, the company name was changed to Selchow and Righter. Games were also produced by Chaffee & Selchow, particularly between 1897 and 1902. Until the mid-twentieth century Selchow and Righter was considered a " jobber", a game company that produced and licensed other peoples' games. Under the leadership of John Righter's daughter, Harriet T. Righter, who was the company's president from 1923 to 1954, Selchow and Righter began manufacturing games, and put more emphasis on advertising and marketing campaigns. Their first hit was '' Parcheesi'', which they purchased the rights to in 1870 and trademarked in 1874. In 1952 they licensed ''

'' from James Brunot, then purchased that trademark in 1972. Other notable S&R games include '' Anagrams'' (

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

), which is a Victorian word game, originally published by Selchow and Righter, '' Jotto'' ( 1955), which was licensed by Selchow and Righter in the 1970s, and

Trivial Pursuit ''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question the ...

, which was licensed from ''Horn Abbot'' in 1982. Other games which were produced by Selchow and Righter: *''Allstate Travel Games (from the box cover: "Designed specifically for use in auto. For ages six to 14")'' *''Alphabet City'' *''Assembly Line'' *''Blast Off'' *''Cap-It'' *''Cargoes'' *''Cabby'' *''Dr.Tangle'' *''Games Galore!'' *''Globe-Trotters'' *''Go for Broke'' *''Home Team Baseball'' *''Huggin' the Rail'' *''Jamboree'' *''Kommissar'' (1966) *''Straightaway'' (1961) – based on the 1961–1962 television series '' Straightaway'' *''Karate'' (1964) *''Meet the Presidents'' * ''Plantem'' (sometime between 1928 and 1955, described as a “colorful intensely interesting game for young and old!”) 2, 3, or 4 players roll dice with letters Y, R, G, W, and P to signify colors yellow, red, green, white and purple, the colors of the flowers you “plant” on your board. The last side of the die has a black dot which when rolled allows you to steal a flower from another’s garden. Your goal is to complete your garden (five rows with five flowers each) first. *''Whodunit'' (1972) A similar game to '' Clue'' in which 6 players move around the board as investigators, obtaining opportunities to view other player's "alibi" tokens and collecting other "clues" to the identify of the murderer, weapon used, room in which committed, and a new category: motive. ''Whodunit'' draws on a similar setting and character types, including a colonel and maid, but in which the suspects are not the players. *''Mr. Ree!'' (1937) *''Prospecting'' *''Speed'' *''Super Market'' *''Snake Eyes'' *'' The Game of Alice in Wonderland'' (1882) *''Ur: Royal Game of Sumer'' *''Scrabble People'' (

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

in cash and notes. Coleco Industries purchased the games from Selchow & Righter, but not the trademark of the company's name. The trademark for "Righter" in the commercial use of games and entertainment remains under the control of the Righter Family; specifically, Philip Righter, the great-great-grandson of John Righter, the company's original co-founder. In 1989, Coleco declared bankruptcy and its primary assets were purchased by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

for in cash, plus options to buy one million shares of Hasbro stock at a price of $28.85 (at the time the deal closed, Hasbro stock was worth only $20 a share). Trojan Powder Coating, Tri-State Powder Coating, and Williams Architecture now occupy the site of the former Selchow and Righter building.

References

External links

MobyGames ProfileGiant Bomb Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selchow and Righter Board game publishing companies Game manufacturers Defunct companies based in New York (state) Manufacturing companies established in 1867 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1986 Former Hasbro subsidiaries