bjones
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Games come is many forms. Board games, card games, playground games and sports games are but a few of the different types. Many of the more traditional games such as backgammon, checkers and chess were invented long before the United States existed. However, many of the games popular today in the United States were invented here.
If you are thinking of board games, you need look no further than Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley. These are two of the biggest board game companies in the United States. Between the two of them, they invented hundreds of games, many of which are still played today.
Parker Brothers was founded in Massachusetts in 1883 by Charles S. Parker, who invented his first game at the age of 16. The company is best known for producing what would become one of the most popular board games in American history: Monopoly. Although Parker Brothers is an American company, most of their other popular games still in production were originally borrowed or licensed as U.S. versions of games invented in other countries.
Milton Bradley was founded in Massachusetts in 1860, 23 years before Parker Brothers. Milton Bradley is known for inventing several games including The Game of Life, Connect Four, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Twister and Yahtzee.
Besides board games and card games, another genre of games was largely invented in the United States: roleplaying games. The most popular of these is Dungeons & Dragons, invented by American Gary Gygax in 1974.
While all three of America’s most popular sports were technically invented here, it can be argued that baseball and football have origins from abroad. American football is a variant of rugby, brought here from the United Kingdom. Baseball evolved from several different “stick and ball” games brought to the U.S. by immigrants from across Europe. Basketball, however, did not evolve from other sports but was specifically invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith. Although Naismith himself was a Canadian, he invented basketball while he was a professor at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Other sports games invented in the USA include volleyball and dodgeball.
Also, many video games were invented in the United States. The list of U.S.-invented video games is much too extensive to be listed here, but includes games by Blizzard such as Diablo and World of Warcraft.
Posted 4865 day ago
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