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Origins
Source: Todd Coopee / Toy Tales
URL: https://toytales.ca/yahtzee-eslowe-company-1956/
"Yahtzee from the E.S. Lowe Company (1956)
Yahtzee turns 60 this year. Released in 1956 by the E.S. Lowe company, the ‘shake and score’ dice game of luck and probability has a quirky story of origin. Historical accounts give credit for the game’s invention to an anonymous (and wealthy) Canadian couple who created it as a form of entertainment while at sea on their yacht. Loosely based on other historical dice games, the ‘Yacht Game’ became a hit with their friends, leading the couple to contact New York-based toymaker Edwin Lowe to produce copies of the game that they could give as gifts.
Lowe’s company had previously introduced the game of Bingo to U.S. public. Seeing potential in the Yacht Game, he offered to buy the rights to it from the couple. They readily agreed with the sole stipulation that he give 1,000 units to them. The name of the couple has never been revealed and, despite the success of the game, no one has ever come forward to take credit for its invention.
Lowe changed the name of the Yacht Game to Yahtzee and began marketing it. Initial advertising campaigns resulted in lackluster sales, leading the entrepreneurial Lowe to try something different. To capture the inherent fun in playing the game, he began organizing Yahtzee parties where people could learn and play the game. His grassroots efforts eventually paid off, and through word-of-mouth, demand for the game begin to skyrocket through the 1960s and early 1970s."
URL: https://toytales.ca/yahtzee-eslowe-company-1956/
"Yahtzee from the E.S. Lowe Company (1956)
Yahtzee turns 60 this year. Released in 1956 by the E.S. Lowe company, the ‘shake and score’ dice game of luck and probability has a quirky story of origin. Historical accounts give credit for the game’s invention to an anonymous (and wealthy) Canadian couple who created it as a form of entertainment while at sea on their yacht. Loosely based on other historical dice games, the ‘Yacht Game’ became a hit with their friends, leading the couple to contact New York-based toymaker Edwin Lowe to produce copies of the game that they could give as gifts.
Lowe’s company had previously introduced the game of Bingo to U.S. public. Seeing potential in the Yacht Game, he offered to buy the rights to it from the couple. They readily agreed with the sole stipulation that he give 1,000 units to them. The name of the couple has never been revealed and, despite the success of the game, no one has ever come forward to take credit for its invention.
Lowe changed the name of the Yacht Game to Yahtzee and began marketing it. Initial advertising campaigns resulted in lackluster sales, leading the entrepreneurial Lowe to try something different. To capture the inherent fun in playing the game, he began organizing Yahtzee parties where people could learn and play the game. His grassroots efforts eventually paid off, and through word-of-mouth, demand for the game begin to skyrocket through the 1960s and early 1970s."
