| Fate | acquired |
|---|---|
| Successor | Ironwind, Inc. |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Industry | gaming |
| Products | Role Aids, DC Heroes, board games |
| Employees | peak number of employees |
Mayfair Games is a publisher of board and roleplaying games in the United States and United Kingdom. They also license German-style board games and publish them in English, most notably the The Settlers of Catan series licensed from Kosmos.
Contents |
History
| Type | private corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder(s) | Iron Crown Enterprises |
| Headquarters | Skokie, Illinois,  United States |
| Industry | board games |
| Products | Train Games, Card Games, Dice Games |
| Services | foreign game distribution |
| Website | www.mayfairgames.com |
Mayfair Games was founded in the early 1980s by Darwin Bromley in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
In 1982, Mayfair released its War in the Falklands game just as the war ended, leading the English press to accuse Mayfair of "ghoulish" exploitation.[1]
Gary Gygax had advocated arranging a licensing agreement between TSR, Inc. and Mayfair Games for their "Role Aids" product line, but was outvoted in the board meeting considering the question.[2] In 1993, Mayfair was sued by TSR, who argued that Mayfair's "Role Aids" line of game supplements, advertised as compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, violated their 1984 trademark agreement. While the court found that some of the line violated their trademark, the line as a whole did not violate the agreement[3], and Mayfair continued publishing the line until the rights were bought by TSR.
In 1997, Mayfair shut down for financial reasons, and was subsequently bailed out by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) who purchased most of the company's assets and restarted operations as Ironwind, Inc. This new company operates publicly under the Mayfair Games trademark, and was owned 30% by ICE, and 70% by the principals who had arranged the bailout.[4] During the bailout by ICE; a warehouse was purchased by a dice company, and the MEGS role-playing game ended up in the hands of Janet Bromley.
In 2003, Mayfair started publishing games by daVinci Games, beginning with the popular card game Bang!. In 2005 Mayfair also began distributing all of the games published by Phalanx Games.
Games
This list includes both games originally published by Mayfair and games licensed by Mayfair from other publishers.
Board games
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Card games
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Roleplaying games
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External links
- "Mayfair Games". http://www.mayfairgames.com. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
- "Mayfair Games listing at BoardGameGeek". http://www.boardgamegeek.com/publisher/10. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
References
- ^ Jim Hind, "War in the Falklands." The Wargamer, Vol. 1, #22, November/December 1982
- ^ Sacco, Ciro Alessandro. "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax". thekyngdoms.com. http://www.thekyngdoms.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
- ^ TSR, Inc. v. Mayfair Games, Inc., 1993 WL 79272 (N.D. Ill.)
- ^ A Brief History of Game #9: Ice, Part Two: 1993-Present
- ^ Tom Vasel (2005). "Abracadabra". The Dice Tower. http://www.thedicetower.com/reviews/abracadabra.htm. Retrieved February 20, 2006.
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