october 2019 | GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES 35

How It All Began

The story behind Yahtzee’s origins is an intriguing blend of entrepreneurial pluck and tantalizing
mystery. According to game industry lore, Yahtzee was invented in 1954 by a wealthy Canadian
couple who enjoyed playing the game with friends aboard their yacht. To this day, their names
are unknown. We do know, however, that the couple referred to this amusing pastime as the
“Yacht” game. Friends wanted copies of their own, so the gracious hosts gladly made the equip-
ment and score cards by hand. But it became such a hit among their friends that they couldn’t
keep up with the demand.
In 1956, the Canadians approached Edwin S. Lowe, a game manufacturer, looking for help with
their game. Lowe, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, founded the E.S. Lowe Company, which had a
huge success in the 1920s with Bingo. (See the October 2014 issue to learn more about that!)
The couple invited Lowe to a party onboard their yacht, where he and the other guests played
the Yacht game. Later, the female half of the enigmatic couple visited the E.S. Lowe Company
and asked Lowe to custom make 1,000 copies for her to distribute as gifts. Lowe discovered that
he enjoyed the game. More important, he recognized its commercial potential and offered to buy
the rights from the Canadian couple. They were glad to sell Lowe the rights, but didn’t take any
money. Instead, they agreed that Lowe would produce for them 1,000 game sets in exchange
for the rights to their Yacht game. Lowe agreed to their generous terms and, eventually, changed
the name of the game to Yahtzee because he felt it was a catchy title. The game went on sale
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eople have been playing dice games for millennia, but perhaps the

most popular modern variant is Yahtzee. Yahtzee, an easy-to-play

dice game, is popular with people of all ages. The game requires mini-

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it offers a pleasing combination of luck—how you roll the dice—and skill,

how you decide to score your rolls. How popular is Yahtzee? According

to the game’s current owner, Hasbro, roughly 50 million Yahtzee games

are sold annually.

october 2019 | GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES 35