Mayfair Games

Mayfair Games
Industry Board games
Fate Acquired
Successor Ironwind, Inc.
Defunct 1997
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, US
Key people
 Darwin Bromley
Products Role Aids, DC Heroes, Board games
Website www.mayfairgames.com

Mayfair Games is a publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games that also licenses Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to The Settlers of Catan series between 1996[1] and 2016.[2]

Ironwind, Inc.
Mayfair Games
Private
Industry Board games
Fate Reorganized, moved 2001
Successor Mayfair Games, Inc.
Founded 1997
Founder Iron Crown Enterprises
Headquarters Skokie, Illinois, US
Products Train games, Card games, Dice games
Services Foreign and domestic game distribution
Website mayfairgames.com

History

Mayfair Games was originally founded in 1981[3] by Darwin Bromley in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company was created to publish Empire Builder, a railroad game designed by Bromley and Bill Fawcett. In 1982 Mayfair Games expanded its focus to include Role Aids, a line of role-playing game supplements.[4]

In 1993, Mayfair was sued by TSR, Inc., who argued that Role Aids—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,[5] and Mayfair continued publishing the line until the rights were bought by TSR.

In 1996, Mayfair Games became the publisher of The Settlers of Catan in the US.[1]

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.[6]

Pete Fenlon became the CEO of Mayfair Games in 2007 to oversee a major reorganization with a refocusing on core brands, most importantly, the Catan family of games.

In 2013, Mayfair reported selling more than 750,000 Catan-related products.

In January 2016, Mayfair transferred all publishing, commercial, and brand rights for all English-language Catan products to Catan Studio, a newly-created subsidiary of the Asmodee Group. Former CEO Pete Fenlon left Mayfair Games to become the CEO of the new company.[2]

Larry Roznai is currently the CEO of Mayfair games. He joined the company in 1999 as a board member, President and the COO.[7][8]

Mayfair Games, Inc.
Private
Industry Board games
Founded 2001
Headquarters Skokie, Illinois, US
Products Train games, Card games, Dice games
Services Foreign and domestic game distribution
Website mayfairgames.com

Notable Games

This list includes both games originally published by Mayfair and games licensed by Mayfair from other publishers.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Raphel, Adrienne (2014-02-12). "The Man Who Built Catan". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  2. 1 2 Machkovech, Sam (2016-01-08). "Asmodee becomes board gaming's new monster, acquires English rights to Catan". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  3. ↑ "Mayfair Games, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  4. ↑ Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702- 58-7.
  5. ↑ TSR, Inc. v. Mayfair Games, Inc., 1993 WL 79272 (N.D. Ill.)
  6. ↑ A Brief History of Game #9: Ice, Part Two: 1993-Present
  7. ↑ "Asmodee Acquires Catan™ from Mayfair Games | Mayfair Games". www.mayfairgames.com. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  8. ↑ "Larry Roznai | Mayfair Games". www.mayfairgames.com. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
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