Canadian couple rolls the dice on expensive yacht

During the war years in the 1940's, there was material shortages and fuel rationing. As a result, families had to watch their pennies, and spent more time at home. It was during that difficult time that board games became popular. They were inexpensive, and gave people a much-needed stay-at-home diversion. Family, friends and neighbours could play.

A few years before the war, a wealthy Canadian couple were on vacation in Tibet. While there, they discovered an ancient dice game. They loved it because it was both simple and complex. And above all, it was a lot of fun.

This wealthy couple brought the game back to Canada, updated the rules, created a scorecard, and they would play it on their yacht. Whenever they had friends onboard, they would break out the dice game and have fun. Because they would play it on their yacht, they called it "The Yacht Game." Their friends enjoyed the game so much, they all wanted copies of their own.

So in 1956, the couple approached Edwin Lowe. Back in 1929, Lowe was a traveling salesman, and noticed that people in Georgia were playing a rudimentary game called Beano. Sensing it had great potential, Lowe returned to his New York home, established the E.S. Lowe Company, changed the name of the game to Bingo, and made a fortune.

The Canadian couple approached Lowe and asked him to produce a few samples of their Yacht game so they could give them to friends. Lowe liked the game so much, he offered to buy the rights. The Canadian couple agreed to sell the game, in exchange for the first 1,000 games Lowe produced – so they could continue to give the game as gifts. Lowe happily agreed, and they shook hands.

The first thing Lowe did was change the name of The Yacht Game to "Yahtzee."

When it came to marketing, he decided to promote the "educational" aspects of the game, and position Yahtzee as "fun for the whole family." But sales were lacklustre. That prompted Lowe to try another strategy. To demonstrate the fun of Yahtzee, he began organizing Yahtzee parties across North America, where people could learn to play the game. It was a grassroots effort, but it paid off.

As word-of-mouth spread, demand for Yahtzee soared, and millions of games were sold from that time forward.

Edwin Lowe sold his successful company to Milton Bradley in 1973. Ten years later, Milton Bradley became a subsidiary of Hasbro. But despite the various ownership changes, Yahtzee remained an evergreen, very profitable game. It was so popular, dozens of variations were produced, including travel Yahtzee sets, Triple Yahtzee, and Word Yahtzee.

Yahtzee got its first celebrity endorsement when Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, from the sitcom "The Odd Couple," appeared on the cover of the 1974 Challenge Yahtzee game. Even into the 21st century, where computer technology reigns, Yahtzee easily transformed into digital and online versions. Yahtzee with Buddies became one of the first games available for the Apple Watch.

Today, Yahtzee is still one of the most successful games of all time, with over 50 million sets sold.

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