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Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the thespian Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed to ''Waddington's House of Games'', then in 1905 ''John Waddington Limited'', then ''Waddington Games'', and finally just ''Waddingtons''. ==Founding and history == The company was established as a printing business, and at first 'practically all its business related to the theatre'.〔David Thornton, ''Leeds: A Historical Dictionary of People, Places and Events'' (Huddersfield: Northern Heritage Publications, 2013), s.v. ''WADDINGTONS''.〕 It entered into game production in 1922, due to a boom in demand for playing cards around World War I. Waddingtons subsequently sold both original games (especially tie-ins for UK television programmes) and games licensed from other publishers. Waddingtons became the UK publisher of Parker Brothers' Monopoly, while Parker licensed Waddingtons' Cluedo.〔 In 1941, the British Secret Service had the company create a special edition of Monopoly for World War II prisoners of war held by the Germans. Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by the International Red Cross. Victor Watson served as its chairman from 1977 to 1993.〔'Obituary: Master of Monopoly who twice trounced Maxwell', ''Financial Times'', 28 February/1 March 2015, p. 11〕〔(Death of Mr Monopoly, Yorkshire businessman Victor Watson, at 86 ), ''The Yorkshire Post'', 26 February 2015〕 The company was bought by Hasbro in 1994.〔(Tunbridge Wells Borough Council )〕 Beginning in 1994, Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzles were released annually until 2007, a total of thirteen puzzles. The first twelve in the series depicted a scene from a Victorian-era Christmas. The final puzzle depicted a scene from the fairy tale Cinderella. The small number of puzzles, combined with the fact that they were all limited editions, has made these puzzles among the most sought-after in the world.〔()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waddingtons」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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