Selchow and Righter

Selchow and Righter was a 19th century Bay Shore, New York game manufacturer best known for the games Parcheesi and Scrabble.

It dates back to 1867 when it was founded as E.G. Selchow & Co. In 1880, to reflect his new partnership with John Righter, the company name was changed to Selchow and Righter. Games were also produced by Chaffee & Selchow, particularly between 1897 and 1902. Until the mid-twentieth century Selchow and Righter was considered a "jobber", a game company that produced and licensed other peoples' games.

Their first hit was Parcheesi, which they purchased the rights to in 1870 and trademarked in 1874. In 1952 they licensed Scrabble from James Brunot, then purchased that trademark in 1972. Other notable S&R games include Anagrams (1934), which was a Victorian word game, originally published by Selchow and Righter, Jotto (1955), which was licensed by Selchow and Righter in the 1970s, Trivial Pursuit which was licensed from Horn and Abbot in 1982. Other games which have been produced by Selchow and Righter in past years are "Go For Broke", "Cap-It", "Cargoes", "Cabby", "Meet The Presidents", "Assembly Line", "Whodunit", "Mr. Ree", "Prospecting", "Super Market", "Blast Off", "Huggin' The Rail", "Games Galore!", "Globe-Trotters", "Home Team Baseball", and "Snake Eyes". Many of these can be found for sale now and then on eBay.

Selchow and Righter was purchased by Coleco Industries in 1986 for US$75 million in cash and notes. In 1989 Coleco declared bankruptcy and its primary assets were purchased by Hasbro for US$85 million in cash, plus options to buy one million shares of Hasbro stock at price of $28.85 (at the time the deal closed, Hasbro stock was worth only $20 a share).