Member Books

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Each of the books and articles listed on this page have at least one author who is or was an AGPI member or recipient of an AGPI award. Many of the entries include links to sites where the title may be purchased, and in some cases, read online (such as on Archive.org). Thanks to Bruce Whitehill's article on jigsaw puzzle books for some of the book entries included below

Games • Listings and Values

Dennis, Lee. Warman’s Antique American Games—1840–1940. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Wallace-Homestead Book Company, © 1986, 1991. ISBN-10: 0-87069-630-0 • on Archive.org
A comprehensive history and price guide to American board games from over 100 game manufacturers prior to World War II, with illustrations of 600 games.

Malloy, Alex. American Games, the Comprehensive Collector’s Guide. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 2000. ISBN-10: 00-930625-60-9 • on Archive.org
The book features the extensive “Alex G. Malloy Game Collection.” After a brief introduction to games and game collecting, including grading and values, the book divides into Alex’s own choice of game classifications: Early Games, Golden Age of Games, Silver Age of Games, and Modern Age of Games. The latter category carries us into the 1990s, and even touches on collectible card games–still a craze–including “Magic The Gathering.” Games are listed by company in these various sections, and there is an index of games by category (but not by title).

Whitehill, Bruce. Games: American Boxed Games and Their Makers 1822-1992, With Values. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Wallace-Homestead, 1992. ISBN-10: 0-87069-583-5 • on Archive.org
The benchmark in its field, this book lists over 2850 game titles and 800 manufacturers of American games; includes histories and/or product listings for 220 companies, 230 black and white game photos or early game advertisements, 8 pages of color. Also includes game histories, guidelines for collectors, cultural timeline, glossary, table of patent number dates, and resource information.

Game Companies

Orbanes, Philip. The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers, from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit, 2003, Harvard Business School Press, ISBN-13: 978-1591392699 • on Archive.org
The complete history of the Parker Brothers company and its games by a former Vice President.

Petrik, Paula. The House That Parcheesi Built: Selchow & Righter Company. The Business History Review, volume 60, number 3, 1986, pages 410–437. Also available on the AGPI website for logged-in members only.

Games • Particular Games

Anspach, Ralph. The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle. Palo Alto, CA: American Printing, 1998.
Traces the history of MONOPOLY to its roots as a folk game and discusses the legal battles Anspach faced with Parker Bros. over his invention of ANTI-MONOPOLY.

Kaplan, Stuart R. • Miller, William G. The Game of Authors Compendium. Stamford CT: U.S. Game Systems, © 2021. ISBN-13: 978-1646710591.
A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated book showing more than 300 editions of the Authors card game from 1861 to the present.

Orbanes, Philip. Monopoly; The World’s Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006.
The complete story of MONOPOLY, the game’s history, the competition, and the people and companies surrounding its controversial introduction and unparalleled success in the U.S. and world markets.

Orbanes, Philip. The Monopoly Companion. Boston, MA: Bob Adams Inc., 1988.
A guide to the history, rules, and winning strategies of MONOPOLY.

Games • About a Single Topic

Polczynski, James L. A History of Mystery and Detective Games, 1889 to 1969. 2022. ISBN: 979-8-985-79954-2.
A history of mystery and detective board and card games made in the United States from 1889 to 1969, including Mr. Ree and Clue(do).

Games • General

The Games Board (Jeremy Secker, James Masters, Richard Ballam, Adrian Seville, Neil Darbyshire, Michael Thompson, W. Bryce Neilson). An Antique Games Compendium. Brighton, England: Doplin Books, © 2020. ISBN-13: 979-8582891345.

Matthews, Jack. Toys Go To War. Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., Inc., 1994. [Out of print].
World War II military toys, games, puzzles, and books are explored in this well-written, well-illustrated resource.

Orbanes, Philip E. (with the Games Gnome). Tortured Cardboard—How Great Board Games Arise from Chaos, Survive by Chance, Impart Wisdom, and Gain Immortality. New York, Nashville: Permuted Press LLC, © 2019. ISBN-13: 978-1-68261-853-0.
In-depth histories of 16 games, including Clue, Monopoly, Scrabble, the Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Careers.

Polizzi, Rick • Schaefer, Fred. Spin Again: Boardgames From the Fifties and Sixties. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1991.
Nostalgia, coffee table book with 170 photos includes brief histories of companies to accompany the firm’s most notable game; chapters by theme include children’s games, space, sports, television, western, and games for girls/games for boys.

Rinker, Harry L. Collector’s Guide to Toys, Games, and Puzzles. Radnor, PA: Wallace-Homestead Book Co., 1991.
A guide to collecting that includes a brief history of games, an analysis of market trends, lists of resources, and other information of use to game enthusiasts; peppered with pictures of games throughout.

Rühle, Rudolf. Lexicon—Die deutsche Spieleproduktion in der SBZ und der DDR “mit der Were kam das Ende”. Deutsches SPIELEmuseum e. V., 2014. (In German.) A comprehensive guide to games made in the post-World War II Soviet Occupied Zone of Germany (Sowjetische Besatzungszone—SBZ) and East Germany (Deutsche Demokratische Republik—DDR) through 1990.

Sackson, Sid. Beyond Competition. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1977.
Includes six original games to be played with cooperation of two or more players.

Sackson, Sid. Beyond Tic Tac Toe. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1975.
Contains seven original games which are played with colored pens and pencils to create a drawing.

Sackson, Sid. Calculate!: Use your calculator, and your wits, in 6 challenging games for 2 or more players. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1979.
Includes six original games to be played with the use of a calculator.

Sackson, Sid. A Gamut of Games. New York, NY: Castle Books & Random House, 1969 • on Archive.org
Includes brief reviews of over 100 board and card games (some classics and some newer games by the author), and short reviews of games in print; includes copy of Elizabeth Magie’s 1904 patent for what became MONOPOLY. Games include ACQUIRE, CABOODLE, RISK, STRATEGO, CLUE, SCRABBLE, PARCHEESI, SORRY, and MEM.

Walsh, Tim. The Playmakers: Amazing Origins of Timeless Toys, Sarasota, Florida: Keys Publishing, 2004. ISBN-10: 0-9646973-4

Whitehill, Bruce. Americanopoly: America as Seen Through Its Games. La-Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland: Musée Suisse du Jeu (Swiss Museum of Games), 2004.
A history of America as viewed by the games it produced. Chronological entries and timeline, along with thematic chapters on such areas as Social Issues, Ethnic Games, Sports, Television, Politics and so on. Contains details about the larger U.S. game manufacturers, and links between U.S. and European games.

Jigsaw and Mechanical Puzzles • General

Slocum, Jerry, and Anne Williams. The Art of the Puzzle: Astounding and Confounding. Katonah, NY: Katonah Museum of Art, 2000. Catalog for puzzle exhibition contains two long essays on jigsaw puzzles and mechanical puzzles, complete checklist for exhibition, and preface by Will Shortz.

Jigsaw Puzzles • General

Bekkering, Betsy and Geert. Stukje voor Stukje: Geschiedenis van de legpuzzel in Nederland (Piece by Piece: A History of the Jig-Saw Puzzle in the Netherlands). Amsterdam: Van Soeren, 1988. ISBN 90-6881-008-1. The definitive history of Dutch jigsaw puzzles, abundantly illustrated in both color and black and white; 80 pages, paperbound; with 56-page spiral-bound English translation of Dutch text.

Bekkering, Geert. Spaß und Geduld, Zur Geschichte des Puzzlespiels in Deutschland (Fun and Patience, the History of Puzzles in Germany). Husum: Husum Druck und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH u Co. KG. © 2004. ISBN 3-89876-186-X, ISBN-13 978-3898761864.
A history of jigsaw puzzles in Germany.

McCann, Chris. Master Pieces: The Art History of Jigsaw Puzzles. Collectors Press, 1999. Hardbound, 223 pages; over 500 color photos of die-cut cardboard puzzles of the 1930s through 1960s. Lengthy appendix with biographical information on artists who painted the pictures used for puzzles.

Palmer, Kelvin. The Collector’s Guide to Cluster Puzzles of the 1960s and 1970s. A.Z. Plerp.com. Spiral-bound, 50 pages, full-color; includes the development, evolution and marketing of Cluster Puzzles (including Jumble-Fits) and a technical guide, showing the puzzles, packaging, advertising and such; plus the story of the inventor, artist and designer of Cluster Puzzles, Alex Palmer.

Tyler, Tom. British Jig-Saw Puzzles of the 20th Century. England: Richard Dennis, 1997. ISBN 13: 9780903685566. Historical information on major English puzzle companies; nearly 400 color pictures.

Williams, Anne D. Cutting a Fine Figure: The Art of the Jigsaw Puzzle. Museum of Our National Heritage. 1996. ISBN-13:‎ 978-0962110788.

Williams, Anne D. Jigsaw Puzzles, an Illustrated History and Price Guide. Radnor Pennsylvania: Wallace-Homestead Book Company. © 1990. ISBN: 0-87069-537-1.
A profusely-illustrated history of jigsaw puzzles from hand-cut map puzzles to the custom-made puzzles of the twentieth century, including advice on collecting and valuing puzzles, and detailed histories of 30 major companies that made jigsaw puzzles.

Williams, Anne D. The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Together a History. New York: Berkley Books, © 2004. ISBN: 0-425-19820-0.
Relates the history of jigsaw puzzles and their cultural impact on society throughout many eras, including the Great Depression, when jigsaw puzzles were at a boon.

Mechanical Puzzles • Specific Puzzle Types

Slocum, Jerry • Sonneveld, Dic. The 15 Puzzle, How It Drove the World Crazy. Beverly Hills, California: The Slocum Puzzle Foundation. © 2006. ISBN-10: 1-890980-15-3.
A comprehensive history of the iconic 15 puzzle, invented by Sam Loyd in 1879... or did he?

Slocum, Jerry • Gebhardt, Dieter. The Anchor Puzzle Book, the Amazing Stories of 53 New Puzzles Made of Stone. Beverly Hills, California: The Slocum Puzzle Foundation (CHECK). 2001.
A journey of 120 years through the development of F. Ad. Richter's Anchor Stone puzzles, showing all of Richter's puzzles and their many variations over the years, along with more than 650 problems to solve from 37 Anchor Stone puzzles.

Slocum, Jerry • Sonneveld, Dic. The Book of Ingenious and Diabolical Puzzles. Three Rivers Press. 1994. ISBN-13: ‎978-0812921533.

Slocum, Jerry • Botermans, Jack. New Book of Puzzles: 101 Classic and Modern Puzzles to Make and Solve. W. H. Freeman & Co. 1992. ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0716723561.

Slocum, Jerry • Singmaster, David • Huang, Wei-Hwa • Gebhardt, Dieter • Hellings, Geert. The Cube: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Bestselling Puzzle - Secrets, Stories, Solutions. 2009. Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN-13:‎ 978-1579128050.

Slocum, Jerry • Botermans, Jacob • Gebhardt, Dieter • Ma, Monica • Ma, Xiaohe • Raizer, Harold • Sonneveld, Dic • b, Carla. The Tangram Book: The Story of the Chinese Puzzle With over 2000 Puzzles to Solve. 2003. Sterling. ISBN-13: 978-1402704130.

Books by AGPI members and awardees