Milton Bradley Company

International logo

German logo

Milton Bradley , better known in German-speaking countries under the name MB Spiele , is a company named after its founder Milton Bradley (1836–1911) that invents and manufactures games and puzzles.

Early history

The company was founded by the lithographer Milton Bradley, who was born in Vienna , Maine , USA in 1836 and is now considered a co-founder of the game industry in the United States. In 1860 Bradley brought there the game The Checkered Game of Life (about the colorful game of life ) on the market. Bradley began bringing puzzles to market in 1880 . The company continued to grow even after the death of its founder in 1911. In 1920, Milton Bradley took over the children's book and games publisher McLoughlin Brothers .

In 1968 Milton Bradley took over the toy manufacturer Playskool .

1973 MB took over the game manufacturer ES Lowe , which became known with Yahtzee .

MB in the present

In 1984, MB was taken over by Hasbro . The parent company then briefly adopted the name "Hasbro Bradley", but soon shortened it back to "Hasbro".

In Germany, Hasbro used the established structures of the local MB subsidiary from 1985 to distribute, among other things, the Transformers toy series launched in the USA a year earlier in Europe. Although the toy packaging was called Hasbros from 1986 onwards, sales in Germany initially continued through Milton Bradley GmbH. It was not until 1991 that the German MB subsidiary was officially renamed Hasbro Deutschland GmbH as a result of the international implementation of the name "Hasbro".

Both in Germany and in the USA, MB was continued for a long time due to its high level of awareness as a subsidiary brand Hasbros with a focus on parlor games. However, the brand is no longer used.

"MB presents"

TV commercials for MB in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s always began with the same scene: a boy strikes a large gong with the words MB, while a speaker announces “MB presents” in the background. In early 2005, Hasbro revived the advertising and presented a Game of the Month. At the end of 2008, MB last "presented" such a game. Today Hasbro occasionally uses the opening credits “Hasbro presents”, in which MB has been replaced by Hasbro, both verbally and in writing.