Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to The Settlers of Catan series between 1996 and 2016.
Mayfair Games
- Name
- Mayfair Games
- Founded
- 1981
- Headquarters
- Chicago
- Activity
- board game
- Products
- Role Aids
- Dissolved
- 2018
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Documentary summary
Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to The Settlers of Catan series between 1996 and 2016.
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wikidata · Q921302 · wikipedia · Mayfair Games
In this article
Overview
Overview
It is associated with United States. The record gives 1981 as its date of establishment or first appearance. Activity is recorded as ending in 2018. Its recorded seat is Chicago. The recorded field of activity is board game. Recorded products are Role Aids.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Mayfair Games • Successor — Ironwind, Inc. • Defunct — 1997 • Fate — Acquired • Key People — Darwin Bromley • Industry — Board games • Products — Role Aids, DC Heroes, Board games • Hq Location City — Chicago, Illinois • Hq Location Country — US
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ironwind, Inc. • Trade Name — Mayfair Games • Type — Private • Founded — 1997 • Founder — Iron Crown Enterprises • Fate — Reorganized, moved 2001 • Successor — Mayfair Games, Inc. • Hq Location City — Skokie, Illinois • Hq Location Country — US • Industry — Board games • Products — Train games, Card games, Dice games • Services — Foreign and domestic game distribution • Website — mayfairgames.com
History
History
Mayfair Games was founded in 1981 by Darwin Bromley in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company was created to publish Empire Builder, a railroad game designed by Bromley and Bill Fawcett. In 1982, Mayfair Games expanded its focus to include Role Aids, a line of role-playing game supplements. In 1993, Mayfair was sued by TSR, Inc., who argued that Role Aids violated their 1984 trademark agreement, being advertised as compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The court found that some of the line violated the trademark, but the line as a whole did not violate the agreement, and Mayfair continued publishing the line until the rights were bought by TSR. In 1996, Mayfair Games became the publisher of The Settlers of Catan in the US. The company shut down for financial reasons in 1997 but was subsequently bailed out by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), who purchased most of their assets and restarted operations as Ironwind, Inc. This new company operated publicly under the Mayfair Games trademark. Pete Fenlon became the CEO of Mayfair Games in 2007 to oversee a major reorganization with a refocusing on core brands, most importantly the Catan family of games. In 2013, Mayfair reported selling more than 750,000 Catan-related products. In January 2016, Mayfair transferred all publishing, commercial, and brand rights for all English-language Catan products to Catan Studio, a newly created subsidiary of the Asmodee Group. Former CEO Pete Fenlon left Mayfair Games to become the CEO of the new company. Larry Roznai was the last CEO of Mayfair games. He joined the company in 1999 as a board member, president, and chief operating officer. On February 9, 2018, Mayfair announced it had sold all of its assets to the North American branch of Asmodée Éditions, and would be shutting down. Rights to some Mayfair titles are no longer retained by Asmodée.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Mayfair Games, Inc. • Type — Private • Founded — 2001 • Hq Location City — Skokie, Illinois • Hq Location Country — US • Industry — Board games • Products — Train games, Card games, Dice games • Services — Foreign and domestic game distribution • Website — mayfairgames.com
Notable games
Notable games
This list includes games published by Mayfair and games licensed by Mayfair from other publishers. • 1830: The Game of Railroads and Robber Barons and other 18XX games • Agricola • Bang! • Blasted Land • The Settlers of Catan and other Catan games • Caverna • Cosmic Encounter • Discworld: Ankh-Morpork • Encounters • Empire Builder games • I.C.B.M. • Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King • Patchwork • Role Aids • Saboteur • Sim City: The Card Game • Steam • Tigris and Euphrates • Underground • The Worlds of Boris Vallejo
Institutional history
Dated record
Institutional history
Explore 1981–2018
The full dated record · 7 entries
1981
Mayfair Games established.
1981
Red Star Falling - Mayfair Games digitised by Internet Archive.
1981
Mayfair Games is recorded from 1981.
1981
Red Star Falling - Mayfair Games (1981) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1996
Mayfair Games Catalog 1996 digitised by Internet Archive.
1996
Mayfair Games Catalog 1996 (1996) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
2018
Mayfair Games ceased.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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- United States
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Machkovech, Sam. Asmodee becomes board gaming's new monster, acquires English rights to Catan. Ars Technica. 2016-01-08.
- 2.Mayfair Games, Inc.: Private Company Information - Businessweek. www.bloomberg.com.
- 3.Shannon Appelcline. Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. 2011. 978-1-907702-58-7.
- 4.Appelcline, Shannon. Chronomancer (2e) - Product History. DriveThruRPG.
- 5.TSR, Inc. v. Mayfair Games, Inc., 1993 WL 79272 (N.D. Ill.)
- 6.Raphel, Adrienne. The Man Who Built Catan. The New Yorker. 2014-02-12.
- 7.A Brief History of Game #9: Ice, Part Two: 1993-Present
- 8.Asmodee Acquires Catan™ from Mayfair Games Mayfair Games. www.mayfairgames.com.
- 9.Larry Roznai Mayfair Games. www.mayfairgames.com.
- 10.Hall, Charlie. The company that helped lead a revolution in board games is shutting down. Polygon. February 9, 2018.
- 11.Miller, John Jackson. Scrye Collectible Card Game Checklist & Price Guide, Second Edition. 688. 2003.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
It is classified as business, board game publishing company and tabletop role-playing game publisher. Its recorded field of business is board game.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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