Who Introduced Chinese Checkers To U. S. And When?

[bigjohn691500]

Somehow I think you knew this! David

uh, yea,,, was going for the name reference more than anything, she was asking for any other companies that made them, wasnt sure if she knew about the young company making marble games,,, bj

[Steph]

Thanks BJ, the more names the better. I did not know about them.

[Steph]

here's one mine like the wooden ones best

Thanks Pop!

I've tried to used those boards for display. But between my jiggling and my cats' jumping, it hasn't worked out.

[wvrons]

I don't know who was first,but Alley was making chinese checker marbles about mind 1930,s (according to a daily diary). He got enough orders from Pressman that by 1937-38 he no longer had enough space for production numbers. So he moved to a larger building at St.Marys. These marbles are what took the Alley marble business out of the red and well into the black figures,and quick. He and Jack Pressman became very good friends. Good thread !

[lstmmrbls]

Here is a neat old one

[Mr. Alley Agate III]

Chinese checkers tournaments among other games mentioned in newspaper articles. found on: http://newspaperarchive.com

Some are for boys and others for adults. I've seen one in 1923 for "chinese checkers" but it discribed Mah Jongg tiles. I may be wrong, but I always considered Mah Jongg to be an adult game.

Piqua Daily Call - Piqua, Ohio December 29, 1927, January 28, 1928, October 20, 1928, December 26, 1928,

Findlay Courier - Findlay, Ohio, May 13, 1931

Soda Springs Sun, The - Soda Springs, Idaho, February 23, 1934,

Billings Gazette - Billings, Montana, January 20, 1935, March 24, 1935 (see 1938 ad of M&M pharmacy in Billings on this site)

Syracuse Herald - Syracuse, New York, December 05, 1935 (Conde Toy Shop ad & "Chinese Checkers Rated a Hit"on this site)

Syracuse Herald 27 Jan 1937 says Local Co. J F Freidel was still working on wholesale distribution to many states. 14 months after the 1935 ad.

Note the concentration of the Ohio cities in the ads in the north west corner of Ohio. Piqua 1927 & 1928, Findlay 1931, and Lima (ad on this site advertizes Brown Mfg Co. Clinton, MO game) 1937 - the same year of the copyright.

These dates give credibility to the 1928 date in Lynn Pressman’s Obit, and the following interview with Bill Pressman by Bruce Whitehill (bgh) at http://thebiggamehun...inese-checkers/

Bill Pressman said that the game was discovered when either he or a salesman was traveling in the Midwest; it’s possible that they met the patent assignee or saw the star-shaped board. Bill Pressman was the sales manager at that time and describes the acquisition of the game–which at that time must have still been called HALMA–as “strange and ‘flukey’”; he said that the game was acquired in the “most haphazard way imaginable.” They were involved in litigation, and “people were fired from major chains.” These mysterious comments were all he would reveal until he finished writing a book he was working on, but, unfortunately, he died in 2011 and the complete story is still unknown.

This information leads me to believe that Pressman simply knew a good thing when he saw it. It was already being called Chinese Checkers in 1927, and this name inspired Pressman to call his game Hop Ching. This still does not give the date that Pressman started marketing Hop Ching. From my family records Alley Agate started supplying marbles to Pressman Hop Ching games in late 1938 or early 1939. (Correction: late 1934 or early 1935) It was a large quantity; too large to be his original introduction. (I am still looking for someone selling a set of the original pre 1947 marbles without yellow.) The game in the September 1938 ad is the all wood board with only red printing and only the words "HOP CHING" without "Checkers". He later added "CHECKERS" and Blue points to the star. I think the red board is his first. (This is an edit of yesterdays post.)

Up Date Feb 2013!! I am now sure that Alley did supply Yellow marbles and not Purble. No bags or sets are found with Purple. The information got twisted from this fact. Pressman did not use a Yellow star point in his wood frame boards, except what I believe is the earliest dragon board. This board is rare. I only know of one, it is in bad condition, and and the frame is lost. See new date in previous paragraph.

[Steph]

Hello Mr. Alley Agate. It's wonderful to see you.

[Steph]

There are two or three reasons that I still have reservations about the 1927 or 1928 date for the introduction of Chinese Checkers.

First, I have a 1923 article about Mah Jongg which called the Mah Jongg pieces "chinese checkers". Mah Jongg was a popular game in the 1920's. Perhaps that is the game people were playing at the Chinese Checkers tournaments in 1927 into the early 1930's.

Second, which game pieces would Pressman have used in a 1928 version? Would they have been clay marbles? Wooden balls? There would be a limited selection of glass marbles available in 1927 or 1928.

Finally, the 1936 and later articles and advertisements call it a new game. The 1937 article with the picture considers it new enough that they need to explain the object of the game (and new enough to be worthy of a picture in the paper). And it's still being called new in 1938 in the Popular Science article how how to build your own gameboard.

That is why I suspect the earlier Chinese Checkers references might be about a different game, probably Mah Jongg.

Thank you for bumping this thread. It's a very interesting topic to me.

[Mr. Alley Agate III]

Here are a few more hope this helps.

What does the label on the chinese checker mesh bag say?. Do you have a better photo?

Larry

[lstmmrbls]

Steph, I think we need to bring into account that in the 30s many newspaper articles were only working on information for their local area. They rarely even knew what was happening in the next town or city, let alone in other states or across the country. Not too much info would have been traveling very far on or about a game. I can't see any teletype machines burning up getting the news out on Chinese Checkers.

[Steph]

Which game pieces would have been used in 1927 to 1931?

Whitman had wooden "marbles" in their multi-game box sets. I don't think those sets were all that old -- just inexpensive. But maybe someone else would know for sure.

[spara50]

Check out this conversation we had over at LOM in 2004 about this topic. I still believe the first company was Brown Mfg. in Clinton Missouri.

http://www.landofmarbles.com/phpbb/showthread.php?4304-Pixie-Chinese-Checkers-Brown-Manufacturing

[lstmmrbls]

http://chinesechecke...no/history.html

http://www.familienb...piele.de/halma/

stern-halma patented 1892 in Germany was the exact game we call Chinese Checkers. With the large German population in Ohio it is easy for me to believe the early dates.

Here is some of the best info I found http://thebiggamehunter.com/games-one-by-one/halma/

[Steph]

http://chinesechecke...no/history.html

That site has the 1928 date but where did that date come from? Do all the 1928 references trace back to the same source? And was that source significantly removed from the 20's and 30's in time?

I don't think I'm totally beyond being convinced that Chinese Checkers as we know it existed with that name or a similar one before 1935. I'd like to see more conclusive evidence though. Something concrete from the late 20's or early 30's. An early ad for "Hop Ching" maybe. Or maybe a Hop Ching set with 1928-1930's style game pieces. That would be awesome. Is that too much to ask? (lol)

[Steph]

Looked through newspaperarchive.com again and the first ad I see for Hop Ching is 1938. fwiw, etc.

[Steph]

What does the label on the chinese checker mesh bag say?. Do you have a better photo?

Larry

I labeled this bag as being Randy's in one of my old files so it might be the same one from that photo:

[Mr. Alley Agate III]

The earliest mention of Hop Ching I have found is an ad in The Utica Observer Dispatch on 22 May 1936. There is also an article about Girl Scouts playing Chinese checkers. In the ad is a BW drawing of a plywood board, like the all red one, and a mesh bag of marbles. The ad reads,

“HOP CHING CHINESE CHECKERS $1 The most popular game of the year. Universal appeal for young and old”

Larry

[Guest browse4antiques]

One version of the Pressman Hop Ching board (with dragon) says "reg. U.S. pat. office". This is the variant that has the instructions printed on the front of the board. So somewhere in the patent office there is a date for Pressman's Hop Ching. ... Roger

[lstmmrbls]

pressman did Hop Ching in 1928.

[I'llhavethat1]

1938 apparently.  Maybe a wall hanger with some TLC.  Might take a look at it this week. Any thoughts?

 

[lstmmrbls]

Neat board in the 20-30 dollar range

[I'llhavethat1]

Ended up with a couple other Chinese Checker boards instead, one was Pressman Hop Ching in a marked box and the other was a pressed metal one probably a bit newer.  Unable to determine age on markings, I should have asked him if he remembered what year he'd purchased it.