Games People Play - Board Games and Legal Matters

January 16th, 2008 by Tuffy Posted in nonsense |

Unfortunately, the main draw to Facebook has hit a legal snag. (No, Chris Hansen didn’t just discover Facebook.) Scrabulous, a game suspiciously similar to Scrabble™®©allhailthebrothersparker, has been called out by Parker Brothers for wearing similar outfits to Scrabble and getting a job as the same company as Scrabble and trying to date Scrabble’s ex-boyfriend, Single White Board Game-style.

Regardless of the result of this lawsuit, it’s surely not the first time board games have been at the center of legal action. Having consulted a crack legal team before proceeding, here are suggested lawsuits for those looking to make a little cash off their board game knowledge and some day become the banker or at least call perpetual dibs on the race car:

Clue - Certainly, Parker Brothers had the idea for murder mystery games before anyone else. City police departments are awash in money. Get on it.
Guess Who - Alzheimer’s interest groups have a case for defamation.
Risk - It’s certainly given Kamchatka a bad name. Hell, Risk implies a geriatric aquatics class could invade Kamchatka and install Wilford Brimley as its dictator before tomorrow morning’s mall walk. Sounds like a World Court case from here.
Chess - Chess itself could easily every third movie ever created for using chess as shorthand to make morons look intelligent just because they play chess. Chess doesn’t deserve that association.
Sorry! - The Pittsburgh Pirates could have had a case to protect its copyright, but they couldn’t defend their copyright any more than their outfield. Their loss. (Again.)
Monopoly - OPEC has prior art.
Candy Land - Actually, Candy Land is the target of more lawsuits than you’d expect. The whole place is a hazard to children. A kid could poke their eye out on one of those candy canes! Same for Chutes and Ladders. Seriously, you’re teaching kids to climb ladders? Danger, Hasbro, danger!
Barrel of Monkeys - The families of those monkeys have a wrongful death suit if anyone ever did.
Connect Four - If there’s any residuals left on “Bob and Ted and Carol and Alice”, take your best shot.
Mousetrap - Ikea has stolen your idea to create a box full of pieces that supposedly interconnect but somehow don’t, leaving you with parts left over or parts lost forever and causing you to shove the box into a closet. Check the EU Court.
Operation - Clown surgery is not to be taken lightly…
The Game of Life - False advertising laws apply here, right?
Trivial Pursuit - Writers of oddball columns about board game lawsuits have a convincing argument that their pursuits are more trivial. Maybe a share of the intellectual property if you can answer this Science question…

Your suggestions are welcome, especially so I can steal them and not give you credit, either. After all, look how much money that business model made for Facebook.