
In 1939 the first version of what is known as Cootie today was developed by Transogram. This game eventually started to be referred to as Cootie.

(1) The concept behind the game was actually created during World War 1 by soldiers stuck in the trenches.

Schaper is generally credited with creating Cootie, it was actually based off a group of pencil and paper games which included the game Tu-Tee which was created in 1927.

When your first game is Cootie though its’ not surprising that he wasn’t able to repeat its’ success. Schaper started off on a high note having his first game being his biggest hit. The first player to acquire all of the required parts wins the game. After that players could acquire the other pieces in any order. Players would first acquire the body and then the head. Players would roll the dice and would acquire body parts based on the number that they rolled. The objective of the game is to be the first player to assemble their Cootie bug. Still in production today, Cootie is one of the most well known children’s games.įor those of you unfamiliar with the game, Cootie is a simple dice rolling game. Of all the games from Schaper Manufacturing Company’s line of board games, by far the most well known was Cootie. (2) In 1986 the Schaper Manufacturing Company was acquired by Tyco Toys which was then eventually acquired by Mattel. In the 1970’s The Schaper Manufacturing Company was acquired by Kusan Inc and was operated as a subsidiary of the company. Schaper is also generally considered to be the first company to mainly use plastic for game components as most of the other games from the time period used cardboard, paper and wood. At the time most companies were targeting older children so parents really latched onto games like Cootie as a game for their younger children to play and learn with. One of the main reasons that Schaper was successful was due to the company targeting their games towards younger children. While the Schaper Manufacturing Company made many good decisions, their biggest mistake may have been passing on the rights to a little word game called Scrabble back in 1953. Many other games were a lot less successful and have become obscure at this point. The Schaper Manufacturing Company continued to grow as the company developed several other successful games which includes Ants in the Pants, Don’t Break the Ice, Don’t Spill the Beans, and Stadium Checkers.

Schaper Manufacturing Company was created which would later be referred to as the Schaper Toy Company. For more on Cootie see Cootie: The Foundation of Schaper.īased on the success of Cootie, the W.H. One day as he was designing a new lure he created a creature that he would eventually use for his first and most famous game Cootie. Schaper was a mailman from Minneapolis who loved making fishing lures. The Schaper Manufacturing Company was formed from humble beginnings.
