Carrom Company: Vintage Board Games

Corporate

History

Vintage Boards

Message Board

About Us: Vintage Boards

Brian Lonsway, an Ohio glass artist by trade, passed away on November 15, 2001. He will be missed! He was probably the world's foremost authority on old Carrom boards. About half of his collection of over 150 boards are by the various incarnations of the Carrom Company. He was more knowledgeable than anyone at the Carrom Company on the history of our boards. We dedicate this section to him and include his knowledge so that others can learn about vintage Carrom game boards.

The following is a list of the names and dates of the predecessors of the present-day Carrom Company, and is useful to get at least a rough idea of the age of your board.

     1896 - 1901 Ludington Novelty Company
     1901 - 1914 Carrom-Archarena Company
     1914 - 1939 Carrom Company
     1939 - 1961 Carrom Industries
     1961 - 1991 Merdel Game Manufacturing Company
     1991 - 2000 (and hopefully forever) - The Carrom Company

The "1889" date turns up on much of their old advertising literature, especially the bags made to hold the playing pieces after one threw away the box that held everything. As far as the games go, disregard this date because at that time they were actually making other non-game wood products. Evidence exists that indicates that they were experimenting and making a smattering of game-boards as early as 1892 but unfortunately little exists to substantiate this, at least in detail. The above dates apply only to known records of the consistent production of games.

From 1961 until into the 1970s these boards were made by two companies, and that's another story.

Other thoughts regarding dating a board: The company name on the board is your best general guide - they used decals carrying those same old patent dates well into the 1940s. Rule books can be a guide. Until the 1940s, at least, printers often put a number on or near the last page. If, for example, the number is 624, the booklet was printed in June 1924. Someone might shift a rule book around, so be careful.

Post WW II boards were numbered, and the following is a list of the editions that I'm currently aware of. They were NOT necessarily produced in this numerical sequence, and they weren't all produced in Ludington; I'm still working on this: #44, 50, 54, 55, 85, 95, 100, 105, 106, 108, 108P, 110, 116, 124, 125, 166, 190, and 199. The #85 was quite popular; within a couple of years hunting you could find enough to build a nice condominium; some of the others are scarce. The 106, 124, 125 and 166 are absolutely identical except for the number in the Crokinole hole; that's another story. The 116 was identical in design to the four boards just mentioned but was luxuriously finished in walnut stain with gold trim.

The rarest of these numbered boards is the Model 190, a fascinating edition that deserves some space here. It was made of very high quality wood in the manner of early 20th century boards, and was called the "Centennial", commemorating the 100th year of Carrom boards in Ludington. Area historians questioned the accuracy of the 1890 date as far as game boards were concerned. This became unimportant since the wood for the playing surface had to be bought from Finland in considerable quantity. Sales projections couldn't justify the cost and the idea was shelved. About twelve editions of this truly unique all-wood board are known to exist.

I concede that this compilation may not be absolutely perfect, but it is at least very close, and no attempt is made here to delve into other products made by the remarkable Carrom Company and its forebears over the years. A short list includes canoes, yacht components, piano benches, folding card-tables, standard and junior-size billiard tables, Ping-Pong tables that were made under license from Parker Brothers, and infant's chairs for restaurants. No attempt is made here to elaborate on the numerous other companies that once nipped at the heels of the Carrom Company and made competing carrom-type boards under interesting names like "Skooker" or "Combinola"

Happy hunting, and we may never know all the variants of these ever-popular games.

Below is a list of Carrom Company boards up to 1945. If you have what you think is an old Carrom Company board but has vague identification, you can compare it to the pictures by clicking to the model number (underlined letters or numbers). Prior to about 1910 Carrom Company boards carried limited identification.

"A"	The most beautiful and elegant board they ever made, produced without change from about 1902 until 1941.
"B"	"4-surface board" with removable panel, 1902-1939.
"BB"	Baseball/Crokinole, 1938 - 1941, baseball rules same as for LF and LFK.
"C"	"Crown Combination" w/ Spider and Flies game, 1899-1943. Rules for Spider and Flies can be printed from the DOWNLOADS section. These same rules apply to the very popular #85 board, and others that carried this pattern.
"D"	No. 2 - "Flags of the Nations", 1902-1941
"E"	No. 1 - A hugely popular board, 1899-1939, painted red and black with a 1-1/2" thick rim; rare very early editions in red and green. Replaced by the "Q" style in 1934 but was briefly reintroduced from 1937 until 1939 with a 1-1/4" rim.
"F"	Austere (spelled: economical) version of the "A", 1901-1938. Probably second to the "E" in popularity.
"G"	No. 2 - 1901 until around 1930, a much-improved edition of Ludington Novelty Co.'s first board which had wooden pockets. Rare early editions came in red and green. All others are red and black.
"GP"	mid-1940s, called "Carrom-Checkers, an unusual variant carrying the old "E" Checker design on one side and the "C" Spider & Flies on the other. 29" square and probably more scarce than I think.
"H"	Octagonal Crokinole board, 1900 to 1936; 1904 catalog shows H-1, 29"across; H-2, 31"; H-3 exactly like H-2 but with green felt in ditch; several other varieties exist.
"H-4"	Sharp-square-cornered 28-1/2" board; appears to be a rather sparse, economical version of the Style "D" (no Flags, that's for sure),1937-1939, maybe 1940; very scarce for an inexpensive board.
"J"	Elaborate baseball board produced from about 1908; still present in a 1927 catalog. Very scarce, best way to find one is to watch sources like eBay and/or to contact collectors of sports memorabilia. Made in two versions with a very minor difference. It came with little rubber balls, and if any balls still exist they're probably in bad shape. I've seen a few of these boards and the pitching apparatus is always missing. (Sold on eBay 7/16/00 $305.00)
"K"	1939 -1941 Carrom "Viking" edition with Chinese Checkers on reverse. No marbles - a flat playing surface with lots of little wooden markers that look like small versions of the pieces used for the much more familiar Parker Brothers game of "Sorry" Scarce.
"LF"	1938 - 1939 baseball board honoring Lew Fonseca, baseball celebrity 1920s & 1930s; other side of board is blank. Game identical to the "BB".
"LFK"	A cross between the "BB" and the "K". It has the "BB"/"LF" baseball game on one side but with Chinese Checkers on reverse, brief production 1938-1939. (Sold on eBay 7/01 $220.00)
"O"	Late 1930s, called the Carrom-Backgammon board. The Carrom/Checkers side is exactly like the corresponding side of the "E", and the opposite side carries nothing more than a full-size Backgammon pattern in red and black. The board may not carry identification.
"P"	"Carrom-Pleasure", late 1930s 24" board; one side carried the Spider & Flies game and the other side carried the old game of Fox & Geese.
"Q"	The "Viking" board, introduced in 1934 as replacement for the "E". Disappears about 1947.
"QS"	1944 (only?), identical to "Q" but "finished in brown stain" according to ads, (wartime wood supply problems). Some look as good as a Q; some are made of composition board.
"SP"	"Sport board", 1939-1941, baseball like "BB", football on other side, hard-to-find, contact collectors of sports memorabilia or look around the web. (Sold on eBay 8/7/01 $585.00)
"T"	"Carrom-Tennis", 1940-1943, 168 playing pieces, the 5-Surface board, the designers at Carrom Industries really had a ball with this fun edition, very scarce.
"X"	Late 1930s, called the "Cadet". I have reason to believe that this is the same board as the "P" and I can only guess about why the letter was changed.
"Y"	24" "Playboy" board introduced 1935; one could call it a more austere and smaller predecessor of the "GP".
"YP"	Identical to the "Y", wartime edition made of composition-board.

Site Map

Top