Company:Family Pastimes

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Short description: Canadian board game publisher

Family Pastimes is a boardgame publisher based out of Perth, Ontario, Canada.[1][2] Hailed as the original "inventor" of cooperative boardgaming,[3][4] from 1973 to 1990, it was the only publisher of exclusively cooperative games.[5]

In 1973, Jim and Ruth Deacove left their careers as high school teachers in Boissevain, Manitoba[6] to form a boardgame company focused exclusively on cooperative games with themes such as mountain climbing, harvesting a crop, building a community or exploring space while overcoming obstacles in collaboration with other players rather than against them.[7] The company was started with their savings, and a $1000 loan from a friend - purchasing a printing press, paper cutter, table saw and sander.[8] By 1982, it had built a catalogue with over 60 games and had become the largest publisher of cooperative games in North America.[9] In October 1983, an electrical fire destroyed the barn in which $125,000 of board game inventory was stored.[9] By 1986 the company had annual sales of $200,000.[9]

Born into a Doukhobor family,[10][11] Deacove has also written manuals on cooperative sports and party games.[12][13]

Harvest Time is one of their most popular board games, and was one of five whose license was purchased by Playtoy Industries when Deacove declined to sell the entire company.[9] Two other popular games are Zen Blocks and Community which is a Monopoly-style game.[6] Eagle Eye Agency sees players work together to solve various crimes.[14] By 1982 they had 38 games, including Sleeping Grump,[15] Beautiful Place,[15] Warp N Woof,[15] Space Future,[15][16] Pin N Ball,[15] Max the Cat,[17] Caves and Claws,[17] Mountaineering,[17] and Amazing Illusions.[1]

Lynn Johnston, the creator of For Better or For Worse comics wrote enthusiastically about the games, which in the 1970s were advertised in The New Yorker, Saturday Night and Psychology Today when the company was operated as a mail order business.[9] Dr. Terry Orlick, who wrote about the role of cooperation in sports and game psychology, also applauded the Family Pastimes innovative games which were also featured in the Canadian Toy Testing Council's 1983 recommendations for parents.[9][4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Glenn, Joshua; Larsen, Elizabeth Foy (14 October 2014). UNBORED Games: Serious Fun for Everyone. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-63286-046-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=la-pBAAAQBAJ&q=%22family+pastimes%22&pg=PT195. 
  2. ↑ Haessly, Jacqueline (28 October 2011). Peacemaking: Family Activities for Justice and Peace, Vol. 2. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-257-94716-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=ij5tAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA44. 
  3. ↑ Arnaudo, Marco (15 December 2023). The Tabletop Revolution: Gaming Reimagined in the 21st Century. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-5193-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=6BntEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA167. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lyons, Suzanne (2022). Cooperative Games in Education: Building Community Without Competition, Pre-K–12. Teachers College Press. ISBN 978-0-8077-8088-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=ds9cEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PT19. 
  5. ↑ Gurnett, Kate (1990-09-09). "Cooperative games turn 'me' into 'we'". https://books.google.com/books?id=YnghAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA14&article_id=1175,1778711. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Co-operation wanted for games". 1975-03-12. https://books.google.com/books?id=ID1VAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA18&article_id=1178,2742764. 
  7. ↑ "Games a family can play together". Ottawa Citizen: p. D14. 1986-12-10. https://books.google.ca/books?id=jcEyAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA69. 
  8. ↑ "The Stamp of success". The Financial Post Magazine: 50-52. 1984-04-01. https://books.google.com/books?id=RWs_AAAAIBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA103&article_id=2730,602875. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Evenson, -Brad (1986-12-29). "Co-operative games prove a winner". Ottawa Citizen: p. B3. https://books.google.com/books?id=FNIyAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA25&article_id=1561,2724158. 
  10. ↑ Deacove, Jim (1999). "Spirit Wrestlers' Voices: Honoring Doukhobors on the centenary of their migration to Canada in 1899". in Tarasoff, Koozma J.. https://www.spirit-wrestlers.com/excerpts/1999-Voices_Deacoves.pdf. 
  11. ↑ Tarasoff, Koozma J. (2015). "Doukhobor Nonkilling Legacy". in Bahtijaragić, Rifet. Nonkilling Balkans. Center for Global Nonkilling. pp. 187–215. ISBN 978-0-9839862-7-0. https://nonkilling.org/pdf/nkbalkans.pdf. 
  12. ↑ Luhrs, Janet (3 November 1997). The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living. Harmony/Rodale/Convergent. ISBN 978-0-553-06796-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=1WMbySartXcC&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA206. 
  13. ↑ Abrami, Philip C. (1995). Classroom Connections: Understanding and Using Cooperative Learning. Harcourt Brace. ISBN 978-0-7747-3370-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=2PtJAAAAYAAJ&q=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove. 
  14. ↑ Forster, Steve (1983-12-13). "Game designers fight back after $125,000 fire". https://books.google.com/books?id=aL4yAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA22&article_id=4612,415412. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Stusiak, Marilyn (1982-03-19). "A family that plays together wins". https://books.google.com/books?id=XKFlAAAAIBAJ&q=deacove&pg=PA17&article_id=2740,4662770#v=onepage. 
  16. ↑ "Space Gamer". https://archive.org/details/space-gamer_201601/Space_Gamer_06/. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Schaefer, Charles E.; Cangelosi, Donna (January 28, 2016). Essential Play Therapy Techniques: Time-tested Approaches. Guilford Publications. ISBN 978-1-4625-2449-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=cTFOCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22family+pastimes%22+deacove&pg=PA223. 



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