Named for the Chicago, Illinois neighborhood where it was founded, Mayfair Games, Inc. was founded in Spring of 1981 by Darwin Bromley, his brother Peter Bromley, and friends Todd Fischer, Neil Zimmerer, Ken Kaufman, and Jim Griffin. What started as a part-time hobby soon flourished into a full-time, successful business.

The company’s earliest published products were minigames; these military strategy games, packed in zip-lock bags, led to the company’s early success. These games included I.C.B.M. (1981), The Castle, Space Empires (1981), Transylvania (1981) (notorious for being misspelled on the cover), and Richard I the Lionheart (1981). Three of these games were nominated for the Charles S. Roberts Award, a prize for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby, named for the “Father of Wargaming” and founder of Avalon Hill.

December 1981 saw additional military simulation games published: Red Star Falling, Wake Island, Sheridan’s Ride, and Morgans Rifles. The first non-military publications were Encounters (1982), Demo Derby (1982), Family Business (1982), and Empire Builder (1982), which became a leading seller for the company and was the first in a series of “crayon rails” games.

Licensed games played a big role in Mayfair Games’ business; some of these games were Sanctuary (1982) (based on Thieves’ World anthologies by Robert Lynn Aspirin), Dragonriders of Pern (1983) (based on Anne McCaffrey’s science fiction series), Elfquest (1986), Lone Wolf and Cub (1989), Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Game (1986), and Hammer’s Slammers (1984).

Additional board games included Cosmic Encounter (1991), The Road to the White House (1992), and various railroad games such as Eurorails (1990), Uncle Happy’s Train Game (1993), Nippon Rails (1992), British Rails (1984), and many others. The first of its card games, Encounters and Family Business, debuted in 1982. Subsequent card games were Express (1990) and SimCity: The Card Game (1995), a collectible card game.

Bill Fawcett, hired as marketing director in 1982 and an avid role-player, encouraged Mayfair Games to produce its first role-playing game series: Role Aids. The first titles, Beastmaker Mountain (1982), Nanorien Stones (1982), and Fez I: Valley of the Trees (1982) were compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and were run at the Chicago Wargaming Association’s convention and Gen Con XIII. In addition to Role Aids, Mayfair published role-playing games for the DC Universe; DC Heroes was designed by Greg Gorden and utilized popular gaming systems of the 1980s. In 1987, Mayfair released a completely rewritten version of City State of the Invincible Overlord, first published by Judge’s Guild. Chill, originally released by Pacesetter in 1984, was published in 1990 and was the first in a series of horror games.

Ray Winninger became Mayfair’s editorial director and revamped the Role Aids line based on the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with the first title Demons, published in 1992. This line was a source of conflict when Mayfair Games was sued by TSR, Inc. in 1991 for the violation of their 1984 trademark agreement. The legal dispute culminated in 1993 when the judge found that although Mayfair had violated the 1984 agreement, they had tried to correct the violations when possible. However, prior to a final decision, Mayfair sold the entire Role Aids line to TSR. Mayfair continued to publish role-playing games with its Underground line, which used the DC Heroes system where “players took on roles of superhero ex-mercenaries in a dystopic future.” Mayfair’s publication of role-playing games declined and ended in 1996 with the focus turning to a new style of board games.

Very few German games had made it to North America, but in 1995, Mayfair Games began buying rights to German games—the result of Darwin Bromley’s passion and encouragement from Jay Tummelson (who later started Rio Grande Games, which became the foremost publisher of Eurogames in America). One of the first German-style games to be published in North America was The Settlers of Catan (1995); it gained popularity and released four expansions, and the game has sold more than 22 million copies worldwide. The Settlers of Catan opened the door for other German-style games in North America and influenced a generation of game designers to adopt similar design elements.

Mayfair Games sold most of its assets in 1997 to Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE), becoming Ironwind, Inc. and publishing under the Mayfair Games trademark until 2018, when assets were sold to the North American branch of Asmodée Editions.

Darwin Paul Bromley was born in 1950 in West Virginia to N. Paul and Janet E. Bromley. Darwin graduated from Marshall University in 1972 and Northwestern Law School in 1975. He practiced law from 1975 to 1981 in Chicago, until he, his brother, Peter Bromley, and friends started Mayfair Games, Inc. As a child, “Darwin loved to watch the trains hauling coal from the western edge of the Great Appalachians.” Railroad games became a way to combine his love of railways and games.

Stemming back to 1965, Darwin and Peter actively collected games and comic books [many records of which are contained in this collection]. Darwin was a self-described game historian and hobbyist with interests in railroad games, collecting comics, Japanese prints, model trains, art glass, railroad memorabilia, travel, and photography.

Darwin’s accolades include having been on the Board of Directors for The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), a member of the Governing Committee of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design, a staff member for the Chicago Wargamers Association (1979-1982), and a participant in the Scouting Organization. His game and design credits include Empire Builder (1982), British Rails (1984), Dragonriders of Pern (1983), and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Game (1986).

Peter Bromley was also an active hobbyist and brought to Mayfair Games editorial skills, computer experience, and knowledge of the publishing history of wargames. Peter passed away in 2016 and was followed by Darwin who died in 2019. Their collection of games was donated to The Strong National Museum of Play in 2017.