Based in Skokie, Illinois, Mayfair Games, Inc. began business 1981 and has since become one of the world's leading parlor game publishers. Besides being known for its exquisite train games, such as Empire Builder and 1856, it has produced an astounding variety of role-playing games, card games, and board games for properties as diverse as Xanth, Dungeons & Dragons, and Sim City.

In 1997, a new ownership team took over the Mayfair Games brand and began focusing their publishing program on fine parlor games. It has since published dozens of splendid card games and board games on countless other topics: everything from Modern Art to Tigris & Euphrates. Some of its recent releases include Dos Rios, La Strada, Station Master, and BANG! (which recently won Origins Awards for Best Traditional Card Game and Best Graphic Design of a Card Game for 2003). Most Mayfair titles are targeted at a broad audience aged 10 and older; however, they also offer games especially designed for children and families with younger kids. Many have been nominated for or won Game of the Year awards in Europe or the United States.

Mayfair Games is the English-language publisher of the acclaimed Catan series designed by Klaus Teuber. The series includes the best-selling game The Settlers of Catan (now a member of the Origins Awards Hall of Fame), its various supplements, and related games like Starship Catan, The Starfarers of Catan, The Settlers of Catan Card Game, and The Settlers of the Stone Age (which recently won the Gamer's Choice Award for Best Historic Board Game of 2003). Mayfair also publishes most of Klaus Teuber's other principal designs, such as Entdecker, Domaine and now Anno 1503, based on the computer game of the same name.

As both a domestic publisher and worldwide exporter, Mayfair has administrative and editorial offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan and its sales office in Plant City, Florida. Mayfair's design studio is in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the development team works closely with the crew at Castle Hill Studios.

Mayfair Games is growing and is now known as one of the most important non-electronic game publishers in the world. By working closely with firms like Catan GmbH and the Microsoft Corporation, it is Mayfair's dream to bring the great fun and social interaction of fine parlor games to a broad electronic gaming audience.

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