{{Short description|American board game designer}} '''Philip E. Orbanes''' is an American board game designer, author, founding partner and former president of Winning Moves Games in Danvers, Massachusetts. Orbanes is a graduate of the Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University). He was a Senior Vice President for Research and Development at Parker Brothers until the 1990s. Orbanes has also served as Chief Judge at U.S. National and World Monopoly tournaments.
Orbanes has written three books about the board game Monopoly (his book ''The Monopoly Companion'' has been printed in three distinct editions). His ''Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game and How It Got That Way'' is considered the definitive reference book.<ref name=boston/> He also wrote a book about the history of Parker Brothers from the 1880s to the start of the 21st century. His book about the card game Rook, however, is only available as part of a package with the game's cards, published by Winning Moves Games. Orbanes also authored articles for ''The Games Journal'' on acquiring the rights to out of print games, and the card game, Canasta.
Orbanes was prominently featured in the documentary ''Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story'' for his role serving as the Chief Judge at U.S. and World Monopoly Championships for over 30 years.
==Life== Philip E. Orbanes was born in 1947. When in college, he started his first game company. Orbanes went to work for Parker Bros. at age 32 as head of research and development.<ref name=boston>{{cite news |last1=DeMarco |first1=Peter |title=The chairman of the board |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/22/the_chairman_of_the_board/?page=full |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205061513/http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/22/the_chairman_of_the_board/?page=full |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 2018 |accessdate=December 4, 2018 |work=Boston Globe |publisher=The Globe Company |date=October 22, 2009}}</ref>
In 1995, Orbanes co-founded Winning Moves Games.<ref name=boston/> He then created the Speed Die for the Monopoly game adding it to Winning Moves' Monopoly Mega Edition (2006).<ref name=boston/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Pannell |first1=Ni'Kesia |title=13 unique editions of Monopoly you probably forgot existed |url=https://www.thisisinsider.com/unique-monopoly-editions-2018-9#monopoly-mega-2006-is-a-great-choice-for-any-age-12 |accessdate=December 4, 2018 |work=INSIDER |date=September 20, 2018}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip | title=The Monopoly Companion | edition=First | publisher=Bob Adams, Inc. | year=1988 | isbn=1-55850-950-X | url=https://archive.org/details/monopolycompanio0000orba }} * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip | title=The Monopoly Companion: The Players Guide | edition=Second | publisher=Adams Media Corporation | year=1999 | isbn=1-58062-175-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/monopolycompanio00orba_0 }} * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip E. | title=Rook in a Book | publisher=Winning Moves, Inc. | year=1999 | isbn=1-891056-25-5 }} * {{cite journal | author =Orbanes, Philip E. |date=August 2000 | title = The Canasta Story | journal = The Games Journal | url = http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/Canasta.shtml | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20000818081749/http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/Canasta.shtml | url-status = usurped | archive-date = August 18, 2000 | accessdate = 2006-09-13 }} * {{cite journal | author =Orbanes, Philip E. |date=September 2000 | title = Acquiring Game Rights | journal = The Games Journal | url=http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/AcquiringGameRights.shtml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010217235414/http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/AcquiringGameRights.shtml | url-status=usurped | archive-date=February 17, 2001 | accessdate = 2006-09-13 }} * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip E. | title=The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit | edition=First | publisher=Harvard Business School Press | year=2004 | isbn=1-59139-269-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/gamemakers00phil }} * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip E. | title=Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game—And How it Got that Way | edition=First | publisher=Da Capo Press | year=2006 | isbn=0-306-81489-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/monopoly00phil }} * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip | title=The Monopoly Companion: The Players Guide | edition=Third | publisher=Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-4027-5406-7}} * {{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip E. | title=Monopoly, Money and You: How to Profit from the Game's Secrets of Success | edition=First | publisher=McGraw-Hill | year=2013 | isbn=9780071808439}} * {{Cite book |last=Orbanes |first=Philip |title=Monopoly X: how a top-secret World War II operation used the game of Monopoly to help Allied POWs escape, conceal spies, and send secret codes |date=2025 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-342513-2 |edition=First |location=New York}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Orbanes, Philip}} Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Gloucester, Massachusetts Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:American board game designers Category:American male writers
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