In 1929 John Waddington Ltd (Leeds & London) commenced the production of circular cards and these were very popular. They were introduced to the USA where sales were beyond expectations. Around 1985, A.S.S. of Leinfelden took over the printing of these cards for Waddingtons and issued them in one of their typical drop-lid boxes. Above: an anonymous Ace of Spades with an elaborate design used by John Waddington Ltd, c.1925. The cards have gold edges and depict a hunting scene on the reverse. See more early cards → Waddingtons became the UK publisher of the US Parker Brothers' Monopoly, while Parker licensed Waddingtons' Cluedo. [2] In 1941, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence section 9 (MI9) had the company create a special edition of Monopoly for World War II prisoners of war held by the Germans. [3]

Above: Orient Line to Australia twin patience set with special ace of spades, issued to passengers on the Orient Line mail steamers travelling from England to Australia, c.1925. The other directors wanted to fold the business. However, Victor Watson convinced them to continue with himself as the manager. Lexicon | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum. 4 March 2000 . Retrieved 24 May 2022. In 1934 the rights for 'Monopoly' were won, which has produced about half a million pounds’ sales each year since then and set the firm on the road to greatness in the toy trade in the UK. The business did however produce foreign banknotes. This was under an agreement with De La Rue in London whose factory was bombed.

The characters of the court cards are chosen from Shakespeare's plays and are arranged into the four suits as follows:

have the text “Regd No.529991”. The words ‘Master’ and ‘Ltd’ are printed in a different typeface to the earlier edition. In 1994, Waddingtons was bought by Hasbro. By this point they had produced many games which have since become household names that are both original and under licence. Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by fake charitable organisations. [4]Soon Lexicon was published in a smart slip case and many different editions have followed, including foreign language versions. As a result, they were granted a licence to produce the game. Dollars were replaced with Great British Pounds and the names were changed to London Streets and landmarks. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Waddingtons were asked to produce low denomination bank notes to replace coins. These were valued 2d6s and 5s.