Robert Angel
{{Short description|American board game designer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Robert Angel
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| nationality = Canadian, American
| occupation = Board game designer,
Non profit board member
| known_for = Pictionary
| alma_mater = Western Washington University
}}
Robert Angel is a Canadian-born American board game inventor who created the word guessing game Pictionary in 1985. Since selling Pictionary, he has invented other board games and products.{{cite web|title=Dream makers: where the world's best-loved toys are born|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/8876448/Dream-makers-where-the-worlds-best-loved-toys-are-born.html|publisher=Telegraph UK|accessdate=December 11, 2014}} Angel later became involved with non profit companies.
Career
In 1982, following his graduation from Western Washington University with a degree in Business Administration and while working as a waiter, Angel invented Pictionary. After work, Angel would gather with friends to play a version of the game that required each player to randomly locate a word in the dictionary, then sketch it for his teammates.
Two years later in 1984, Angel moved to Seattle and found his old notes on the game. After a few positive play tests with family he decided to go into the games production business. Angel compiled the original word list, and business partners Terry Langston and Gary Everson joined the company to design it. They produced the first 1,000 games in Angel's apartment.
Angel first published Pictionary in 1985 through Angel Games, they sold 6,000 copies in one year at $35 each.{{cite news|last=Ravulur|first=Nandita|title=Game Boys|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/1997/10/13/smallb1.html|accessdate=December 11, 2014|newspaper=Puget Sound Business Journal|date=October 12, 1997}}
They licensed the game in 1986 in a joint venture between The Games Gang and Western Publishing. Then in 1994, Hasbro took over publishing after acquiring the games business of Western Publishing.{{cite web|title=Western Publishing to Sell its Games Unit to Hasbro|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/08/business/company-news-western-publishing-to-sell-its-games-unit-to-hasbro.html|publisher=NY Times|accessdate=December 11, 2014}}
In 2001, Pictionary was sold to Mattel. At that time they were in 60 countries and 45 languages, with 11 versions just in the US and a total of 32 million games sold worldwide.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
Angel developed another game adult board game called ThinkBlot. While the game was not as successful as Pictionary, it was still a hit for 2 years.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
Angel has also worked as a film and television producer on Finding Hillywood (2013) (aka Film Festival: Rwanda),{{cite web|title=Finding Hillywood|url=http://findinghillywood.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Press_Kit_Finding_Hillywood.pdf|publisher=FindingHillywood.com|accessdate=October 25, 2015|date=May 29, 2013}} the 1997 game show Pictionary,{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} and It Snows All the Time in 2015.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}
Personal life
Angel is the board president for Inspire Youth Project, an organization that provides emotional support programs and stability for children and teens affected by HIV/AIDS.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
=Published games=
References
{{Reflist|30em | refs=
{{cite news|last1=GELLENE|first1=DENISE|title=3 Million Bought in '87 : Pictionary Turns Bad Art Into a Best-Selling Game|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-03-fi-27051-story.html|access-date=October 13, 2015|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=February 3, 1988|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013023800/http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-03/business/fi-27051_1_pictionary-game|archive-date=October 13, 2015}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angel, Robert}}
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:American board game designers
Category:Businesspeople from Seattle
Category:Businesspeople from Vancouver
Category:Businesspeople from Washington (state)
Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States