Nov. 15, 2001: Xbox is released by Microsoft in North America. The first games released are Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Nascar Thunder 2002, Transworld Surf, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Project Gotham Racing, NFL Fever 2002, F1 2002, Madden NFL 2002, Dead or Alive 3, and Halo.

Dec. 2001: Four games are released: Blood Open 2, Max Payne, NHL 2002, and SSX Tricky.

Jan. 8, 2002: At the 2002 International Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft announces that the Xbox had one of the most successful launches in the history of video games, selling approximately 1.5 million units between November 2001 and the end of 2001.

Feb. 22, 2002: Xbox is released in Japan.

March 14, 2002: Xbox is released in Europe.

April 2002: FIFA World Cup 2002 is released.

May 2, 2003: A limited edition, translucent green Xbox is released in Europe.

April 6, 2004: Microsoft releases a limited edition (only 200,000 produced) called Halo Xbox in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. It is translucent green like the special edition released in Europe and comes packaged with Halo: Combat Evolved.

July 2005: A Cambridge University graduate is convicted under the EU Copyright Directive for selling modified and upgraded Xbox consoles. He is sentenced to 140 hours of community service and a fine of £750.

Nov. 22, 2005: The Xbox 360 is released.

Nov. 22, 2005 - 12:01 am: After waiting 12 hours in line to buy the game, which was to go on sale at 12:01 am, a crowd of approximately 300 people fights over the Xbox 360 consoles at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Maryland when the manager announces the consoles will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis rather than a number system the customers had come up with themselves while standing in line. After some customers are trampled and minorly injured, police order everyone to leave and the sale is called off.

Nov. 23, 2005: Reports of possible glitches in the Xbox 360 spring up on the Internet. Reported problems include systems crashing, locking up, and overheating. However, an Xbox senior product manager says: "The vast majority of Xbox 360 owners are having an outstanding experience with their new consoles."

1948: The game is trademarked as SCRABBLE® Brand Crossword Game. The word "scrabble" means "to grope frantically."

1949: The Brunots make 2,400 SCRABBLE sets. They lose $450.

Early 1950s: Legend has it that the president of MACY'S discovers the game of SCRABBLE while on vacation and orders it for his store. It soon becomes "the" game everyone has to have.

1952: The Brunots bring in game manufacturer Selchow & Righter Company to market and distribute the game in the United States and Canada.

1972: Selchow & Righter purchases the trademark from Brunot.

1978: The National SCRABBLE Association (NSA) is founded. It is the official organization of of North America's tournament SCRABBLE players.

May 19-21, 1978: The first North American Invitational SCRABBLE Players Tournament is held in New York City. 65 players compete for $8400 in prizes.

1986: COLECO Industries purchases Selchow & Righter.

1989: COLECO goes bankrupt. Hasbro, Inc., which had already purchased the Milton Bradley Company in 1984, acquires COLECO and the rights to Scrabble.

April 1993: Alfred Mosher Butts dies at the age of 93.

1997: The World SCRABBLE Championship is held in Washington, D.C.

1998: In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the SCRABBLE trademark, a special commemorative edition is released.

April 26, 2003: The first annual National School SCRABBLE Championship is held in Boston.

August 20-24, 2005: The National SCRABBLE Championship is held in Reno, Nevada.

May 3, 1966: Johnny Carson plays Twister on his show with Eva Gabor, Skitch Henderson and Ted Cassidy. Seeing this causes Americans to rush out and buy the game in droves.

Late 1960s: Twister becomes the most popular game in the United States, outselling any other game for three years after it is introduced.

May 2, 1987: 4,160 students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst set the Guinness World Record for the most number of people playing Twister at one time.

1988: "Weird Al" Yankovic releases the song "Twister" on his album, Even Worse.

1991: Twister makes a cameo appearance in the film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, in which Bill and Ted compete against Death at a game of Twister in order to save their lives.

1880: Bradley begins producing jigsaw puzzles.

1911: Milton Bradley dies.

1931: Battleship is released.

1948: Scrabble Brand Crossword Game is trademarked. It becomes part of the Milton Bradley family in 1989.

1943: Chutes and Ladders is released.

1949: Candy Land is released.

1956: Yahtzee is released.

1960: The Game of Life (the game first invented by Milton Bradley and originally called "The Checkered Game of Life") board game is introduced.

1962: Ground is broken for the current manufacturing plant and office headquarters in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

1966: Twister is released.

1975: Connect Four is released.

Sept. 1984: Hasbro, Inc. acquires the Milton Bradley Company and keeps the Milton Bradley name as a unique brand.

1989: Hasbro purchases major assets of Coleco Industries, Inc. and adds several of their games, including Scrabble and Parcheesi, to the Milton Bradley family of games.

1991: Hasbro acquires Parker Brothers Games.

1956: They approach game manufacturer Edwin S. Lowe and ask him to create a few sets so they can give them as gifts to their friends. He loves the game and buys the rights from them, changing the name to Yahtzee.

Late 1950s: The game doesn't catch on immediately because the game is hard to describe in advertisements. Lowe knows that people will love it once they play it, so he organizes "Yahtzee parties" and the game takes off from there.

1973: The Milton Bradley Company buys the E.S. Lowe Company and acquires the rights to Yahtzee.

June 1975: An American game show based on Yahtzee debuts. It is called Spin-Off and the host is Jim Lange. The show only lasts for two months.

Sept. 1984: Hasbro, Inc. acquires the Milton Bradley Company and the Yahtzee game.

1996: Hasbro Interactive releases the first Ultimate Yahtzee computer version.

1940s: Yale University students toss around the Frisbie pie tins as a game.

1948: Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin found the Wham-O company in a garage in Los Angeles.

1948: At the height of the Hollywood obsession with flying saucers, Water Frederick Morrison invents a plastic disk that can be thrown around and called it the "Flyin Saucer". His first model is not successful.

1955: Morrison creates a new Flyin Saucer model and calls it the "Pluto Platter."

1957: Wham-O buys the rights to the Pluto Platter from Morrison and manufactures the discs.

1958: Wham-O renames the discs "Frisbees."

1958: The Frisbe Pie Company goes out of business.

1964: Ed Headrick offers to work for Wham-O without a salary for three months to prove himself. They give him a job in the warehouse, where he takes it upon himself to improve the Frisbee model the company is selling. Their current model is a bit too "wobbly" so Headrick adds ridges and makes other adjustments in order to make it more aerodynamic. Headrick becomes known as "Steady" Ed Headrick.

Dec. 26, 1967: Headrick's improved design is patented by Wham-O. The Frisbee soars in popularity.

1994: Mattel buys Wham-O.

Oct. 2001: "Steady" Ed Headrick tells the Santa Cruz Sentinel: "I felt the Frisbee had some kind of a spirit involved. It's not just like playing catch with a ball. It's the beautiful flight ... We used to say that Frisbee is really a religion - 'Frisbyterians.' we'd call ourselves. When we die, we don't go to purgatory. We just land up on the roof and lay there."

Aug. 12, 2002: "Steady" Ed Headrick dies in his sleep at the age of 78 in La Selva Beach, California. His wishes are that his ashes be molded into limited number of flying discs to be given to family and friends. Remaining discs are to be sold, with the profits going to fund a Frisbee and disc golf museum.

Jan. 1975: Rubik applies for Hungarian patent HU170062 for what he calls the "Magic Cube."

1977: The patent for the Magic Cube is approved.

1977: Test runs of the cube are produced and sold in toy shops in Budapest, Hungary.

Sept. 1979: Rubik strikes a deal with Ideal Toys to market the Magic Cube internationally.

1980: The Magic Cube is shown at London, New York, Nuremburg, and Paris toy shows.

May 1980: After renaming it "Rubik's Cube," Ideal Toys produces its first batch for exportation.

1981: Patrick Bossert, a 12-year-old from Britain, publishes his Rubik's Cube solution in a book entitled You Can Do the Cube. The book goes to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

June 1982: The first Rubik's Cube world championship takes place in Budapest. Minh Thai, a 16-year-old Vietnamese high school student from Los Angeles, wins the championship by solving the cube in 22.95 seconds.

1984: Ideal Toys loses a patent infringement suit filed by Larry Nichols for patent US3655201.

1995: Diamond Cutters International produces the most expensive Rubik's Cube called the Masterpiece Cube. It is valued at 1.5 million dollars. It is set in 18-karat gold and consists of 22.5 karats of amethyst, 34 karats of rubies, and 34 karats of emeralds.

Feb. 1903: Morris and Rose Michtom of Brooklyn, New York, create a stuffed bear in honor of Roosevelt's actions and name it "Teddy's Bear." They place it in the window of their candy and stationery store. Passersby fall in love with the cute bear in the window and want their own. The Mitchums, together with wholesale company Butler Brothers, found the first teddy bear manufacturer in the United States. It is called the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

March 1903: Steiff introduces his bear at the Leipzig Toy Fair. Though the European buyers show little interest, there is an American at the fair who is aware of the growing teddy bear crazy in the United States and he orders 3000 of Steiff's bears.

1904: President Roosevelt uses a bear as a mascot in his successful reelection campaign.

1906: The "teddy bear craze" is full-blown by this time.

Oct. 1906: The term "teddy bear" rather than "Teddy's Bear" first appears in print in an issue of Playthings magazine.

1906: Gund Manufacturing Corporation makes its first teddy bears.

1907: Composer J.K. Bratton writes the now-famous song, "The Teddy Bear's Picnic."

1907: Alice Scott publishers a book called Teddy Bear with Dean’s Rag Book Company. It is illustrated by Sybil Scott Paley.

1908: J.K. Farnell & Co. is the first British company to make teddy bears.

1908: An ad in the Sears Roebuck catalog reads: "Teddy bears are all the rage. The best plaything ever invented."

1912: Steiff manufactures 500 black teddy bears to give as mourning gifts after the sinking of the Titanic.

1919: British aviators Alcock and Brown make the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. They take teddy bears with them as their mascots.

1920: The Knickerbocker Toy Company opens its doors and begins making teddy bears.

1921: A.A. Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne, receives a J.K. Farnell & Co. teddy bear on his first birthday.

1921: German manufacturer Schuco patents the Yes/No bear. It shakes its head no or nods yes when you move its tail one way or the other.

1924: Walt Disney produces Alice and the Three Bears, the first color animated film featuring a teddy bear.

1926: A.A. Milne publishes Winnie the Pooh. The book is based on his son's adventures with his teddy bear and other stuffed animals.

1929: During the Depression, many teddy bear manufacturers close their doors.

1939: As World War II breaks out, teddy bear manufacturers stop making bears in order to help in the war effort.

1944: Smokey the Bear is adopted as the United States Forest Fire Prevention Campaign mascot.

1954: Welsh toy manufacturer Wendy Boston creates the first washable teddy bear.

1958: Michael Bond publishes the first Paddington Bear story, A Bear Called Paddington.

1959: Walt Disney acquires the rights to Winnie the Pooh.

1969: Peter Bull writes a book called "Bear with Me" about his affection for teddy bears. The book creates a renaissance of the teddy bear industry. This time, adults are the main consumers of the bears rather than children.

1975: Disney releases the first Winnie the Pooh film.

May 27, 1979: More than 15,000 people and 2,000 teddy bears gather in Wilshire, England for the Great Teddy Bear Rally to raise money for charity.

1984: The world's first teddy bear museum is opened in Petersfield, Hampshire, England by Judy Sparrow.

1985: Christie's of London holds the first "only teddy bears" auction.

1988: Gyles and Michele Brandreth open the The Teddy Bear Museum in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

1989: The first Teddy Bear Festival is held in London.

1998: Guinness, created by Lynn Lumb of Halifax, England, is named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's smallest teddy bear. It is 3/10 of an inch tall.

1994: Doom II: Hell on Earth debuts followed by a huge assortment of expansion packs. It has thirty regular levels and two hidden ones.

1995: Master Levels for Doom II is released.

1996: Final Doom debuts. It is a collection of two 32-leval megawads: The Plutonia Experiment and TNT: Evilution.

1997: Because its game engine is rendered passe, the Doom series goes into hibernation.

1997: Id Software releases the source code for Doom.

Late 1999: Doom's source code is re-released and fans begin to fix the bugs of the games and create their own ports.

June 2000: John Carmack announces that Doom will be retold with the next generation technology. Doom will terroize again. However many people within id Software, people like Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack, feel this is a bad decision, that it's not a good idea to use tried formulas so they roadblock the ressurection of Doom. But the release of Return to Castle Wolfenstein wins the hearts of many in id Software, leading to a revolution with the pros confronting the now minority cons. The pros insist that they be allowed to bring back Doom.

July 2001: GameSpy conducts a poll of over 100 game designers and journalists. They rate Doom the "#1 game of all time".

2001: At MacWorld in Tokyo, a demo of Doom 3 is tested on the public.

2002: The Doom 3 demo appears at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and is a huge success. It wins five awards at E3.

Aug. 1, 2003: Pirated versions of Doom 3 spread fast over the Internet.

Aug. 3, 2004: Doom 3 debuts for PC and becomes a huge success.

March 14, 2005: Doom 3 debuts for Mac.

Apr. 4, 2005: Doom 3 debuts for Xbox.

June 31, 2005: Doom: The Board Game debuts.

Oct. 21, 2005: Doom the movie debuts starring The Rock.

Oct. 1981: SEGA is awarded a license to produce Frogger in the United States. The original English title was going to be Highway Crossing Frog but Sega execs settled on the simpler Frogger.

1982: Buckner and Garcia record "Froggy's Lament," a song using sound effects from Frogger. They release it on their album, Pac-Man Fever.

1983: SEGA releases Frogger for home computer systems.

1984: Frogger II: Three Deep is released.

1991: Ribbit, a Frogger sequel, is released with updated graphics.

1997: Hasbro Interactive releases a 3D version of Frogger for PlayStation.

April 23, 1998: In episode #174 of the tv series Seinfeld entitled "The Frogger," George Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld are in a restaurant when George discovers that the Frogger machine in the restaurant is the same one from his childhood and that he still has the highest score. When George finds out the restaurant owner is going to get rid of the machine, he decides to take it. The only problem is that unplugging it will erase his score. As George tries to cross the street with the machine, the viewer is treated to a Seinfeldian version of Frogger, with George Costanza as the frog trying to dodge cars.

1999: A Frogger unit appears in the film Magnolia.

Oct. 1 2000: Hasbro releases Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge, the sequel to their 1997 3D Frogger release. It is available for most home gaming systems.

Nov. 18, 2001: Konami releases Frogger: The Great Quest for PlayStation 2 and Windows.

Nov. 23, 2001: Konami releases Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog for Game Boy Advance.

May 2002: Konami releases Frogger Advance: The Great Quest for Game Boy Advance.

Nov. 5, 2002: Konami releases Frogger's Adventures 2: The Lost Wand for Game Boy Advance.

July 10, 2003: Konami releases Frogger Beyond for PlayStation 2.

Oct. 2003: Konami releases Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic for Game Boy Advance.

Oct. 28, 2003: Konami releases Frogger's Adventures: The Rescue for GameCube.

2003: Frogger is mentioned at the MTV Movie Awards in a sketch parody of The Matrix called "The MTV Movie Awards Reloaded." Will Ferrell plays "The Architect" and claims to have invented Frogger. He says the name he chose for it was Highway Crossing Frog but the game publisher made him change it to Frogger. What most people watching the sketch didn't know is that the original working title for Frogger really was Highway Crossing Frog.

Sept. 27, 2005: Konami releases Frogger: Ancient Shadow for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. It also releases Frogger: Helmet Chaos for Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

Dec. 1, 1944: Pratt files for a patent for his new mystery game Cluedo at the Patent Office.

1944: The Pratts, along with close friends Mr. and Mrs. Bull, visit Waddington's Games in Leeds to discuss the potential for Cluedo. Personnel at Waddington's sit down and play the game with the Pratts and Bulls. It isn't long before Waddington's knows they have a winning game. However, due to WW II material shortages, the introduction of Cluedo is delayed.

April 1, 1947: Anthony Pratt is awarded a Patent for Cluedo and sells it to Waddington's Games.

Nov. 1949: Waddington's releases Cluedo to the public and it becomes an instant hit. The original suspects are Doctor Black, Mr. Brown, Mr. Gold, The Rev. Mr. Green, Miss Grey, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlet, Nurse White, Mrs. Silver and Colonel Yellow.

1949: Parker Brothers acquires the U.S. rights to Cluedo and renames it Clue. It is still called Cluedo in the U.K and many countries.

1985: A movie based on the game, Clue, is released starring Tim Curry as the butler, Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock, Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum, Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet, Michel McKean as Mr. Green, Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard, Colleen Camp as Yvette the maid, Lee Ving as Mr. Boddy, Howard Hesseman as the Chief, and Jane Wiedlan (of Go-Gos fame) as the Singing Telegram Girl.

1990: A British gameshow based on the game begins airing. Called Cluedo, it airs from 1990-1993. An Australian version of the show airs from 1992-1993.

1991: Hasbro buys Parker Brothers and the rights to Clue.

1992: Scholastic releases a children's book series based on the game Clue.

April 1994: Anthony E. Pratt dies.

1998: Hasbro releases a variation on the game called Clue Master Detective.

1998: Hasbro releases the computer game version: Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion for Windows 95 and above. It is released the same year in Britain as Cluedo: Murder at Blackwell Grange.

2000: UK Cluedo 2000 Edition is released.

2001: Hasbro releases Clue Dungeons & Dragons after puchasing Wizards of the Coast, the holders of the Dungeons & Dragons license.

Jan. 2003: A new version of Clue is released with the date of the murder taking place on June 5th, 1926 in Tudor Mansion, Rainbow Road along Hampshire.

Feb. 2004: A new version of Cluedo is released.

Jan. 5, 1904.: The board game The Landlord's Game is born, patented by Lizzie Magie of Virginia. She uses this game to explain economist Henry George's idea, who she is a devoted follower of.

1910: In New York, the Economic Game Company is the first to manufacture The Landlord's Game.

1913: In the United Kingdom, London's Newbie Game Company releases the game as Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit.

1910s: Basically, Quakers and followers of Henry George, better known as Georgists, spread the game by way of example and word of mouth. The game's board usually reflects the surroundings of the area in which it is being played.

Early 1920s: The Landlord's Game is renamed Auction Monopoly.

Late 1920s: Auction Monopoly is renamed Monopoly.

1924: Lizzie Magie files for another patent for a larger version of her game.

1933: Charles B. Darrow falls in love with the game and it becomes a popular game among his family and friends. He files for a patent and begins hand-making games, selling them as his own invention for four dollars each.

1934: Darrow simply cannot keep up with the supply and demand and decides to bring the game to Parker brothers who totally rejects his version of the game because there are fifty-two design errors.

1934: Darrow continues to sell as many games as he can produce.

1935: Parker Brothers hears of Darrow's success and decides to buy the rights to the game. To cover all angles, Parker Brothers also pays off Lizzie Magie and anybody eles who has copyrights to games similar to Monopoly and become the sole owners of the game. They pay Lizzie $500 with no royalties and makret The Landlord's Game for a little while and then erase the game forever. They then give Charles B. Darrow credit as Monopoly's inventor.

Nov. 5, 1935: Parker Brothers begins marketing the game.

1936: Parker Brothers sues a Texan named Rudy Copeland for patent infringement. The name of his game is Inflation. However, Copeland countersues that Darrow's version infringes Copeland's patent making Parker Brother's patent useless. Parker Brothers promptly pay Copeland $10, 000 for the rights to his Inflation game.

Nov. 1974: Dr. Ralph Anspach releases the game Anti-Monopoly. General Mills, the owner of Monopoly and its trademark demand it be stricken from the shelves followed by a public apology. General Mills also threatens to sue anybody who stocks or promotes the game. He ends up taking Anspach to court, which leads to a ten year court battle.

1979: Parker Brothers releases The Mad Magazine Game.

1984: Parker Brothers and Ralph Anspach are still in court over the game called Anti-Monopoly and the case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court who rule in Anspach's favor due to the now well-known fact that Charles Darrow was not the inventor of the game.

1984: Hasbro buys out Parker Brothers.

1990: On TV, the game show version of Monopoly airs for twelve weeks.

1996: Star Wars Limited Collectors Edition Monopoly is released.

1996: National Parks Edition Monopoly is released.

1997: Harley Davidson Edition Monopoly is released.

1998: Wizard Of Oz Edition Monopoly is released.

1999: Marvel Comics Collector's Edition Monopoly is released.

1999: Looney Tunes Official Classic Cartoon Edition is released.

July 2000: Hasbro renames Rich Uncle Pennybags, the game's mascot, to "Mr. Monopoly."

2003: Ghettopoly is created by Pennsylvania entrepreneur David Chang. It is sold in Urban Outfitters but the store takes it off shelves after protestors claim it is racist and inappropriate. Chang continues to sell the game through his website and plans other versions, including Hoodopoly, Thugopoly and Redneckopoly.