Jim Prentice

James Mason Prentice (May 29, 1909 – January 16, 2005) was an American game designer and businessman who founded The Electric Game Company. At the age of 17 he invented a simple electric baseball game which went on to become his best-selling game, as well as the first board game of its kind to use electrical relays. Personal life James Prentice was born on May 29, 1909, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to Mr. and Mrs. George M. Prentice (née Doherty). Growing up on Lawler Street, he would attend the Williston Northampton School for some period of time but ultimately graduated from Holyoke High School. Contrary to his later reputation as a sports game designer and the reputation a name like "Jim Prentice Electric Baseball" might lend, Prentice himself wasn't a baseball player. In a March 2000 interview with the Springfield Union-News, lifelong friend Harry Craven Sr. noted "when I was playing baseball, Jimmy was working on his game". He would tinker with electronics during study hall at Holyoke High School, leading to the eventual development of his trademark games. Upon graduating from high school, Prentice went on to major in mathematics at the University of New Hampshire, graduating in 1933. In 1939 he married Elizabeth Ellen Warren. Prentice was known to be a humorist in some of his designs but also difficult as a boss, later claiming to fire 14 of every 15 employees he would hire. Outside of business life he was an active Rotarian, serving as president of Holyoke's Rotarian chapter, as well as the Holyoke Boys' Club, and as president and a director of the Toy Manufacturers Association. Game design and career At the age of 17, Prentice invented the Electric Baseball game which would be his bestselling game when he later went into business. Initially developed during study hall in high school, when he first created the game, Prentice had not expected to make it into part of a broader career. However within a year of developing Electric Baseball, Prentice test-marketed it to school children in Holyoke and surrounding cities.