Cranium, Inc. Cranium, Inc. Cranium, Inc. was a toy and board game developer. The company was founded in 1998 by two former Microsoft executives, Richard Tait and Whit Alexander. They co-developed the "Cranium" board game. After realizing that he always won at the game "Pictionary", but lost more than frequently at the game "Scrabble", Tait decided to make a game where everyone could win at something. Drawing inspiration from the HBDI thinking styles assessment they completed at Microsoft, Tait and Alexander aimed to create a "Whole Brain" game. Taking certain aspects of other favorite games, "Cranium" requires players to spell, draw, mold
Cranium, Inc. clay, and answer trivia questions. Tait and Alexander created "a board-game where everyone has heroic moments". Cranium, Inc. tested and modified their new game over and over. They knew they had a hit game on their hands when one day the game testers tried to steal the game. Without having a retail outlet to sell their game, Cranium, Inc. ordered 20,000 units to be manufactured in China. Cranium, Inc. did have big name investors, such as Starbucks, where they were able to raise US$35 million. Cranium, Inc. went on to win over 130 awards and sell over 22 million games