Point of Law

The 3M bookshelf game series was a set of classic and proprietary strategy and economic games published in the 1960s and early 1970s by 3M corporation. The games were packaged in leatherette-look large hardback book size boxes in contrast to the prevalent wide flat game boxes. The series grew to encompass almost three dozen games. Most were multi-player board games or card games; a few were trivia games or 2-handed board games. 'Acquire' and 'TwixT' were among the best known and most popular titles. The series later became part of the Avalon Hill Bookcase games. Only a few are still being published.

These games were marketed towards adults and were designed to fit onto a standard bookshelf. Each game fit into a slip cover that was made to resemble the spine of a hardcover book. 3M's catalog described them as follows: "bookcase games, packaged in attractive leather-like slipcases, make a handsome set of volumes for any bookshelf." The line consisted of republished classics such as Go, Chess and Backgammon as well as original games. The Bookshelf games were originally in large boxes (8.5"x12"x2.25"); later, a series in smaller boxes called "gamettes" was introduced (the early ones were packaged in a different shape box called a "butterbox"). 3M also published two other series of games in the same time frame: the Sports series (1966) and the Paper games series (1974). These were not in the bookshelf packaging format.

Acquire, TwixT and Sleuth were inducted into Games Magazine's Hall of Fame in the mid-1980s, though Sleuth was later dropped (1991) due to lack of current production.

In 1962, 3M commissioned game designers Alex Randolph and Sid Sackson to design the early games and they were largely responsible for shaping the direction of the line towards abstract strategy and economic games. Randolph eventually produced TwixT, Oh-Wah-Ree, Breakthru, Evade, Jati and Mad Mate. Sackson contributed Acquire, Bazaar, Monad, Executive Decision, Sleuth, and Venture. 3M thereafter relied extensively on freelance designers for the later bookshelf games. Between 400 and 600 submissions were received every year by the company. These were screened to find unique and interesting games that were connected to any recent trends or fads.

The games were produced by 3M from 1962 to 1975, under the complete company name, The Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company (this is printed in each box and on the instructions and some paper game pieces). Only a small number of the games (about 10) were significant commercial successes.

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