Scrabble

Created in 1931 by an out-of-work architect named Alfred Botts. He hoped to support his family by inventing a successful word game. But before it was refined, he got his job back. Which was just as well, he showed his hand-made "Criss-Cross" to toy companies, but they insisted it had no potential, being "too intellectual".

So in 1948, Botts and a friend went into business manufacturing the game -now called Scrabble- in an old schoolhouse. In the summer of 1952, for no apparent reason, Scrabble became a fad. In two years, the partners went from selling less than ten thousand games a year to selling more than four million. The rights were eventually sold to Selchow-Righter to meet growing demand, and thirty years later, Scrabble ranks as the second-best selling game in history.

Well, some people have all the luck..