Badminton has its origins in ancient civilisations in Europe and Asia.

The ancient game

known as battledore (bat or paddle) and shuttlecock probably originated more than
2000 years ago.

In the 1600s battledore and shuttlecock was an upper class pastime in England and
many European countries. Battledore and shuttlecock was simply two people hitting a
shuttlecock backwards and forwards with a simple bat as many times as they could
without allowing it to hit the ground.

Modern badminton can be traced to mid-19th century British India. It was created by
British military officers stationed there. A net was added to the traditional English game
of battledore and shuttlecock. As it was popular in the British garrison town of Poona,
the game came to be known as "Poona" or "Poonai"Initially, woollen balls were
preferred by the upper classes in windy or wet conditions, but ultimately shuttlecocks
took over the role of a "ball." This game was taken by retired officers who got back to
England. It was introduced as a game for the guests of the Duke of Beaufort at his
stately home 'Badminton' in Gloucestershire, England where it became popular. Hence,
the origin of the name "Badminton."

In March 1898, the first Open Tournament was held at Guildford and the first 'All
England' Championships were held the following year.

The International Badminton Federation was formed in 1934 with nine founder
members, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Holland, Canada, New
Zealand and France. India joined as an affiliate in 1936.

The first major IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup (world men's team championships)
in 1948. Since then, the number of world events has increased with the addition of the
Uber Cup (women's team), World Championships (individual events), Sudirman Cup
(mixed team), World Junior Championships and the World Grand Prix Finals.

Badminton is a relatively new Olympic sport. It was a demonstration sport at the 1972
Munich Olympics. Badminton eventually became an Olympic sport in Barcelona in
1992. Only the singles and doubles were introduced for the first time in the Olympic
Games. Mixed doubles was included in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and
badminton is the only sport that has mixed doubles event in the Olympics.

Only five countries have won gold medals at the Olympics since badminton was
introduced in 1992 - China, Indonesia and Korea, England and Denmark.

Susi Susanti from Indonesia won the women's singles in Barcelona, becoming
Indonesia's first medallist after forty years participating in the Olympics. Ironically, Susi's
future husband, Alan Budi Kusama won Indonesia's second gold medal in the men's
singles.
Ping-Pong is a trademark name for table tennis and associated equipment. The name
“Ping-Pong” was invented by the English firm J. Jaques and Son at the end of the
1800s and later trademarked in the United States by Parker Brothers, the board game
company.

The game quickly caught on, and as early as 1901, tournaments were being conducted
with over 300 participants. The Ping-Pong Association was formed but was renamed
The Table Tennis Association in 1922.

In 1902 a visiting Japanese university professor took the game back to Japan, where he
introduced it to university students. Shortly after, a British salesman, Edward Shires,
introduced it to the people of Vienna and Budapest, and the seeds were sown for a
sport that now enjoys popularity all over the world. In Britain, table tennis had also
begun to spread outside the distinctly middle-class confines of London, and leagues
sprang up in provincial towns as far apart as Sunderland and Plymouth. In 1922, an All
England Club was formed, which boasted such luminaries as Jack Hobbs the cricketer
and other famous names of the time from the world of sport. The Daily Mirror organized
and sponsored a nationwide tournament in which there were 40,000 competitors.

Table tennis was firmly on the map, and on April 24, 1927, the English Table Tennis
Association was born, under the chairmanship and direction of Ivor Montague, son of
Lord Ewatthling. He was not only to become the architect of modern-day table tennis,
but he also achieved critical acclaim as both a director and film producer. At the time,
The ETTA had a membership of 19 leagues but now has over 300, with around 75,000
registered players.

The first world championships were held in 1927 and were won by a Hungarian, Dr.
Jacobi. Apart from the famous Fred Perry redressing the balance for England in 1929,
this was to be the start of an unprecedented run of success for the Hungarians, who
completely dominated the game throughout the thirties. Their team was led by the
legendary Victor Barna, whose inspiration and skill did so much to elevate the game to
sports status.

The 1950s saw the game turned upside down by the invention of the sponge or
sandwich rubber, this new material for bats, which, up until now, had been a relatively
simple affair with a universal thin covering of pimpled rubber.

Until this time, spin had played only a minor part in a game that had been dominated by
the defensive style of play. But these new bats or paddles, introduced by the Japanese,
had the capacity to move the ball around in an almost magical way. The ITTF, the
game’s governing body, was quick to legislate in a bid to control this new development,
seen in some quarters as equipping players with an unfair advantage. The thickness of
the sponge and rubber sandwich was controlled and remains so to this day. But the
nature of the game had been changed, establishing the fast attacking speed and spin
style of the modern game.
Arnis History

The Philippines is an island nation rich in both culture and history. The Filipino martial
art of Arnis/Kali/Escrima has contributed to both the history and diversity of the
Philippines. There are an abundance of styles and systems of Arnis/Kali/Escrima that
are taught throughout the world to this day, that have survived and developed
throughout the different regions, families and teachers who have preserved what is
sometimes called a “complete” martial art.

Arnis/Kali/Escrima was originally developed by the people native to the islands using
simple impact and edged weapons such as kampilans, rattan, swords, daggers, spears
and other assorted weaponry for combat and self defense. These weapons were also
sometimes used as farm implements.

The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan’s force in 1521 was met in battle with a group of
islanders, led by Raja Lapu Lapu, who defeated Magellan using only a bladed weapon.
Magellan’s armored and musket bearing conquistadors were overpowered by the fierce
fighters and retreated. The Spanish returned in the 1570’s and this time the Philippines
came under Spanish rule unable to contend with the modern weaponry the Spanish
used. The practice of Arnis/Kali/Escrima was prohibited, but continued and was
preserved through native ritual dance, performance, and mock battles. Thus the arts
were passed down in families from generation to generation, honing their skill, speed,
accuracy and agility.

The terms Arnis, Kali and Escrima are all used to refer to the Filipino martial arts. There
has been some confusion as to what word refers to which part of the martial art. It is
believed that Arnis, Kali, and Escrima are all a part of the same art and depending on
the location, dialect and type of training taught. Also, any of the three names may apply
to a certain part of training. One interpretation is that Kali is the mother art of Arnis and
Escrima. Arnis focuses on the knife, including dagger, sword, and any other form of
bladed weapon. Escrima is based on the baston or stick. It has also become very
popular in the sport aspect of full contact stick fighting.

To this day Arnis/Kali/Escrima has retained a strong Spanish influence not only in the
names and titles used in training, but in the impact it has had on Filipino culture. Filipino
martial arts continue to encompass a large range of weapons training and hand-to-hand
combat, enriching the culture of Filipino society. Thus the reference to it being a
“complete” martial art.
In 1938, American architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an
earlier word game he invented called Lexiko. The two games had the same set of letter
tiles, whose distributions and point values Butts worked out by performing a frequency
analysis of letters from various sources, including The New York Times. The new game,
which he called "Criss-Crosswords," added the 15×15 gameboard and the crossword-
style gameplay. He manufactured a few sets himself, but was not successful in selling
the game to any major game manufacturers of the day.[9]:98

In 1948, James Brunot,[10] a resident ofNewtown, Connecticut, and one of the few
owners of the original Criss-Crosswords game, bought the rights to manufacture the
game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. Though he left most of
the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the
"premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also changed the name of
the game to "Scrabble", a real word which means "to scratch frantically".[9]:100 In 1949,
Brunot and his family made sets in a converted former schoolhouse inDodgingtown, a
section of Newtown. They made 2,400 sets that year, but lost money.[11]According to
legend, Scrabble's big break came in 1952 when Jack Straus, president ofMacy's,
played the game on vacation. Upon returning from vacation, he was surprised to find
that his store did not carry the game. He placed a large order and within a year,
"everyone had to have one."[9]:101

In 1952, unable to meet demand himself, Brunot sold manufacturing rights to Long
Island-based Selchow and Righter, one of the manufacturers who, like Parker
Brothers andMilton Bradley Company, had previously rejected the game. In its second
year as a Selchow and Righter-built product, nearly four million sets were
sold.[12][9]:104

Selchow and Righter bought the trademark to the game in 1972.[13] JW Spear began
selling the game in Australia and the UK on January 19, 1955. The company is now a
subsidiary ofMattel.[9] In 1986, Selchow and Righter was sold to Coleco, which soon
after went bankrupt. Hasbro purchased the company's assets,
including Scrabble and Parcheesi.[13]

In 1984, Scrabble was turned into a daytime game show on NBC. Scrabble ran from
July 1984 to March 1990,[14] with a second run from January to June 1993. The show
was hosted by Chuck Woolery. Its tagline in promotional broadcasts was "Every man
dies; not every man truly Scrabbles."[15] In 2011, a new TV variation of Scrabble,
called Scrabble Showdown, aired on The Hub cable channel, which is a joint venture of
Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro.

Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004.[16]