About Us Page

The creation of Mad Libs is directly linked to the founders inability to spell “hyperbole” in a seventh-grade spelling bee. Humiliated and embarrassed beyond words, he ran home to take refuge in the family dictionary, determined to learn the correct spelling and exact meaning of as many words as humanly possible. The dictionary became his constant companion – his roommate. Even today it’s by his bedside, and on sleepless nights he makes a point of learning at least one new word. Last night it was “orthogonal.”

About 20 years ago, our founder succumbed to personally promoting the company: He had “Mad Lib” printed on my California license plate. At red lights, with astonishing regularity, he was asked by the driver of the car next to me if he had anything to do with the word game Mad Libs. He would say, “Yes, I co-created it.” And they’d challengingly respond, “No way.” Over time, it became increasingly apparent that no true Mad Libber believed that the game was of recent origin. He thought in their heart of hearts they believed the game belonged to the past… that it had been around forever — from time immemorial. Eventually, he gave in. Our founder now states emphatically that Moses had Mad Libs with him to keep the kids amused when they were on the road to Egypt.

When the sales of Mad Libs reached an astonishing one hundred million, he didn’t walk, he ran to Roger’s office to tell him the great news. Roger didn’t speak at first, but when he did he issued a Rogerism that I have quoted continuously over the years. “Well,” he said, “you can fool some of the people some of the time — and that’s enough.”