Board games which represent or seek to replicate actual sports games are commonplace. Baseball board games appeared soon after the game itself spread in America. American football, as we recognize it, appeared late in the 19th century. The first college football games evolved out of the sport of rugby. New York's McLoughlin Brothers firm manufactured a football board game and copyrighted it in 1891. The appearance of a board game demonstrates the acceptance and popularity of football even at that early date.