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of the Game

Frisbee or Frisbie, Game

it’s an American of the

Cultural Icon

The Name
Name

The

By Douglas R. Kelly

here are few product names in the games and sporting goods industries that can match
“Frisbee” for sheer recognition power. We don’t say, “Hey let’s play Monopoly” when
Twe mean backgammon, and we don’t ask a friend to go out and “shoot some Wilsons”
when we mean hoops (basketball).
But the word Frisbee has come to mean any flying disc made by any company, so even
when we head out to play catch with a disc made by Franklin Sports or Aerobie, we say, “Let’s
go play Frisbee.” The word entered our vocabulary more than 60 years ago, and the company
that started it all has enjoyed branding success for which most manufacturers would give their
eyeteeth. It has led to countless arguments and lawsuits over the years as competitors have
tried to come up with names that are as memorable as Frisbee—some of them coming a little
too close for comfort, while others just stole the name outright.

Re-purposed Metal
Frisbees weren’t always plastic. The earliest flying discs were made of metal, and they were
never intended to be thrown into the air – they were designed to hold pie. Starting in the late
19th century, the Frisbie Pie Company, which was based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, sold its
products in metal tins measuring around nine and a half inches in diameter. Most sources
agree that it wasn’t long before workers at the bakery were chucking the empty pie tins back
and forth on their breaks, along with students at Yale University, in nearby New Haven. (The
Frisbie Pie Company also made cookies, sold in tins, the lids of which reportedly sailed back
and forth along with the pie tins.)
An original Frisbie pie tin, used by the Frisbie Pie
Company and thrown around parking lots and college
campuses in the first half of the 20th century.

Pluto Platters, like this late 1950s example, featured
the names of planets around the rim.
This circa 1930s postcard shows the Hartford, CT location of the Frisbie Pie Co.

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