The History of The Monopoly Board Game

There is much contention as to the original origins of the Monopoly board game. For years it was claimed by The Parker Brothers (the original copyright holders on the game) that the game was created by Charles Darrow in 1933, but in recent years there have been claims that the game was actually created many years before this by political activist Elizabeth Magie. For many years it was believed that Darrow had created the game, but it was only when Anspach challenged the courts (see Monopoly Variants section) that much of the early history of the game became clear. Some believe that Magic created her version of the game, called "The Landlord's Game" to show how capitalism made one person rich and the rest of the world poor, as there could only be one winner, just as in the modern game of Monopoly.

After Magie had developed her game it was picked up by an economics Professor called Scott Nearing who used The Landlord's Game to teach the fundamental laws of capitalism to his classes. During this time Magie herself approached Parker Bros. looking to work with them to mass produce the game, but she was turned down. The game underwent development as Magie sought to renew her patent for The Landlord's Game in 1924, with chips becoming a standard in the game to represent property and cards first appeared, allowing players to increase their rents when they had a set of streets or avenues. Some of Nearing's students took the game with them to Pennsylvania where it fell into the hands of a William Layman who mass produced the game under the name of "The Fascinating Game of Finance" in the late 1920's. Around this time Magie again approached the Parker Bros. and again she found her great idea for a game turned down.

Eventually the game made its way to Atlantic City, where an appropriately localised version of the game sprung up that was taught to a young lady named Esther Darrow. Esther Darrow took the game home with her and taught her husband, Charles how to play. So impressed was Charles with the game that he began to mass produce the game using paint, cloth and cards in a home-factory with his son, William. They introduced the final aspects of the game, such as the little black locomotives on the station spaces together with the Chance and Community Chest cards. As we've mentioned, it was in 1933 that Darrow received the copyright on his game of Monopoly.

Darrow then began to tout his board game to various developers and publishers. His first stop was Milton Bradley (or MB Games as we now know them) who rejected the game, as did The Parker Bros. who explained that the game was both too long and too complex to be a success. However, when The Parker Bros. found out how well Darrow's home produced versions of the game were selling their position soon changed. The Parker Bros. bought out Magie's previous patents on the game and the rest as they say, is history...

Gamcare | Privacy Policy | About Us | Contact Us | Sitemap   All Content © Copyright 2012 Monopoly Slot.