Original Parker Brothers Monopoly

[Nayra Waddles]

Monopolyis a multiplayer economics-themed board game. In the game, players roll two dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents and aim to drive them into bankruptcy. Money can also be gained or lost through Chance and Community Chest cards and tax squares. Players receive a salary every time they pass "Go" and can end up in jail, from which they cannot move until they have met one of three conditions. House rules, hundreds of different editions, many spin-offs, and related media exist.

Monopoly has become a part of international popular culture, having been licensed locally in more than 113 countries and printed in more than 46 languages. As of 2015[update], it was estimated that the game had sold 275 million copies worldwide.[4] The original game was based on locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States with the exception of Marven Gardens, which is in adjacent Ventnor, NJ.

The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903,[1] when American anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie created a game called The Landlord's Game that she hoped would explain the single-tax theory of Henry George as laid out in his book Progress and Poverty. It was intended as an educational tool to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. She took out a patent in 1904. Her game was self-published beginning in 1906.[7][8]

Several variant board games, based on her concept, were developed from 1906 through the 1930s; they involved both the process of buying land for its development, and the sale of any undeveloped property. Cardboard houses were added, and rents increased as they were added to a property. Magie patented the game again in 1923.[10]

According to an advertisement placed in The Christian Science Monitor, Charles Todd of Philadelphia recalled the day in 1932 when his childhood friend Esther Jones and her husband, Charles Darrow, came to his house for dinner. After the meal, the Todds introduced Darrow to The Landlord's Game, which they then played several times. The game was entirely new to Darrow, and he asked the Todds for a written set of the rules. After that night, Darrow went on to utilize it to distribute the game himself as Monopoly.[11]

Parker Brothers began marketing the game on November 5, 1935.[14] Cartoonist F. O. Alexander contributed the design.[15] U.S. patent number US 2026082 A was issued to Charles Darrow on December 31, 1935, for the game board design and was assigned to Parker Brothers Inc.[16] The original version of the game in this format was based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Parker Brothers began licensing the game for sale outside the United States in 1936. In 1941, the British Secret Intelligence Service had John Waddington Ltd., the licensed manufacturer of the game in the United Kingdom, create a special edition for World War II prisoners of war held by the Nazis.[17] Hidden inside these games were maps, compasses, real money, and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by fake charity organizations created by the British Secret Service.[18]

Economics professor Ralph Anspach published Anti-Monopoly in 1973, and was sued for trademark infringement by Parker Brothers in 1974. The case went to trial in 1976. Anspach won on appeals in 1979, as the 9th Circuit Court determined that the trademark Monopoly was generic and therefore unenforceable.[19] The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case, allowing the appellate court ruling to stand. This decision was overturned by the passage of Public Law 98-620 in 1984.[20][21] With that law in place, Parker Brothers and its parent company, Hasbro, continue to hold valid trademarks for the game Monopoly. However, Anti-Monopoly was exempted from the law and Anspach later reached a settlement with Hasbro and markets his game under license from them.[22]

Hasbro acquired Parker Bros. and thus Monopoly in 1991.[23] Before the Hasbro acquisition, Parker Bros. acted as a publisher, issuing only two versions at a time, a regular and deluxe.[24] Hasbro moved to create and license many other versions of Monopoly and sought public input in varying the game.[25] A new wave of licensed products began in 1994, when Hasbro granted a license to USAopoly to begin publishing a San Diego Edition of Monopoly,[23][26] which has since been followed by more than a hundred more licensees including Winning Moves Games (since 1995)[27] and Winning Solutions, Inc. (since 2000) in the United States.

The company held a national tournament on a chartered train going from Chicago to Atlantic City (see U.S. National Championship) in 2003.[25] Also that year, Hasbro sued the maker of Ghettopoly[28] and won.[29] In February 2005, the company sued RADGames over their Super Add-On accessory board game that fit in the center of the board.[30] The judge initially issued an injunction on February 25, 2005, to halt production and sales before ruling in RADGames's favor in April 2005.[31]

The Speed Die was added to all regular Monopoly sets in 2008.[27] After polling their Facebook followers, Hasbro Gaming took the top house rules and added them to a House Rule Edition released in the fall of 2014 and added them as optional rules in 2015.[32] In January 2017, Hasbro invited internet users to vote on a new set of game pieces, with this new regular edition to be issued in March 2017.[33]

On May 1, 2018, the Monopoly Mansion hotel agreement was announced by Hasbro's managing director for southeast Asia, Jenny Chew Yean Nee, with M101 Holdings Sdn Bhd. M101 has the five-star, 225-room hotel, then under construction, located at the M101 Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur and with a 1920s Gatsby feel. M101's Sirocco Group would manage the hotel when it opened in 2019.[34]

Hasbro announced in March 2021 that it planned to update the Community Chest cards with ones that would be more socially aware, inviting fans of the game to vote on the new versions.[35] In April 2022, Hasbro announced another poll. This vote would see the reintroduction of one previously retired token in exchange for an existing token.[36] The result would see the Thimble return and the T-Rex phased out by fall 2022.[37]

There have since been some changes to the board. Not all of the Chance and Community Chest cards as shown in the 1935 patent were used in editions from 1936/1937 onwards.[39] Graphics with the Mr. Monopoly character (then known as "Rich Uncle Pennybags") were added in that same time-frame.[40] A graphic of a chest containing coins was added to the Community Chest spaces, as were the flat purchase prices of the properties. Traditionally, the Community Chest cards were yellow (although they were sometimes printed on blue stock) with no decoration or text on the back; the Chance cards were orange with no text or decoration on the back.[40]

Hasbro commissioned a major graphic redesign to the U.S. Standard Edition of the game in 2008 along with some minor revisions. Among the changes: the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues changed from purple to brown, and the colors of the GO square changed from red to black. The Luxury Tax amount increased from $75 to $100, and a flat $200 Income Tax was imposed (formerly the player's choice of $200 or 10% of their total holdings, which they could not calculate until after making their final decision). Originally the amount was $300 but was changed a year after the game's debut.[41] There were also changes to the Chance and Community Chest cards; for example, the "poor tax", "receive for services", "Xmas fund matures", and "grand opera opening" cards became "speeding fine", "receive $25 consultancy fee", "holiday fund matures", and "it is your birthday", respectively; though their effects remained the same; the player must pay only $50 instead of $150 for the school tax. In addition, a player now gets $50 instead of $45 for sale of stock, and the Advance to Illinois Avenue card now has the added text indicating a player collects $200 if they pass Go on the way there.[42]

All the Chance and Community Chest cards received a graphic upgrade in 2008 as part of the graphic refresh of the game. Mr. Monopoly's classic line illustration was also now usually replaced by renderings of a 3D Mr. Monopoly model. The backs of the cards have their respective symbols, with Community Chest cards in blue and Chance cards in orange.[42]

In the US versions shown below, the properties are named after locations in (or near) Atlantic City, New Jersey.[44]Atlantic City's Illinois Avenue was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the 1980s. St. Charles Place no longer exists, as the Showboat Atlantic City was developed where it once ran.[45] The values on the board reflect real estate property values of 1930s Atlantic City. The two cheapest properties, Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue, were situated in a low-income, African-American neighborhood; higher-value properties, such as Pennsylvania Avenue, Park Place, and Ventnor Avenue, were situated in wealthier neighborhoods.[46]

Marvin Gardens, the farthest yellow property, is a misspelling of its actual name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was introduced by Charles and Olive Todd, who taught the game to Charles Darrow. It was passed on when their homemade Monopoly board was copied by Darrow and then by Parker Brothers. The Todds also changed the Atlantic City Quakers' Arctic Avenue to Mediterranean, and shortened the Shore Fast Line to the Short Line.[50]It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged the misspelling of Marvin Gardens, formally apologizing to the residents of Marven Gardens.[51][8]

Short Line refers to the Shore Fast Line, a streetcar line that served Atlantic City.[45] The B&O Railroad did not serve Atlantic City. A booklet included with the reprinted 1935 edition states that the four railroads that served Atlantic City in the mid-1930s were the Jersey Central, the Seashore Lines, the Reading Railroad (now part of Norfolk Southern & CSX), and the Pennsylvania Railroad.

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