History of Monopoly

The history of Monopoly is a long one, dating back to the 1930s. In 1933, Charles Darrow, a domestic heater salesman from Germantown, Pennsylvania developed and began to sell the game Monopoly. A year later, in 1934, Darrow set up copyrights for Monopoly and attempted to sell the game to Parker Brothers. Surprisingly, Parker Brothers did not accept the game because it contained “fifty-two fundamental errors.” However, Darrow did not give up. With the help of a friend, he produced 5,000 game sets. He sold those sets locally. Local Philadelphia department stores caught wind of the game and began ordering mass quantities from Darrow. Poor Darrow could barely keep up with the demand. By 1935, word had gotten back to Parker Brothers. They knew the game was a hit and correctly surmised that its popularity would only continue to grow. Parker Brothers purchased the game from Darrow, who would receive royalties. In the contract, Parker Brothers insisted that the game rules would also include a shorter version of Monopoly to avoid the chance that the game could continue on indefinitely. Since then, hundreds of millions of people have played Monopoly and will continue to do so for many years to come.

With any history there is often a scandalous twist, usually filled with speculation and fired on by personal interests. Monopoly is no stranger to such conjecture. In the primary dispute, some people have claimed that Charles Darrow was not the true inventor of Monopoly. Many of these individuals claim that Monopoly was actually the invention of Elizabeth Magie, from Virginia. She was a proponent of Henry George’s single tax theory. Her version of Monopoly, called The Landlord’s Game, only offered property to rent. Its purpose was to exemplify the benefits for George’s economic theories by showing that the landlord always has an advantage and a single tax system could help dissuade any economic discrepancies. Magie did patent the game; Parker Brothers bought it for $500, but no royalties were to be paid out. Throughout time, other individuals also claimed to be first inventor of Monopoly. Additional disputes have surfaced and then faded away, and disputes will probably arise again. As history stand now, Parker Brothers holds Charles Darrow to be the only true inventor.

Today, the game of Monopoly is more far-reaching than simply the board game. The following have spun-off of the board game and continue the Monopoly legacy:

• Monopoly, the 1990 short-lived game show
• Monopoly Junior, a board game for children
• Advance to Boardwalk board game, deals with the “hotels” aspect
• Monopoly, the card game
• Monopoly, the dice game
• Monopoly, Speed Die edition
• Express Monopoly
• Slot machines with the Monopoly theme
• Monopoly themed pinball machines
• Various computer games
• Many, many editions: Spider-Man edition, Here and Now editions based on various cities and countries, Disney edition, Army edition, Super Bowl edition etc.