It’s not unusual for me to have my head stuck in a rabbit hole. I started by looking at the history of a board game that preceded Monopoly. Who knew that the little cartoon man we instantly recognize as Mr. Monopoly was previously known as “Rich Uncle Pennybags”? The 1936 box may offer “Fun for Everybody”, but the history of the game is more about economic theories and taxation.
Lizzie Magie created a game called The Landlord Game in 1903 order to illustrate the single tax theory of Henry George. George proposed in 1879 that the state tax the income from the use of bare land but not from improvements—and abolish all other taxes. A man named Charles Darrow played the game and not only didtributed it himself, but applied for a patent. Parker Bros. bought the game from Darrow in 1936 and apparently only paid Lizzie Magie a small amount of money for her contributions.
Parker Bros. began licensing the game for sale outside the United States and in 1941, the British Secret Intelligence Service had 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. 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.
Over the years, the hotels were changed from cardboard to wood to plastic. The street names were changed to reflect Atlantic City and the name of the game was changed to Monopoly. Today the game Monopoly belongs to Hasbro.
