NZGamer: Monopoly Review

NZGamer writes: "'The Landlord's Game' was invented by Elizabeth Magie Phillips in 1904, and through it she tried to explain the negative effects of US's Henry George's single tax theory – it was supposed to show the negative effect of large amounts of land in private hands. As usually happens to a simple, new and good idea, others pounced on the game, changing it slightly and then producing and marketing their own versions of 'The Landlord's Game'. It caught on quickly.

But it is Charles Darrow who is credited for the name – and game – 'Monopoly' when he got a patent for it in 1934 and had the board printed and mounted on cardboard. He then took the game to both Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, but when both companies rejected it Darrow invested his own money into the project and began selling the game privately. But in 1935, when Darrow began taking orders from Philadelphia Department stores, Parker Brothers did an about-face and negotiated the rights to produce the game in large quantities. Within a year Monopoly was the biggest selling board game in the US, and soon after it made Charles Darrow a millionaire." 5/10