History of the board game Monopoly

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"History of Monopoly" redirects here. For information about the historical practice of establishing dominance in an  industry, see monopoly.

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The five sets of the board game Monopoly depicted here show the evolution of the game's artwork and  designs in the United States from 1935–2005.

The history of the board game Monopoly can be traced back to the early 1900s. Based on original designs by the American Elizabeth Magie, several board games were developed from 1903 through the 1930s that involved the buying and  selling of land and  the development of that land. By 1934, a board game was created much like the version of Monopoly sold by Parker Brothers and  its parent companies through the rest of the 20th century, and  into the 21st. Several different people, mostly in the Midwestern United States and  near the East Coast, contributed to the game's design and  evolution.

By the 1970s, the idea that the game had been created solely by Charles Darrow had become popular folklore: it  was printed in the game's instructions and  even in the 1974 book The Monopoly Book: Strategy and  Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game by Maxine Brady. That same decade, Professor Ralph Anspach fought Parker Brothers and  its then parent company, General Mills, over the trademarks of the Monopoly board game. Through the research of Anspach and  others, much of the early history of the game was "rediscovered". Anspach confronted Brady over the actual history of the game on Barry Farber's New York City talk show in 1975.^[1] Because of the lengthy court process, including appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' trademarks on the game was not settled until 1985. The game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as do its specific design elements. At the conclusion of the court case, the game's logo and  graphic design elements became part of a larger Monopoly brand, licensed by Parker Brothers' parent companies onto a variety of items through the present day. Despite the "rediscovery" of the board game's early history in the 1970s and  1980s and  several books and  journal articles on the subject, Hasbro (Parker Brothers' current parent company) does not acknowledge any of the game's history before Charles Darrow on their official Monopoly website.^[2]

International tournaments, first held in the early 1970s, continue to the present day, with the next world championship scheduled for 2008. Starting in 1985, a new generation of spin-off board games and  card games appeared on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1989, the first of many  and  video games">video game and  computer game editions was published. Since 1994, many official variants of the game, based on cities other than Atlantic City, New Jersey (the official U.S. setting) or  London (the official Commonwealth setting, excepting Canada), have  been published by Hasbro or  its licensees. Other cities, territories, states and  countries, and  licensed properties have  also become variants and  editions of Monopoly.

[edit] Game development 1903–1934

First page of patent submission for first version of Lizzie Magie's board game, granted on January 5, 1904

In 1903, the Georgist Lizzie Magie applied for a patent on a game called The Landlord's Game with the object of showing that rents enriched property owners and  impoverished tenants. She knew that some people would find it  hard to understand the logic behind the idea, and  she thought that if the rent problem and  the Georgist solution to it  were put into the concrete form of a game, it  might be easier to demonstrate. She was granted the patent for the game in January 1904. The Landlord's Game became one of the first board games to use a "continuous path," without clearly defined start and  end spaces on its board.^[3] A copy of Magie's game, dating to 1903-1904, was discovered for the PBS series History Detectives. This copy featured property groups, organized by letters, later a major feature of Monopoly as published by Parker Brothers.^[4]

Although The Landlord's Game was patented, and  some hand-made boards were made, it  was not actually manufactured and  published until 1906. Magie and  two other Georgists established the Economic Game Company of New York, which began publishing her game.^[5] Magie submitted an  edition published by the Economic Game Company to Parker Brothers around 1910, which George Parker declined to publish.^[5] In the UK it  was published in 1913 by the Newbie Game Company under the title Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit.^[6][7] Shortly after the game's formal publication, Scott Nearing, a professor in the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, began using the game as a teaching tool in his classes. His students made their own boards, and  taught the game to others.^[8] After Nearing was dismissed from the Wharton School, he began teaching at the University of Toledo. A former student of Nearing's, Rexford Guy Tugwell, also taught The Landlord's Game at Wharton, and  took it  with him to Columbia University.^[9]

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First page of patent submission for second version of Lizzie Magie's board game, submitted in 1923 and  granted in 1924

A shortened version of Magie's game, which eliminated the second round of play that used a Georgist concept of a single Land value tax, had become common during the 1910s, and  this variation on the game became known as "Auction Monopoly."^[10] Magie moved back to Illinois, was married and  moved to the Washington, D.C. area with her husband by 1923, and  re-patented a revised version of The Landlord's Game in 1924 (under her married name, Elizabeth Magie Phillips). This version, unlike her first patent drawing, included named streets (though the versions published in 1910 based on her first patent also had named streets). Magie's first patent had expired, and  she sought to regain control over the plethora of hand-made games.^[11] For her 1924 edition a couple of streets on the board were named after Chicago streets and  locations, notably "The Loop" and  "Lake Shore Drive."^[12] This revision included a special "Monopoly" rule and  card that allowed higher rents to be charged when all three railroads and  utilities were owned, and  included "chips" to indicate improvements on properties.^[13] Magie again  approached Parker Brothers about her game, and  George Parker again  declined.^[14] Apart from commercial distribution, it  spread by word of mouth and  was played in slightly variant homemade versions over the years by Quakers, Georgists, university students (including students at Smith College, Princeton and  MIT), and  others who became aware of it.^[15][16]

In the 1920s, the game became popular around the community of Reading, Pennsylvania. Another former student of Scott Nearing, Thomas Wilson, taught the game to two brothers, Louis and  Ferdinand Thun.^[17] After the Thuns learned the game and  began teaching its rules to their fraternity brothers at Williams College, Daniel W. Layman, in turn, learned the game from the Thun brothers (who later tried to sell copies of the game commercially, but were advised by an  attorney that the game could not be patented, as they were not its inventors).^[18] Layman later returned to his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, and  produced a version of the board based on streets of that city. This he sold under the name The Fascinating Game of Finance (later shortened to Finance), beginning in 1932.^[19] Layman first produced and  sold the game with a friend in Indianapolis, who owned a company called Electronic Laboratories.^[20] Layman soon sold his rights to the game, which was then licensed, produced and  marketed by Knapp Electric.^[21] The published board featured four railroads (one per side), Chance and  Community Chest cards and  spaces, and  properties grouped by symbol, rather than color.^[22]

It was in Indianapolis that Ruth Hoskins learned the game, and  took it  back to Atlantic City.^[23] After she arrived, Hoskins made a new board with Atlantic City street names, and  taught it  to a group of local Quakers.^[24] it  has been argued that their greatest contribution to the game was to reinstate the original Lizzie Magie rule of "buying properties at their listed price" rather than auctioning them, as the Quakers did not believe in auctions.^[25][26] The Atlantic City board was the one taught to Charles Todd, who in turn taught Esther Darrow, wife of Charles Darrow.^[27] Todd had shortened the name Shore Fast Line to Short Line, and  also introduced the infamous "Marvin Gardens" misspelling, both of which Darrow reproduced.^[28] After learning the Monopoly game, Darrow then began to distribute the game himself.^[18] Darrow initially made the sets of the Monopoly game by hand with the help of his first son, William Darrow, and  his wife. Their new sets inadvertently kept Charles Todd's misspelling of "Marven Gardens" as "Marvin Gardens," which continues to this day.^[27] Charles Darrow drew the designs with a drafting pen on round pieces of oilcloth, and  then his son and  his wife helped fill in the spaces with colors and  make the title deed cards and  the Chance cards and  Community Chest cards. After the demand for the game increased, Darrow contacted a printing company, Patterson and  White, which printed the designs of the property spaces on square carton boards. Darrow's game board's designs included elements later made famous in the version eventually produced by Parker Brothers, including black locomotives on the railroad spaces, the car on "Free Parking," the red arrow for "Go," the faucet on "Water Works" and  the light bulb on "Electric Company" and  the question marks on the "Chance" spaces, though many of the actual icons were created by a hired graphic artist.^[29][30] While Darrow received a copyright on his game in 1933, its specimens have  disappeared from the files of the United States Copyright Office, though proof of its registration remains.^[31]

[edit] Acquisition by Parker Brothers

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First page of Charles Darrow's patent submission for Monopoly, submitted and  granted in 1935

Darrow first took the game to Milton Bradley and  attempted to sell it  as his personal invention. They rejected it  in a letter dated May 31, 1934.^[32] After Darrow first sent the game to Parker Brothers later in 1934, they rejected the game as "too complicated, too technical, [and it] took too long to play."^[33] Darrow was told that his game had "fifty-two fundamental playing errors," to deliberately discourage him.^[33] Darrow received a rejection letter from the firm dated October 19, 1934.^[32] By 1935, however, the company heard about the game's excellent sales in Philadelphia and  scheduled a new meeting with Darrow in New York City. There they bought Darrow's game, helped him take out a patent on it, and  purchased his remaining inventory.^[34] Parker Brothers subsequently decided to buy out Magie's 1924 patent and  the copyrights of other commercial variants of the game to claim that it  had legitimate undisputed rights to the game.

Robert Barton, president of Parker Brothers, bought the rights to Finance from Knapp Electric in 1935. Finance would be redeveloped, updated, and  continued to be sold by Parker Brothers into the 1970s.^[35] Rights to other games based on a similar principle, such as a game called Inflation, published by Rudy Copeland in Texas, also came to the attention of Parker Brothers management in the 1930s, after they began sales of Monopoly.^[36] Copeland continued sales of the latter game after Parker Brothers attempted a patent lawsuit against him. Parker Brothers held the Magie and  Darrow patents, but settled with Copeland rather than going to trial, since Copeland was prepared to have  witnesses testify that they had played "monopoly" before Darrow's "invention" of the game.^[37] The court settlement allowed Copeland to license Parker Brother's patents.^[38] Other agreements were reached on Big Business by Transogram, and  Easy Money by Milton Bradley, based on Daniel Layman's Finance.^[39] Another clone, called Fortune, was sold by Parker Brothers, and  became combined with Finance in some editions.^[40]

Monopoly was first marketed on a broad scale by Parker Brothers in 1935. A Standard Edition, with a small black box and  separate board, and  a larger Deluxe Edition with a box large enough to hold the board, were sold in the first year of Parker Brothers' ownership. These were based on the two editions sold by Darrow.^[41] George Parker himself rewrote many of the game's rules, insisting that "short game" and  "time limit" rules be included.^[42] On the original Parker Brothers board (reprinted in 2002 by Winning Moves Games), there were no icons for the Community Chest spaces (the blue chest overflowing with gold coins came later) and  no gold ring on the Luxury Tax space. Nor were there property values printed on spaces on the board. The Income Tax was slightly higher (being $300 or  10%, instead of the later $200 or  10%). Some of the designs known today were implemented at the behest of George Parker.^[42] The Chance cards and  Community Chest cards were illustrated (though some prior editions consisted solely of text), but were without "Rich Uncle Pennybags," who was introduced in 1936.

Late in 1935, after learning of The Landlord's Game and  Finance, Robert Barton held a second meeting with Charles Darrow in Boston. Darrow admitted that he had copied the game from a friend's set, and  he and  Barton reached a revised royalty agreement, granting Parker Brothers worldwide rights and  releasing Darrow from legal costs that would be incurred in defending the origin of the game.^[43]

[edit] Licensing outside the United States

Postcard replica of a 1936 poster introducing the board game Monopoly to the United Kingdom

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Monopoly games in editions from seven countries. Clockwise from top right: Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and  Canada.

In December 1935, Parker Brothers sent a copy of the game to Victor Watson Sr. of Waddington Games. Watson and  his son Norman tried the game over a weekend, and  liked it  so much that Waddingtons took the (then extraordinary) step of making a transatlantic "trunk call" to Parker Brothers; this impressed Parker Brothers sufficiently that Waddingtons was granted licensing rights for Europe and  the British Commonwealth, excluding Canada.^[44] Waddingtons version, their first board game, with locations from London substituted for the original Atlantic City ones, was first produced in 1936. The game was very successful in the United Kingdom and  France, but was denounced in Nazi Germany.^[45] A new German edition would not appear until the 1960s.^[46] Waddingtons licensed other editions from 1936-38, and  the game was exported from the UK and  resold or  reprinted in Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Chile, Italy, The Netherlands and  Sweden. In Italy, under the fascists, the game was changed dramatically so that it  would have  an Italian name, locations in Milan, and  changes in the rules. Italian publishers Editrice Giochi still produce the game in Italy, holding a special and  mostly independent relationship from Hasbro.^[47]

In Austria, versions of the game first appeared as Business and  Spekulation (Speculation), and  eventually evolved to become Das Kaufmännische Talent (DKT) (The Businessman's Talent). Versions of DKT have  been sold in Austria since 1940. The game first appeared as Monopoly in Austria in about 1981.^[48] The Waddingtons edition was imported into The Netherlands starting in 1937, and  a fully translated edition first appeared in 1941.^[49] Waddingtons later produced special games during World War II, distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which secretly contained files, a compass, a map printed on silk, and  real currency hidden amongst the Monopoly money, to enable prisoners of war to escape from German camps.^[50][51] Collector Albert C. Veldhuis features a map on his "Monopoly Lexicon" website showing which versions of the game were remade and  distributed in other countries, with the Atlantic City, London and  Paris versions being the most influential.^[52]

[edit] Marketing within the United States 1930s

In 1936 Parker Brothers published four further editions along with the original two: the Popular Edition, Fine Edition, Gold Edition, and  Deluxe Edition, with prices ranging from US$2 to US$25 in 1930s money.^[53] After Parker Brothers began to release its first editions of the game, Elizabeth Magie Phillips was profiled in the Washington D.C. Evening Star newspaper, which discussed her two editions of "The Landlord's Game."^[54] In December 1936, wary of the Mah-Jongg and  Ping-Pong fads that had left unsold inventory stuck in Parker Brothers' warehouse, George Parker ordered a stop to Monopoly production as sales leveled off. However, during the Christmas season, sales picked up again, and  continued a resurgence.^[55] In early 1937, as Parker Brothers was preparing to release the board game "Bulls and  Bears" with Darrow's photograph on the box lid (though he had no involvement with the game), a Time magazine article about the game made it  seem as if Darrow was the sole inventor of both "Bulls and  Bears" and  Monopoly.

	If it  is true that the devil finds work for idle hands to do, the No. 1 U.S. Mephistopheles is  currently a mild little Philadelphian named Charles Darrow. Mr. Darrow's claim to the title, based on Monopoly, U.S. parlor craze of 1936, was last week reinforced when Parker Brothers began to distribute his second invention for idle hands. The new Darrow game is  Bulls & Bears. Success of Monopoly, which was last week estimated to be in its sixth million and  selling faster than ever, gave Bulls & Bears a pre-publication sale of 100,000, largest on record for a new game.
—TIME magazine, "Sport: 1937 Games," 1 February 1937, pg. 44.

[edit] Parker Brothers marketing 1940s–1970s

At the start of World War II, both Parker Brothers and  Waddingtons stockpiled materials they could use for further game production. During the war, Monopoly was produced with wooden tokens in the U.S., and  the game's cellophane cover was eliminated.^[56] In the UK, metal tokens were also eliminated, and  a special spinner was introduced to take the place of dice. The game even remained in print for a time in the Netherlands, as the printer there was able to maintain a supply of paper.^[57] The game remained popular during the war, particularly in camps, and  soldiers playing the game became part of the product's advertising in 1944.^[58]

After the war, the game's sales went from 800,000 a year to over a million. The French and  German editions re-entered production, and  new editions for Spain, Greece, Finland and  Israel were first produced.^[59] By the late 1950s, the company printed only game sets with board, pieces and  materials housed in a single white box.^[60] Several copies of this edition were exhibited at the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959. All of them were stolen from the exhibit.^[61] In the early 1960s, "Monopoly happenings" began to occur, mostly marathon game sessions, which were recognized by a Monopoly Marathon Records Documentation Committee in New York City.^[62] In addition to marathon sessions, games were played on large indoor and  outdoor boards, within backyard pits, on the ceiling in a University of Michigan dormitory room, and  underwater.^[63] In 1965, a 30th anniversary set was produced in a special plastic case.^[64] By 1974, Parker Brothers had sold 80 million sets of the game.^[65] In 1973, as the Atlantic City Commissioner of Public Works considered name changes for Baltic and  Mediterranean Avenues, fans of the board game, with support from the then-President of Parker Brothers, successfully lobbied for the city to keep the names.^[66] In 1975, another anniversary edition was produced, but this edition came in a cardboard box looking much like a standard edition.^[64]

[edit] Further changes in game play

The official Parker Brothers rules have  remained largely unchanged since 1936. Ralph Anspach argued against this during his conversation with Maxine Brady in 1975, calling it  an end to "steady progress" and  an impediment to progress.^[67] Several authors who have  written about the board game have  noted many of the "house rules" that have  become common among players, although they do not appear in Parker Brothers' rules sheets. Gyles Brandreth included a section titled "Monopoly Variations," Tim Moore notes several such rules used in his household in his Foreword, Phil Orbanes included his own section of variations, and  Maxine Brady noted a few in her preface.^{[68][69][70][71]} When creating some of the modern licensed editions, such as the Looney Tunes and  The Powerpuff Girls editions of Monopoly, Hasbro included special variant rules to be played in the theme of the licensed property. Infogrames, which has published a CD-ROM edition of Monopoly, also includes the selection of "house rules" as a possible variant of play. The first major changes to the Monopoly game itself occurred with the publication of both the Monopoly Here & Now Electronic Banking Edition by Hasbro and  Monopoly: The Mega Edition by Winning Moves Games in 2006. The Electronic Banking Edition uses VISA-branded debit cards and  a debit card reader for monetary transactions, instead of paper bills.^[72] This edition is  available in the UK, Germany, France, Australia and  Ireland. The Mega Edition has been expanded to include fifty-two spaces (with more  street names taken from Atlantic City), skyscrapers (to be played after hotels), train depots, the 1000 denomination of play money, as well as "bus tickets" and  a speed die.^[73]

[edit] The Monopoly Tournaments 1973–2004

The first Monopoly Tournaments were suggested by Victor Watson of Waddingtons after the 1972 World Chess Championship. Such championships are  also held for players of the board game Scrabble. Victor Watson and  Parker Brothers' Randolph "Ranny" Barton began holding tournaments in the UK and  United States respectively. World Champions were declared in the United States in 1973 and  1974 (and are  still considered official World Champions by Hasbro). While the 1973 tournament, the first, matched three United States regional champions against the UK champion and  thus could be argued as the first international tournament, true multinational international tournaments were first held in 1975.^[74] That year, to mark the 40th anniversary of Parker Brothers' production of the game, a European tournament was held in Reykjavík, Iceland, the same site as the 1972 World Chess Championship. Accounts differ as to the eventual winner: Philip Orbanes names John Mair, representing Ireland and  the eventual World Monopoly Champion of 1975, as also having won the European Championship.^[75] Gyles Brandreth, himself a later European Monopoly Champion, names Pierre Milet, representing France, as the European Champion.^[76] Both authors do agree on John Mair as being the first true World Champion, as decided in tournament play held in Washington, D.C. days after the conclusion of the European Championship, in November 1975.

By 1982, tournaments in the United States featured a competition between tournament winners in all fifty states, competing to become the United States Champion. National tournaments are  held in the US and  UK the year before World Championships. The determination of the US Champion was changed for the 2003 tournament: winners of an  Internet-based quiz challenge were selected to compete, rather than one state champion for each of the fifty states.^[77] The tournaments are  now held every four years, with the next World Championship scheduled for 2008. The U.S. edition Monopoly board is  used at the World Championship level, while national variants are  used at the national level.^[78] Interestingly, since true international play began in 1975, no World Champion has come from the United States, still considered the board game's "birthplace."

[ and  champions">edit] World Tournament locations and  champions

[edit] Anti-Monopoly, Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group, Inc. court case 1976–1985

In the mid-1970s, Parker Brothers and  its then corporate parent, General Mills, attempted to suppress publication of a game called Anti-Monopoly, designed by San Francisco State University economics professor Ralph Anspach. Anspach began to research the game's history, and  argued that the copyrights and  trademarks held by Parker Brothers should be nullified, as the game came out of the public domain. Among other things, Anspach discovered the empty 1933 Charles B. Darrow file at the United States Copyright Office, testimony from the Inflation game case that was settled out of court, and  letters from Knapp Electric challenging Parker Brothers over Monopoly. As the case went to trial in November 1976, Anspach produced testimony by many involved with the early development of the game, including Catherine and  William Allphin, Dorothea Raiford and  Charles Todd. William Allphin attempted to sell a version of the game to Milton Bradley in 1931, and  published an  article about the game's early history in the UK in 1975.^[83] Raiford had helped Ruth Hoskins produce the early Atlantic City games.^[84] Even Daniel Layman was interviewed, and  Darrow's widow was deposed.^[85] The presiding judge, Spencer Williams, originally ruled for Parker Brothers/General Mills in 1977, allowing the Monopoly trademark to stand, and  allowing the companies to destroy copies of Anspach's Anti-Monopoly.^[86] Anspach appealed.

In 1979, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Professor Anspach, with an  opinion which agreed with the facts about the game's history and  differed from Parker Brothers' "official" account. The court also upheld a "purchasing motivation" test, nullifying the Monopoly trademark, and  returned the case to Judge Williams. Williams heard the case again  in 1980, and  in 1981 he again  held for Parker Brothers.^[87] Anspach appealed again, and  in November 1981 the appeals court again  reversed.^[88] The case was then appealed by General Mills/Parker Brothers to the United States Supreme Court, which decided not to hear the case in February 1983, and  denied a Petition for Rehearing in April.^[89] This allowed the appeals court's decision to stand and  further allowed Anspach to resume publication of his game.^[90]

With the trademark nullified, Parker Brothers and  other firms lobbied the United States Congress and  got a revision of the trademark laws. The case was finally settled in 1985, with Monopoly remaining a valid trademark of Parker Brothers, and  Anspach assigning the Anti-Monopoly trademark to them but retaining the ability to use it  under license.^[91] Anspach received compensation for court costs and  the destroyed copies of his game, as well as unspecified damages. He was allowed to resume publication with a legal disclaimer.^[92] Anspach later published a book about his research and  legal fights with General Mills, Kenner Parker Toys and  Hasbro.

[ and  spin-offs">edit] Localizations, licenses and  spin-offs

The original Monopoly game had been localized for the cities or  areas in which it  was played, and  Parker Brothers has continued this practice. Their version of Monopoly has been produced for international markets, with the place names being localized for cities including London and  Paris and  for countries including the Netherlands and  Germany, among others. By 1982, Parker Brothers stated that the game "has been translated into over 15 languages...."^[93] As of 2006, counts of the languages that Monopoly has been translated for are  estimated between 25 and  30.

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Licensed and  special collectible editions of Monopoly, produced for the United States market between 1997-2006

The game has also inspired official spin-offs, such as Advance to Boardwalk (1985), the card game Free Parking (1988), the dice game Don't Go To Jail (1991), two generations of card games (Express Monopoly (1993) and  Monopoly: The Card Game (1999)), and  a second product line in Monopoly Junior, first published in 1990. In the late 1980s, official editions of Monopoly appeared for the Sega Master System and  the Commodore 64 and  Commodore 128.^[94] A television game show, produced by King World Productions, was attempted in the summer of 1990, but only lasted for 12 episodes. In 1991–1992, official versions appeared for the Apple Macintosh and  Nintendo's NES, SNES and  Game Boy.^[95] In 1995, as Hasbro (which had taken over Tonka Kenner Parker in the early 1990s) was preparing to launch Hasbro Interactive as a new brand, they chose Monopoly to be their first CD-ROM game, with an  option for playing over the Internet. CD-ROM versions of the officially licensed Star Wars and  FIFA World Cup '98 editions were also released.^[96] Later CD-ROM exclusive spin-offs, Monopoly Casino and  Monopoly Tycoon, were also produced under license.

Since 1994, different manufacturers of the game have  created dozens of versions in which the names of the properties and  other elements of the game are  replaced by others with some theme. There are  officially licensed versions about national parks, Star Trek, Star Wars, Disney, Peanuts, various particular cities (such as Las Vegas or  Cambridge), states, colleges and  universities, the World Cup, NASCAR, and  many others. Hasbro has officially licensed two companies to produce further Monopoly editions: USAopoly and  Winning Moves Games. Unofficial versions of the game, which share some of the same playing features, but also feature many changes so as to not infringe on copyright, have  been created by firms such as Late for the Sky Production Company and  Help on Board. These are  done for smaller cities, sometimes as charity fundraisers, and  some have  been created for college and  university campuses, while some have  non-geographical themes, such as Wine-opoly and  Chocolate-opoly.

In late 1998, Hasbro announced a campaign to add an  all-new token to U.S. standard edition sets of Monopoly. Voters were allowed to select from a biplane, a piggy bank, and  a sack of money — with votes being tallied through a special website, via a toll-free phone number, and  at F.A.O. Schwarz stores. In March 1999, Hasbro announced that the winner was the sack of money (with 51% of the vote, compared to 29% for the biplane and  20% for the piggy bank). Thus the sack of money became the first new token added to the game since the early 1950s.^[97] In 1999, in a major marketing effort, Hasbro renamed the mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags to "Mr. Monopoly," felt by some to be a blander name.

Before the creation of Hasbro Interactive, and  after its later sale to Infogrames, official computer and  video game versions have  been made available on many different platforms. In addition to the versions listed above, they have  been produced for PC, Amiga, BBC Micro, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and  mobile phones, as well as a handheld electronic game in 1997 and  a Nintendo DS release (along with Boggle, Yahtzee and  Battleship). In 2001, Stern Pinball, Inc. released a pinball machine version of Monopoly, designed by Pat Lawlor.^[98]

[edit] Legal status

Although the game of Monopoly existed before the Parker Brothers edition, the company (now owned by Hasbro) has still claimed intellectual property rights over various aspects of the game, though it  has not always prevailed in the courts.

The Anti-Monopoly case mentioned above, in addition to revealing some of the previously suppressed history of the game, also created a doctrine of "purchase motivation" a "test by which the trademark was valid only if consumers, when they asked for a Monopoly game, meant that they wanted Parker Brothers' version...."^[99] As a result, the name "Monopoly" entered the public domain where the naming of games was concerned, and  a profusion of non-Parker-Brothers variants were published. However, this doctrine was later eliminated by Congress in a revision of the trademark law,^[99] and  Parker Brothers/Hasbro now claims trademark rights to the name and  its variants, and  has asserted it  against others such as the publishers of "Ghettopoly." Professor Anspach, as stated above, assigned the "Anti-Monopoly" trademark back to Parker Brothers, and  Hasbro now owns it. Anspach's game remains in print, and  is distributed and  sold by University Games worldwide.^{[100][101][102]}

Various patents have  existed on the game of Monopoly and  its predecessors such as "The Landlord's Game," but they are  all now expired. The specific graphics of the game board, cards, and  pieces are  protected by copyright law and  trademark law, as is  the specific wording of the game's rules.

[edit] Monopoly as a brand

 and  a 13th game token, resting on a Monopoly T-shirt"> and  a 13th game token, resting on a Monopoly T-shirt" width="100" height="88" longdesc="../../../m/o/n/Image%7EMonopoly_logo_T-shirt_and_model_cars.jpg_8920.html" />

Twelve Johnny Lightning model cars bearing Monopoly artwork, and  a 13th game token, resting on a Monopoly T-shirt

Parker Brothers created a few accessories and  licensed a few products shortly after they began publishing the game in 1935. This included a money pad and  the first Stock Exchange add-on in 1936, a birthday card, and  a song by Charles Tobias (lyrics) and  John Jacob Loeb (music).^[103][104] At the conclusion of the Anti-Monopoly case, Kenner Parker Toys began to seek trademarks on the design elements of Monopoly. it  was at this time that the game's main logo was redesigned to feature "Rich Uncle Pennybags" (now "Mr. Monopoly") reaching out from the second "O" in the word Monopoly.^[105] All items stamped with the red MONOPOLY logo also feature the word 'Brand' in small print. In the mid-1980s, after the success of the first "collector's tin anniversary edition" (for the 50th anniversary), an  edition of the game was produced by the Franklin Mint, the first edition to be published outside of Parker Brothers. At about the same time, McDonald's started its first Monopoly game promotions, considered their most successful, and  which continue to the present day.^[106]

In recent years the Monopoly brand has been licensed onto slot machines (which won an  award in 1999), instant-win lottery tickets, and  lines of 1:64 scale model cars produced by Johnny Lightning which also included collectible game tokens.^{[107][108][109]} The brand has also been licensed onto clothing and  accessories, including a line of bathroom accessories.^[110] The licenses to USAopoly and  Winning Moves Games to produce new editions of the board game were also awarded in the mid-1990s.^[111][112] While USAopoly produces many licensed spin-offs in North America, Winning Moves Games holds the licenses to produce different editions, including "city" editions, in the United Kingdom, France and  Germany.^{[113][114][115]}

[edit] See also

• Anti-Monopoly
• List of licensed Monopoly game boards
• Localized versions of the Monopoly game
• References to the board game Monopoly in popular culture
• Monopoly (game show)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official sites

• The official U.S. Monopoly web site
• Hasbro's Fun Facts Page on Monopoly
• Official Monopoly Quiz (used to be the "Monopoly National Championship Quiz"; same quiz)
• The official UK Monopoly web site

[edit] History

• U.S. Patent 748626  – Patent for the first version of The Landlord's Game
• U.S. Patent 1509312  – Patent for the second version of The Landlord's Game
• U.S. Patent 2026082  – Patent awarded to C.B. Darrow for "Monopoly" on 31 December 1935
• Early history of Monopoly
• Atlantic City 150th Anniversary series of articles from the newspaper CourierPost, which describe the streets of Atlantic City that appear on Monopoly
• Online photo album of many historical U.S. Monopoly sets, from Charles Darrow's sets through the 1950s