11/20/2023
https://www.facebook.com/100064915832862/posts/740080601499128/?mibextid=Na33Lf
It’s National Play Monopoly Day!
Which original game piece was your favorite? Cannon, Thimble, Top Hat, Iron, Battleship, Boot, Race Car, Horse and Rider, Dog, or Wheelbarrow
Although Monopoly is seen as a celebration of capitalism, Elizabeth Magie designed the original version, The Landlord’s Game, to illustrate the immorality of corporate monopolies. In 1930, a school principal and her friends enjoyed playing Magie’s game, but changed some rules and renamed all the streets after those found in their hometown, Atlantic City.
Charles Darrow, an unemployed engineer living in Atlantic City, encountered the game in 1932 and thought he could make an improved version called Monopoly. He produced between one and six games a day at home and sold them at department stores in Philadelphia.
Parker Brothers, a dying business, took notice of the increasingly popular game, struck a deal with Darrow, and began manufacturing it in 1935. Parker sold 250,000 copies that year and as of 2015, 275 million sets have been sold.
📸 : Monopoly board game, copyright 1961 | Gift of Janice O'Connell
Wisconsin Historical Museum object 1982.103.2
