It was so popular in Denmark, in fact, that it took decades for the real Monopoly to break into the Danish market. It is still being produced today, and has so many similarities that the term knock-off is completely justified.

There are also many special versions, including a Star Wars Monopoly - and let me tell you, there's nothing like actually owning Tatooine to make you feel like a Hutt.ĭuring the 1950s, a very similar game was produced in Denmark, called Matador (in Danish, matador is the equivalent of ' tycoon'). I have in my possession a Hong Kong version, with local streetnames in both Chinese and English, and with a double set of cards, one in each language. There are many geographical 'local' versions of Monopoly. People might like to chip in with other versions.Īngel Islington and Mayfair are actually districts: there is no such street as either. These are the streets on a Monopoly board - well, the only Monopoly boards I've ever seen. (And of course it's always rather a shock to Australians when they eventually get to London and find the streets aren't joined up like this in real life.) It comes as a great surprise to many people all over the world that there's an American version of the game, which doesn't use the familiar London streets, and that in fact the one set in Atlantic City is the original. This writeup only applies to the American version of the game, as I don't believe any of the non-US versions came out until the rules were solidified.Īnother phrase known all over the world is the much-feared ' hotel on Mayfair'. Other minor rules revisions included changing the rent on Marvin Gardens from $22 to $24, and changing the income tax square from $300 or 10 percent to $200 or 10 percent. You are Assessed for Street Repairs (used to be a 'Chance' card).Second Prize in a Beauty Contest Collect $11.00 (changed to $15.00).Pay School Tax of $150.00 (used to be a 'Chance' card).We're Off the Gold Standard Collect $50.00.The main effects the changed cards had was to pump up the value of the railroads and utilities, while slightly reducing the value of the light blue properties. These changes may seem minor, but they are enough to substantially alter the statistics of the game. There were some slight changes made to the ' Chance' and ' Community Chest' cards over the first decade of the games production. The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle by Ralph AnspachĬontrary to popular belief, the Monopoly rules have not always been the same.The History of the Monopoly Board game by Mary Bellis,.Anspach to investigate Parker Bros.' legal claim to the word. The truth only came to light in the 1970s when Parker Brothers challenged Ralph Anspach's game Anti-Monopoly for infringement of trademark, provoking Dr. To preempt speculation, Parker Brothers subsequently moulded the story of Monopoly's invention into an American legend which they began to print on Monopoly boxes. (Dan Layman, ironically, had changed the name on legal advice that he could not trademark Monopoly since the game was already known in the community by that name.) After Monopoly became a gigantic success, Parker Brothers discovered and bought out not only Lizzie Magie's original patent but also ' Finance' by Dan Layman and ' Monopoly' by Luis Thun.

By the end of 1935, Parker Brothers had sold hundreds of thousands of copies of a game Darrow claimed to have invented.ĭarrow was not even the first to attempt to market the game commercially. In 1931 Charles Darrow was taught a variant of the Monopoly game, based on placenames in Atlantic City, by an acquaintance, one Charles E.

The game quickly spread through the Quaker community under the name Monopoly, with many people adapting the rules and renaming the squares to local placenames. Magie for The Landlord's Game, which she devised as political propaganda for the theory that the rent market conferred monopolistic advantages on the landowner. In 1904, more than a quarter of a century before Darrow's game, U.S. Contrary to popular belief, Monopoly was not invented by Charles Darrow.

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