# Was monopoly really invented to teach the evils of exploitation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570 "2006-12-18T01:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/1 "2006-12-18T01:20:49Z")
While searching the internet, I came across [this article.](http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/36/monopoly.html) It claims that Monopoly was actually not invented by Charles Darrow, and should actually be in the public domain. Does anyone know if this is true? Was this game actually originally a game to show the evils of capitalism? If it was, it was a lot different than the game as it’s presented today. Or did Darrow just use the basic idea of the game and make an entirely different game? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/2 "2006-12-18T01:48:19Z")
I owned “Anti-Monopoly” as a kid. It wasn’t as much fun as “Monopoly.” It’s very hard to understand unless you’re precocious. The patent on the game has long expired. What persists are trademarks and copyrights for the artwork of the game. If the guy in question has such great and persuasive evidence, why didn’t he win his court case and get everything thrown out. And as long as the Anti-Monopoly guy can sell his game what harm is there in someone else having exclusive rights to “Monopoly”, which has been licensed out in numerous forms? ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/3 "2006-12-18T02:11:29Z")
[QUOTE=mike1dog] While searching the internet, I came across [this article.](http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/36/monopoly.html) It claims that Monopoly was actually not invented by Charles Darrow, and should actually be in the public domain. Does anyone know if this is true? Was this game actually originally a game to show the evils of capitalism? If it was, it was a lot different than the game as it’s presented today. Or did Darrow just use the basic idea of the game and make an entirely different game? [/QUOTE] I found the same story in a cheap airport book entitled _50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know_ by Russ Kick. I can’t say for sure that it’s the absolute truch, but possible. I can’t speak for all of the “true history” of the game, but it claims Hasbro (which owns PB now) refers to the games history as the “legend of Monopoly” and never claims that Darrow did invent it, but that he just showed it to Parker Brothers originally. I found [this](http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/default.cfm?page=history) which does say he showed it to Parker Brothers, and never claims he invented it, so this part seems to check out (which might be a way to get around acknowledgement preventing court cases - I’m not really sure) In the back of the Russ Kick book, it cites Anspach’s book, _The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle: The True Story Behind Monopoly_ that was published in 1998. Brendon ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/4 "2006-12-18T02:25:16Z")
Of course, I could never say anything about the “truch” of the story, but maybe the something about the “truth” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/5 "2006-12-18T02:26:02Z")
Oh, it’s true all right. It’s even mentioned in a book regarding Monopoly and Atlantic City that was authorized by Hasbro. As the television show _History Detectives_ pointed out, old Monopoly games have two patents on them. The second patent is Lizzie Magie’s [patent](http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT748626&id=t9kqAAAAEBAJ&dq=748626&jtp=1). Parker Brothers actually purchased Magie’s patent and allow her to create three games, one of which was an adaptation of _The Landlord’s Game_. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/6 "2006-12-18T02:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] If the guy in question has such great and persuasive evidence, why didn’t he win his court case and get everything thrown out. [/QUOTE] He did win his case. He’s still able to produce Anti-Monopoly as long as he places a disclaimer stating Hasbro is not affiliated with the game (and does). ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/7 "2006-12-18T08:30:37Z")
So if he won his case, what’s the complaint? What wrong has been done that has not been remedied? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/8 "2006-12-18T19:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] So if he won his case, what’s the complaint? What wrong has been done that has not been remedied? [/QUOTE] Hasbro still claims that Charles Darrow is the sole inventor of Monopoly. That’s his complaint. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/9 "2006-12-18T19:19:43Z")
By happy coincidence, I was just reading the very thorough and well cited Wiki article about this subject that led to the [History of Monopoly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_board_game_Monopoly). It is worth a read. It appears the history of monopoly is that Darrow did not invent the game. However there is a [good reason](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_board_game_Monopoly#Legal_status) why it is not in public domain at this point. The point about the game being used to show the evils of capitalism appears to be weak at best. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/10 "2006-12-18T19:21:49Z")
The goal of the original game was not to show the “evils of capitalism,” per se. It was to show support for a single tax on housing only. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-monopoly-really-invented-to-teach-the-evils-of-exploitation/384570/11 "2006-12-18T21:30:06Z")
There is a book on every subject, usually one just printed. [Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game-And How it Got that Way, by Philip E. Orbanes](http://www.amazon.com/Monopoly-Worlds-Most-Famous-Game/dp/0306814897/sr=1-3/qid=1166477269/ref=sr_1_3/102-0008264-1810515?ie=UTF8&s=books) > [@](#): > > In his account of the development of “the most significant money game in history” (200 million copies sold in 60 countries since 1935), former Parker Brothers vice president Orbanes (The Monopoly Companion) sets the game against a backdrop of political and economic events spanning a century. He introduces entrepreneurs and game inventors, beginning with Elizabeth Magie, who created the Landlord’s Game in 1903 to educate people about Henry George’s idea of a “single tax” on landlords (it even had a space called “No Trespassing/Go to Jail”). Initially unpublished, it circulated among game players in handmade copies on oilcloth. In 1930, Quakers in Atlantic City added local street names—Illinois, Pennsylvania, Mediterranean—to their handmade variation, which became the source of the Monopoly game that Charles Darrow marketed in 1934. Tracing this evolution, Orbanes covers collectors, foreign editions, memorabilia, licensing, copyrights and trademarks with fascinating details: Esquire magazine’s Esky was the springboard for Monopoly’s cartoon financier, and the metal tokens were inspired by the charms from charm bracelets that Darrow’s 11-year-old niece used as game pieces. Orbanes heightens the readability by interweaving his own personal story—at Parker Brothers, which he joined in 1979, and judging Monopoly world tournaments—throughout this lively chronicle that puts the iconic game in the context of a slice of social history.