12. Monopoly, Parker Brothers, Charles Darrow, and Elizabeth Magie
The game of Monopoly focuses on the acquisition of property, with the winner being the player who acquires the most. Since its first presentation nationally, as a board game marketed by Parker Brothers in 1935, its origins have been shrouded in myth and folklore. Parker Brothers were part of the creation of that myth, claiming the game had been invented by Charles Darrow. There were in fact several property acquisition games marketed in the 1920s and 1930s with similarities to Monopoly, and Parker Brothers acquired the patents from Darrow along with affidavits in which he claimed that he was the game’s sole inventor. Later that same year, 1935, Parker Brothers president, Robert Barton, learned that Darrow’s claims were not true.
Darrow had copied much of the game he claimed to have invented from another game, known as The Landlord’s Game, which had been developed by Elizabeth Magie and patented in 1903. Variations of the game were created subsequently. In its original form, it was a tool to demonstrate that the paying of rent impoverished the renters while enriching property owners. Parker Brothers had at least twice rejected the game as too political during the 1920s. Parker Brothers continued to trumpet Darrow as the inventor of Monopoly, as well as other games which the company presented, through the 1950s. It also marketed editions of The Landlord’s Game, with considerably less success.