1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: a show that shines a light on the winners and 4 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: losers of everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: looking at the origin of one of the most polarizing 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: board games to see who's really to blame for Monopoly. 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: The day was November five, Parker Brothers begin selling Monopoly, 8 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: a board game based on the real estate of Atlantic City, 9 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: New Jersey. The company had bought the rights to the 10 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: game from an out of work heating contractor named Charles Darrow. 11 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: The game, as you may know, became a huge success, 12 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: and Darrow eventually made millions off it in royalties for 13 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: the press and the public. Darrow represented the American dream 14 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: come true. When he was down on his luck, he 15 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: came up with a million dollar idea and changed his 16 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: fortunes through ingenuity and hard work. A reporter for the 17 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: German Town Bulletin in Philadelphia asked Darrow, as many did, 18 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: how he came up with a concept for Monopoly. He 19 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: modestly replied, quote, it's a freak, entirely unexpected and illogical. 20 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. None of that was true, Charles 21 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: Darrow hadn't invented monopoly by chance. In fact, he hadn't 22 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: invented monopoly at all. While the game as we know 23 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: it was launched in the earliest version dates back to 24 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: eight when it was created by a progressive activist named 25 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Maggie as a way to explain the tax theory 26 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: of economist Henry George. Maggie was a proponent of George's 27 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: single Tax movement, which pushed for one tax on land 28 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: to replace all other taxes. George claimed the single tax 29 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: program would boost the economy by redistributing wealth, reducing poverty, 30 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: and breaking up monopolies. Maggie wanted to win support for 31 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: George's proposals, and she decided that a board game would 32 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: be the best way to explain his ideas to a 33 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: middle class audience. That may sound like a strange assumption, 34 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: but it did make sense at the time. At the 35 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: turn of the twentieth century, the workday was getting shorter 36 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: and many members of the middle class were spending a 37 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,239 Speaker 1: lot more time at home. Playing board games became a 38 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: popular pastime, and a lot of people started making up 39 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: their own elaborate games to share with their family and friends. 40 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: Maggie used the homemade board game trend as a kind 41 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: of trojan horse for getting Henry George's ideas into her 42 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: neighbor's living rooms. At first, Maggie worked on two different 43 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: versions of her game while living in Brentwood, Maryland. The 44 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: first would feature gameplay based around George's anti monopolist proposals, 45 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: and the second version would feature monopolist gameplay where players 46 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: would compete to own as much property as possible until 47 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: they had driven everyone else bankrupt. In the end, the 48 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: monopolist game was a lot more fun to play, so 49 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: Maggie focused on that version. In nineteen o three, she 50 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: submitted it for patent under the name The Landlord's Game. 51 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: It was a little different than the Monopoly game we 52 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: know today, but all the core features were there. The 53 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: original game was played with fake money that the players 54 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: used to pay rent and taxes and to purchase property, 55 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: which was granted in the form of a deed. Players 56 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: moved around the board, earning and losing money depending on 57 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: where they landed. There was a railroad space on each 58 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: of the board's four sides, and the public parking and 59 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: jail spaces were tucked in the corners just like they 60 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: are today. And lastly, the game ended when all but 61 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: one player ran out of money to produce and market 62 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: her game, Maggie partnered with a New York firm. The 63 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: deal made her barely any money, but it accomplished her 64 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,559 Speaker 1: true goal, which was to get ordinary people thinking about 65 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: economic policies. The Landlord's Game was especially popular in the 66 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: Northeastern United States, where it was a big hit on 67 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: college campuses and in Quaker communities. By now, you might 68 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: be wondering how Charles Darrow got the credit for Elizabeth 69 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: Maggie's game. The answer goes back to the proliferation of 70 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: board games that I mentioned earlier. When a board game 71 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: got an official release like Maggie's had, lots of people 72 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: would rip off the design and make their own copies, 73 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: either to keep for themselves or to sell. By the 74 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, there were multiple different unofficial versions of The 75 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: Landlord's Game, many of which had slightly different rules or features. 76 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: Some versions even went by the name Monopoly. Sometime in 77 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: the early nineteen thirties, Charles Darrow and his wife Esther 78 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: played one of these copycat versions while at a Quaker 79 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 1: friend's house. For dinner. Darrow had never heard of the 80 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: game before and thought it was genius. He asked his 81 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: friend to write up all the rules and details so 82 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: he could make a copy for himself. But Darrow's real 83 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 1: goal wasn't just to have a good time like countless others. 84 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: He and his family had been hit hard by the 85 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: Great Depression and would do almost anything to escape their 86 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: dire straits. To that end, Darrow took the modified version 87 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: of the game made by the Quaker community and began 88 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: selling his own homemade sets of the game. He pretended 89 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: he had come up with the whole thing himself and 90 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: his basement, but even the monopoly name he sold it 91 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: under was actually taken from someone else's version. It's hard 92 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: to tell if Darrow added anything original to the game 93 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: besides some artwork. It doesn't seem likely, though, as he 94 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: copied the game so closely from his friend that the 95 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: boards even had the same misspelling Marvin Gardens spelled with 96 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: an eye, even though the New Jersey neighborhood it refers 97 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: to is actually spelled with an E. Despite it being 98 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: a completely stolen concept, Darrow pitched the game to Parker 99 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: Brothers in four but was rejected. They weren't convinced a 100 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,040 Speaker 1: real estate game could be much fun, and the complicated 101 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 1: rules seemed to confirm their suspicion. However, Darrow managed to 102 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: get his version of Monopoly onto shelves at FAO Schwartz, 103 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: and the game made a killing that Christmas. The next year, 104 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: Parker Brothers rethought their decision and bought the game rights 105 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: from Darrow. The company paid him seven thousand dollars up 106 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: front or about a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars today, 107 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:20,239 Speaker 1: plus residuals, which proved to be substantial. In its first 108 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: year on the market, the Parker Brothers edition of Monopoly 109 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: sold nearly two million copies. Today, almost ninety years later, 110 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: you can add about two hundred and seventy five million 111 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: more copies to that total, or, to put it another way, 112 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: more than six billion green Monopoly houses and to in 113 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: a quarter billion red hotels. But what about Elizabeth Maggie? 114 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: Did the real inventor of the game get a share 115 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: of all that Monopoly money? Not really. Eventually, as the 116 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: game got more popular, Darrow confessed to the company that 117 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: his game may not have been as original as he 118 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: made it. See to protect their investment and stave off 119 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: potential lawsuits, Parker Brothers started buying up the rights to 120 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: other versions of the game. This eventually led them back 121 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: to Maggie, who was thrilled to sell the rights to 122 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: the landlord's game for the handsome sum of a few 123 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: hundred dollars and no future royalties. One of the shadiest 124 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: parts of the story is that Naggie had no idea 125 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: about the success of Darrow's Monopoly when she made the 126 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: deal with Parker Brothers. She eventually figured out what was 127 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: going on, but by then it was too late. As 128 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: Charles Darrow grew richer off the game's success, Elizabeth Maggie 129 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: and her role in its creation were all but forgotten. 130 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: She died in and it wasn't until twenty five years 131 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: later that the world would hear her name again. In 132 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: three an economics professor named ralph Anspach became embroiled in 133 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: legal trouble with Parker Brothers over his creation of a 134 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: game called Anti Monopoly. He started researching in the hopes 135 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: of finding something to weaken the company's hold on the 136 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: rights to Monopoly. His search led him to the story 137 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: of Elizabeth Maggie and the true history of the game's authorship. 138 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: It took about a decade, but on Spock eventually one 139 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: in court and was allowed to keep selling his game. Today, 140 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: the Monopoly and Parker Brothers brands are owned by Hasbro, 141 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: which acquired them in The company continues to downplay Maggie's 142 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: role in the game's development, insisting that full credit for 143 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: the official Monopoly game belongs solely to Charles Darrow. Elizabeth 144 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: Maggie deserves credit for her ideas, but I don't think 145 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: she'd be surprised that it's still being denied to her 146 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: nearly a century later. We don't think of Monopoly as 147 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: something with a message, but in her original conception, the 148 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: game had one, and it still has some relevancy today. 149 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: As she wrote in nineteen o two quote, it is 150 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: a practical demonstration of the present system of land grabbing, 151 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 1: with all its usual outcomes and consequences. It might well 152 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 1: have been called the game of life, as it contains 153 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: all the elements of success and failure in the real world. 154 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lousier, and hopefully you now know a little 155 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. You can 156 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 157 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show. You can 158 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, and 159 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: you can let me know your favorite monopoly token by 160 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: writing to this day at i heart media dot com. 161 00:10:54,960 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: Mine is the Wheelbarrow. Thanks as always the Chandler Maze 162 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see 163 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History class. 164 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I 165 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 166 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.