![]() Specifically, Magie hoped that The Landlord's Game would publicize the reforms proposed by Henry George, a political economist who theorized that land monopolies were the ultimate source of inequality. Ironically, Magie had set out to educate the public about the dangers of monopolies. As a number of writers have shown, the Monopoly board game that Charles Darrow patented and sold to Parker Brothers in 1935 was based heavily on a modified version of The Landlord's Game, a board game that Magie-a lifelong inventor and social activist-had patented decades earlier, in 1903. The dramatic success of Monopoly and its distinctive style of "greed is good" gameplay disappointed many contemporaries, none the least of which was Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie. As companies grew, Americans enacted a steady stream of laws and regulations to protect the public against the possible abuses of monopolies-from the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, to the Clayton Act and Federal Trade Commission in 1914, to the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936. companies exploded in size and complexity, and a new generation of tycoons quashed their competition to consolidate entire industries under their control. Americans' concerns only grew more pronounced in the late 1800s as U.S. patent system, and Andrew Jackson justified his 1832 veto of the Second National Bank's charter by, among other things, citing the bank's failure to repay the public for the monopoly privileges it had been granted by the government. ![]() Thomas Jefferson's antipathy toward monopolies led him to initially oppose the U.S. Monopoly's success is even more remarkable considering that, historically, Americans have held deep misgivings toward monopolies, trusts, and other large concentrations of wealth. Despite the grim economy-or perhaps because of it-Parker Brothers discovered that Americans were eager to spend their leisure time playing as robber barons-buying and selling properties, cornering industries, and pushing their friends and family into bankruptcy. Just two years earlier, a quarter of the nation's workforce had been out of a job, and the country's unemployment rate stayed above 15% for the rest of the 1930s. One year later, that number had grown to 1.8 million copies sold, and Parker Brothers had collected over two million dollars in profit.Īt first glance, Monopoly's initial success is quite surprising given that, when Parker Brothers started selling the game in 1935, the United States was still suffering through the Great Depression. By Christmas 1935, Parker Brothers had sold a quarter of a million copies of the game. Rather than waiting for the patent, Parker Brothers had begun selling its version of the game almost immediately. Months earlier, in March, Darrow had sold his rights to Monopoly to the game manufacturer Parker Brothers. By the time Darrow was awarded the patent on December 31, 1935, Monopoly was already a financial success. Darrow's patent for the board game Monopoly. ![]() This month marks the 80th anniversary for Charles S. ![]()
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