Monopoly is a game that is played by two or more people and was invented by Charles Darrow in the year 1931. This was during the great depression and he could not find a job. This gentleman earned his living by creating games and puzzles for sale to toy makers. After he created the monopoly game, he sold it to the Parker brothers on royalty. There were numerous sales of the game that Darrow became a millionaire from the invention that was made coincidentally.
It has been argued that monopoly found its original roots from an invention by a Quaker woman named Elizabeth J. Maggie Phillips. It is aged that she intended to explain the negative aspects of the single tax theory by Henry George. The modified
Monopoly Game
version of monopoly was patented in the year 1904. Other people who were interested in the game came up with their own versions of the game and the Darrow version is said to be one of the modifications of the original game. Today many millions of people around the globe are mesmerized by the game and it remains a classic that is passed on from one generation to the next. It is the most popular game in the world.
You’re rewriting history here. A little more research would show that The Landlords Game was developed circa 1903 by Lizzie Magie to demonstrate the logic and justice of Henry George’s ideas, as expressed in the bestselling book, Progress & Poverty, published in 1879. She provided a game which modeled a sustainable economy, without windfall winners and unlucky losers. Winner-take-all games such as Monopoly are great fun to play, and are over quickly. But for real life, a structure which promotes life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, opportunities for all, and a large, flourishing middle class and opportunity for all is a far better idea.
Darrow learned the game from Georgists — people who knew Henry George’s ideas — and sold it to Parker Brothers as his own creation.
We’d be far better off — and living closer to our professed ideals as Americans — if more of us knew Henry George’s ideas well.
If you’re curious, you might start with some of George’s speeches, including “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” and “The Crime of Poverty,” online at http://www.wealthandwant.com/. Or read Progress & Poverty — which sold 6 million copies in the 1880s and 1890s, when both population and literacy were significantly lower than they are today. It is online at http://progressandpoverty.org/.
I hope the writer will start over and get her or his history right. This bit of reality actually has the potential to make a big difference.