Naturally, the second set proved more fun.Ģ.
Played by one rule set, the game rewarded all the players when wealth was created played by the other, one winner crushed all other comers. Hers, known as The Landlord Game, came with two sets of rules, intended to instruct players in the theories of anti-monopolist Henry George, who advocated for the wealthy to pay more taxes (sound familiar?). Darrow’s game is generally considered a successor to one invented by Elizabeth Magie, a typist at the Dead Letter Office in Washington, D.C., and patented in 1903 - when less than one percent of all patent applicants were female. Here’s a quick breakdown, in honor of February 7th, the date on which the first game was sold more than 85 years ago.ġ.
The history of the ultimate capitalist pastime is a lot more complicated than that rags-to-riches tale. Shades of Rich Uncle Pennybags!Įxcept - oh shucks, not. In the wake of the Great GameStop Rebellion, which pitted the proletariat against their hedge-fund oppressors, it’s worth hitting pause to reflect on the peculiar origins of what may be the world’s favorite board game: Monopoly, brainchild of an unemployed Germantown native, Charles Darrow, who would become the first game inventor ever to become a millionaire.
