Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200 – The People and Places Behind “Monopoly”

The People and Places Behind Monopoly

It’s a scene I’m sure we’ve all experienced at least once in our lifetimes – the bleary-eyed, five-hour game of “Monopoly” that was going just great until some jerk bough Park Place and built a hotel. Or the agony of landing on “Go To Jail” four times in one game. And yes, even the joy of monopolizing the railroads and coasting your way to victory on the B&O line.

Who to thank for these memories? Elizabeth Phillips, Ruth Hoskins and the State of New Jersey, that’s who.

Hoping to construct a simple, fun and effective tool to explain the economic teachings of economist Henry George, Phillips invented a board game called “The Landlord’s Game” in 1903. It was similar to the Monopoly that we know today, except the positions around the board were named things like “Poverty Place.”

As interest in the board game grew, Phillips patented her game but still contended with people making their own copies of the board and spreading the idea across the country. A woman names Ruth Hoskins played the game in Indianapolis and brought a board back to her hometown of Atlantic City. She added the names of popular Atlantic City destinations to make the concept more applicable to the group of Quakers she hoped to teach in the ways o the game. Through a series of connections, with Atlantic City players teaching players, the game reached Esther Darrow, wife of Charles Darrow, who brought the game to the attention of Parker Brother’s.

The company developed their own version of “The Landlord’s Game” in the 1930s and called it, “Monopoly.” Charles Darrow was principally responsible for the design of the Parker Brothers board, and it was Hoskins’ decision to name locales after famous Atlantic City destinations that led to the game we know today.

There are some spaces that don’t quite fit the Atlantic City limits. Marvin Gardens is actually named for a suburban housing development outside of Atlantic City, called Marven Gardens. The error was Darrow’s, and it wasn’t until 1995 that Parker Brothers officially rectified the error and issued an apology to the state of New Jersey.Of the four railroad lines listed on the board – Pennsylvania, B&O, Short Line and Reading – only Pennsylvania and Reading served the Atlantic City area. Short Line is thought to refer to a local streetcar line, and B&O never reached the Atlantic City area.

Much of the history of “Monopoly” is still a mystery – until a lengthy court case in the late 1970s and early 1980s, much of this information remained lost in the Parker Brothers archives. Who knows what’s hiding in a box somewhere at Parker Brother’s headquarters, but the next time you’re cursing the skies for the rotten luck of landing on Boardwalk with four houses AGAIN, you can now shake your fist in the air and personally thank the men and women who put you there.

Photo Credit: Matthew Hull/Morgue File/Every Stock Photo