2005 marks the 70th anniversary of the most popular board game ever, Monopoly. Invented in 1933 by Charles Darrow, the original board was a made from piece of oilcloth that had been a table covering and the houses and hotels made from scraps of wooden moulding. The cards and Title Deeds were all handwritten. Ihe original tokens were charms from his wife's bracelet. The game proved successful amongst his friends and soon he couldn't keep up with production so he approached Parker Brothers, then the world's largest games manufacturer, in 1934. The company's executive's found the game too long and the rules too complicated for it to catch on. Advised that the game contained 52 fundamental playing errors, Darrow decided to market the Monopoly game on his own. Within months he had proved the game's popularity. When reports of the game's phenomenal success reached Parker Brothers in 1935, the company reconsidered and bought the rights. Monopoly was the biggest thing that had ever hit Parker Brothers. Sales sky-rocketed and soon the company was producing over 20,000 a week. In the UK, games company, Waddingtons sought to manufacture the game under liscence but before production began they decided that the game would have more appeal in the UK if the original Atlantic City place names were changed. Victor Watson, the CEO, asked his secretary, Marjory Phillips, to settle a final list of place names. The British version came to have London landmarks, the railroads became railway stations, dollars became pounds and the cards were changed accordingly. The only pub on the board, The Angel, Islington, is reputedly where Marjory lunched on the day of her Monopoly game tour. During World War II the British War Office commissioned Waddingtons to produce games which, 'if properly used, would help prisoners of war'. A secret department was set up at the company's headquarters, manned by a few of their most trusted staff whose job was to make Monopoly game sets with silk maps inserted into the boards showing escape routes from the particular prison to which each game was to be sent. Into the other side of the board were inserted a tiny compass and several files. The Monopoly money was replaced by money of the country to which the game was to be sent - Germany, Austria or Italy, giving a new twist to the phrase 'Get Out of Jail Free'. Monopoly is now licensed or sold in 80 countries and printed in 26 languages. Over 20 million sets of the game have been sold since 1935. Charles Darrow retired a millionaire at 46 and became a world traveller. Games company HASBRO, now owns the rights to Monopoly worldwide but the Parker Brother logo is still on ever box. In 1989 the game which celebrates Capitalism finally started production in Russia. |
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