Who Really Invented Monopoly?

Monopoly, arguably the most-famous board game, was invented by Charles Darrow. But many attribute the original idea to Lizzie Magie, a Quaker and the creator of the Landlord's Game, which bears striking resemblance to its more-popular successor.

From: MY MILLION DOLLAR INVENTION: Guns and Goldmines

[nthperson]

What is most interesting about Elizabeth Magie is her activism at a time when this was discouraged by society. Henry George was unquestionably the most profound thinker  of the late 19th century, and Elizabeth was one of tens of thousands of people devoted to Henry George's campaign to end the monopoly of land and natural resources. Among those strongly influenced by him were Leo Tolstoy, Sun Yat-sen, Lloyd George and Winston Churchill.

[hyenaedits]

I didn't even know there was a Museum of Play! That's going on my travel bucket list!

[WilliamBarker]

Please turn on the subtitles. They are fairly accurate these days and really help people who don't have English as a first language. Thanks. Nice vid.

[michelleschaefer]

Also: Elizabeth Magie's original game had not one, but two sets of rules to choose from.
One was called "Prosperity", where every player won money anytime another gained a property. And the game was won by everyone playing only when the person with the least doubled their resources. A game of collaboration and social good.
The second set of rules was called "Monopoly", where players succeeded by taking properties and rent from those with less luck rolling the dice. The winner was the person who used their power to eliminate everyone else.
Magie's mission was to teach us how different we feel when playing Prosperity vs Monopoly, hoping that it would one day change national policies.
When the Parker Bros adopted the game, they erased Magie, they erased the "Prosperity" rules and celebrated "Monopoly". This is why very few games of Monopoly end in better friendships! Some even end friendships! What they couldn't erase was Magie's lesson.

[yodaflyz]

Last year when Hazbro wanted to put out a female empowering version of Monopoly, the really should of gave us The Landlords game instead of Ms. Monopoly.

At least we got Monopoly Gamer: Sonic the Hedgehog to keep me happy. They can't pay me to take Ms. Monopoly off there hands. However, if they turned around & gave us a simple print of the Landlords game, I'd pay good $ just to enjoy an important piece of Monopoly's history.

[davidpate]

You can tell this is an old game, the rich can still go to jail!

[gd]

I want a copy of the 1937 Landlord's Game "Patent" reissue SO BAD!!!

[robe_p]

Lizzie Magie was a Georgist, not an "anti-capitalist." Matter fact, Georgist believe the capitalist and the workers interest are aligned, and that the landowner is pocketing the productivity of which is correct.

[tyzxcj]

Thanks for the upload really interesting.

[falamble]

*sigh* Why create a video clarifying the legacy of Elizabeth Magie and the Landlords Game and then completely ignore the ideas Magie was trying to promote?

The Landlords Game wasn't anti-capitalist. It was based on the principles of Georgism. Georgists like Elizabeth Magie had no problem with people making money, in fact they were against all forms of taxes on productive activity (income tax, sales tax, payroll tax etc). What Georgists were against was monopolization of communal resources, specifically land, where people could exploit ownership of communal resources and make vast sums of money without doing anything productive.

The Landlords Game had 2 specific rule sets, one for players engaged in productive enterprise, and one for those exploiting land ownership to make money off productive players.

[Eitner]

Anti-monopoly was made over some 45 years ago.

[pierren___]

The game consisted of taxes rather than buying.

[captaintimcurry]

How ironic that the woman who invents a game that criticizes capitalism isn't able to sell it and instead people just make their own copies!!! Lol!

[Maltcider]

This shows that a capitalist society makes people hyper-competitive and sadistic so now many people unironically enjoy the game.

[thomaswilliams]

I dont see how they could call her the inventer of Monopoly, the Landlords game is completely different. She couldnt sell it because it was not a fun game, its kind of ironic, the so called inventer of Monopoly could not make a monopoly on monopoly. 🤣

[Accrd]

I'm sorry but this totally backfired with me haha. I wanted to get rich and collect crap too! haha Trump is definitely the king of the Monopoly system in real life:)