Magie obtained a patent for an updated version of the game in 1924, but by the early '30s, the game and its original intentions were significantly overshadowed by the monopoly folk game.Īmong its biggest fans were a large group of Quakers in Atlantic City.

The Landlord Game's unofficial offspring became popular in the Progressive and academic communities, including the radical leftist utopia Arden in Delaware, which included Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair and controversial economist Scott Nearing among its residents. And though Magie patented the Landlord's Game in 1904, the nature of game culture at the time combined with the lack of a mass production deal resulted in it becoming a 'folk game,' as Pilon calls it, meaning groups of people throughout the country would learn about the game through word of mouth and develop their own variation. It turned out that most people found the monopoly rules more fun. (Tom Forsyth) A version of Lizzie Magie's Landlord's Game. Her research grew into her new book ' The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game.' It's the first journalistic account of the true origin of the game that Parker Brothers' parent company Hasbro says has sold more than 275 million times across 111 countries in 43 languages.

Mary Pilon wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal about Anspach in 2009 after coming across his story. After a long legal battle, Parker Brothers ended up with the Anti-Monopoly name, but let Anspach print the game under license - more importantly, the court validated that Anspach had proven that Monopoly was not as original as it had seemed to be.

In his quest to prove that Monopoly's roots far preceded its 1935 patent, he discovered that its origins dated back to 1904, in a game that was very similar to his own. He wanted to use it as a teaching tool, especially for children. The premise of Anspach's game, as its title suggests, was to bust trusts rather than create them. It was 1974 and Anspach, an economics professor at San Francisco State University, was caught in a legal battle with the makers of the popular board game Monopoly for allegedly infringing on the game's copyright. Ralph Anspach wasn't going to stop making his Anti-Monopoly game just because Parker Brothers told him to.

(Lisa Maree Williams/Getty) A politician and some friends play a special Australian version of Monopoly.

Original monopoly board and people