The entry can be read in its entirety here. As Magie’s game spread to different locations, players added to the original board and changed the names of the properties to forge more personal connections to the game. Nearing taught the game-which he called “monopoly” or “the monopoly game”-to his students at the Wharton School and the University of Toledo.
The Arden residents who played The Landlord’s Game included author Upton Sinclair and economics professor Scott Nearing. Magie introduced The Landlord’s Game to family and friends, including the residents of Arden, Delaware-a utopian community formed in 1900 to demonstrate the virtues of Henry George’s land and tax theories. Lough, the essay describes the evolution of The Landlord’s Game, created by a devout follower of Henry George named Lizzie Magie (1866-1948), into the Atlantic City-based board game that entertained families around the world for decades.ĭrawing from the work of Mary Pilon and Ralph Anspach, Lough shows how an unemployed salesman named Charles Darrow (1889-1967) became recognized as the “sole inventor” of Monopoly despite Georgists’ long association with the game. Written by Birthplace Director Alexandra W.
The game remains rooted in classic competition, where you will buy your favorite properties, pay rent to other players, and take a risk with Chance and Community Chest cards. The Georgist origins of the world’s most popular board game, Monopoly, was recently highlighted in an essay published in the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. The classic, fast-dealing property trading game welcomes the Rubber Ducky, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Penguin into its family of tokens.
