Monopoly is arguably the most popular game of all time. It actually goes back to the 1930s during the height of the great depression. The game was presented to executives at Parker Brothers in 1934 by a Charles Darrow. Believe it or not, the game was rejected by Parker Brothers for what they called 52 design flaws. Darrow could have given up, but he didn't, which is a good thing. One year later, in 1935, Monopoly finally saw the light of day. It immediately became the best selling game in America. In the 70 plus years since it is estimated that the game has been played by over 500 million people.
The Monopoly board is actually designed after the city of Atlantic City in New Jersey. That design hasn't changed in all the years since the game has come out. Yes, there have been collectible variations of the game replacing the street names with characters and places from a variety of TV shows and movies, but the original Monopoly game itself has stayed the same all these years.
The object of the game is actually very simple. As you go around the board by rolling the dice, you buy property in an attempt to charge people rent every time they land on your property. The game is over when everyone has run out of money and can no longer pay the owner of the various properties.
Because of the slow build up of the game, Monopoly games can last for hours or even days. The longest Monopoly game on record lasted 70 days. The average game usually lasts about 3 or 4 hours. The reason the game is so slow to build is because of the slow rate at which property values increase.
When buying a property, which is always part of a 2 or 3 property lot, you can't build value to the property until the entire lot is purchased. Then, once the entire lot is purchased you may only build one house on each lot at a time. In order to build hotels on each lot you need to have four houses accumulated first. Because of this, it takes a very long time to reach the point where you are receiving a substantial rent for your property when somebody lands on it.
Aside from the board layout itself, Monopoly has many other trademarks which have become classic to the game, starting with the original pieces which were made out of die cast metal. The famous, hat, dog, car and other pieces of the game have become as identifiable as the game itself. Aside from the tokens, there are the famous properties such as the railroads and utilities. There's the cards of chance broken down into Chance and Community Chest cards, each with its various rewards and penalties which have also become a staple of the game itself.
In the history of games itself, there will probably never be another game that has so captured the imagination of a country. And we owe that to a man by the name of Charles Darrow, who refused to accept the word no.
We all owe him a debt that can never be repaid.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Toys
