View source for History of Monopoly

{{Short description|History of the board game}}
{{for|the economic term |Monopoly#Historical monopolies}}

[[File:Historic U.S. Monopoly game boards.png|thumb|right|The five sets of the board game ''Monopoly'' depicted here show the evolution of the game's artwork and designs in the United States from 1935 to 2005]]

The board game ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]'' has its origin in the early 20th century. The earliest known version, known as ''[[The Landlord's Game]]'', was designed by [[Lizzie Magie|Elizabeth Magie]] and first patented in 1904, but existed as early as 1902.<ref>Sawyer, Keith. [https://sawyerpodcast.com/monopoly-invention-through-collaboration "Monopoly: Invention Through Collaboration."] (April 15, 2024)[https://sawyerpodcast.com/ <i>The Science of Creativity</i>.]</ref><ref name="NYT-20150213">{{cite news |last=Pilon |first=Mary |author-link=Mary Pilon |title=Monopoly's Inventor: The Progressive Who Didn't Pass 'Go' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/business/behind-monopoly-an-inventor-who-didnt-pass-go.html |date=February 13, 2015 |work=[[New York Times]] |access-date=February 14, 2015 }}</ref><ref>A US patent was granted in 1904 but in the autumn of 1902 an article describing the game was published in ''The Single Tax Review''. See [http://lvtfan.typepad.com/lvtfans_blog/2011/01/lizzie-magie-1902-commentary-the-landlords-game.html THE LANDLORDS' GAME]</ref> Magie, a follower of [[Henry George]], originally intended ''The Landlord's Game'' to illustrate the economic consequences of [[law of rent|Ricardo's Law]] of [[economic rent]] and the [[Georgism|Georgist]] concepts of economic privilege and [[land value tax]]ation.<ref>{{cite book | last=Parlett |first=David |author-link=David Parlett |title=The Oxford History of Board Games | url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofb0000parl | url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofb0000parl/page/352 352] |isbn=0-19-212998-8}}</ref> A series of [[board game]]s was developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. By 1933, a board game already existed much like the modern version of ''Monopoly'' that has been sold by [[Parker Brothers]] and related companies through the rest of the 20th century, and into the 21st. Several people, mostly in the [[midwestern United States]] and near the East Coast of the United States, contributed to its design and evolution.

By the 1970s, the false idea that the game had been created by [[Charles Darrow]] had become widely believed; it was printed in the game's instructions for many years,<ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Monopoly_(1999).pdf Monopoly Instructions] from a 1999 edition, at hasbro.com</ref> in a 1974 book devoted to ''Monopoly'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Brady |first=Maxine |title=The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game |publisher=David McKay Company, Inc. |year=1974 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/monopolybookstra00brad/page/14 14–20] |isbn=0-679-20292-7 |edition=Fourth Printing, December 1974 |url=https://archive.org/details/monopolybookstra00brad/page/14 }}</ref> and was cited in a general book about toys as recently as 2007.<ref name="BoardGameStudies">{{cite journal |last1=Albertarelli |first1=Spartaco |year=2000 |title=1000s Ways to Play Monopoly |journal=Board Games Studies |issue=3 |pages=117–121 |publisher=Research School CNWS, Leiden University, The Netherlands |url=http://www.boardgamestudies.info/pdf/issue3/BGS3-complete.pdf |access-date=19 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627054046/http://www.boardgamestudies.info/pdf/issue3/BGS3-complete.pdf |archive-date=27 June 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Wallace | first1=David | last2=Wexler | first2=Bruce | title=The Illustrated Directory of Toys | publisher=Colin Gower Enterprises Ltd. | year=2007|page=463|isbn=978-0-681-63614-9}}</ref> Even a guide to family games published for ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' in 2003 gave credit only to Darrow and none to Elizabeth Magie or any other contributors, erroneously stating that Magie's original game was created in the 19th century and not acknowledging any of the game's development between Magie's creation of the game and the eventual publication by [[Parker Brothers]].<ref>{{cite book | last1=Glenn |first1=Jim |last2=Denton |first2=Carey |title=The Treasury of Family Games |publisher=Amber Books Ltd. |year=2003 |page=15 |isbn=0-7621-0431-7}}</ref>

Also in the 1970s, Professor [[Ralph Anspach]], who had himself published a board game intended to illustrate the principles of both monopolies and [[trust busting]], fought Parker Brothers and its then parent company, [[General Mills]], over the copyright and trademarks of the ''Monopoly'' board game. Through the research of Anspach and others, much of the early history of the game was "rediscovered" and entered into official United States court records. Because of the lengthy court process, including appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' copyright and trademarks on the game was not settled until 1985. The game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as do its specific design elements; other elements of the game are still protected under copyright law. At the conclusion of the court case, the game's logo and graphic design elements became part of a larger ''Monopoly'' brand, licensed by Parker Brothers' parent companies onto a variety of items through the present day. Despite the "rediscovery" of the board game's early history in the 1970s and 1980s, and several books and journal articles on the subject, [[Hasbro]] (which became Parker Brothers' parent company) did not acknowledge any of the game's history prior to Charles Darrow's involvement on its official ''Monopoly'' website as recently as June 2012,<ref name="Hasbro_com2012">{{cite web|url=http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/discover/history.cfm |title=Monopoly – History & Fun Facts |publisher=Hasbro |access-date=4 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614141058/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/discover/history.cfm |archive-date=June 14, 2012 }}</ref> nor did they acknowledge anyone other than Darrow in materials published or sponsored by them, at least as recently as 2009.<ref name="wsj_anti">{{cite news |title=How a Fight Over a Board Game Monopolized an Economist's Life |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |first=Mary |last=Pilon |author-link=Mary Pilon |date=October 20, 2009 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125599860004295449?mod=rss_US_News |access-date=May 28, 2013}}</ref>

International tournaments, first held in the early 1970s, continue to the present, although no national tournaments or world championships have been held since 2015. Starting in 1985, a new generation of spin-off board games and [[card game]]s appeared on both sides of the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. In 1989, the first of many [[Video game|video game and computer game]] editions was published. Since 1994,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/monins.pdf |title=Monopoly |publisher=Parker Brothers |date=1997 |access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref> many official variants of the game, based on locations other than [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]], [[New Jersey]] (the official setting for the North American version) or [[London]], have been published by Hasbro or its licensees. In 2008, Hasbro permanently changed the color scheme and some of the gameplay of the standard US Edition of the game to match the UK Edition, although the US standard edition maintains the [[Atlantic City]] property names.<ref name="2008redesign">{{cite book|last=Orbanes |first=Philip E. | author-link=Philip Orbanes|title=Monopoly, Money, and You: How to Profit from the Game's Secrets of Success |edition=Nook E-Book |publisher=McGraw Hill Education |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-07-180844-6 |page=39}}</ref> Hasbro also modified the official logo to give the "Mr. Monopoly" character a 3-D computer-generated look, which has since been adopted by licensees [[USAopoly]] (The OP), Winning Moves and [[Winning Solutions]]. And Hasbro has also been including the Speed Die, introduced in 2006's ''Monopoly: The Mega Edition'' by Winning Moves Games, in versions produced directly by Hasbro (such as the 2009 ''Championship Edition'').<ref>[http://boardgames.about.com/od/monopoly/ig/Monopoly.-8Tw/Speed-Die.-8VZ.htm "Speed Die Edition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906073321/http://boardgames.about.com/od/monopoly/ig/Monopoly.-8Tw/Speed-Die.-8VZ.htm |date=2015-09-06 }} page at about.com</ref><ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-00009-97-Monopoly/dp/B00000IWCT/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1369775629&sr=1-1&keywords=monopoly Monopoly Standard Edition] page at amazon.com</ref>

{{TOC limit|3}}

==Game development 1903–1934==
[[File:BoardGamePatentMagie.png|thumb|left|First page of patent submission for first version of Lizzie Magie's board game, granted on January 5, 1904]]

In 1903, [[Georgism|Georgist]] [[Lizzie Magie]] applied for a patent on a game called ''[[The Landlord's Game]]'' with the object of showing that [[Renting|rent]]s enriched property owners and caused tenants to be impoverished. She knew that some people would find it hard to understand the logic behind the idea and she thought that if the rent problem and the [[Georgism|Georgist]] solution to it were put into the concrete form of a game, it might be easier to demonstrate. She was granted the patent for the game in January 1904. ''The Landlord's Game'' became one of the first board games to use a "continuous path", without clearly defined start and end spaces on its board.<ref>{{cite book |author=Orbanes, Philip E. |title=Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game & How it Got that Way |year=2006 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-81489-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/monopoly00phil/page/10 10] |author-link=Philip Orbanes |url=https://archive.org/details/monopoly00phil/page/10 }}</ref><ref name="american_interest">{{cite web |url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=263 |title=Monopolizing History |last=Parlett |first=David |author-link=David Parlett |date=March–April 2007 |work=The American Interest |access-date=29 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523055239/http://the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=263 |archive-date=23 May 2013 }}</ref> Another innovation in gameplay attributed to Magie is the concept of "ownership" of a place on a game board, such that something would happen to the second (or later) player to land on the same space, without the first player's piece still being present.<ref name="american_interest" /> A copy of Magie's game that she had left at the Georgist community of [[Arden, Delaware]], and dating from 1903–1904, was presented for the [[PBS]] series ''[[History Detectives]]''.<ref>[http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-08/202_monopoly.pdf Transcript of "Episode 2 2004 – Board Games, Arden, Delaware"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223232619/http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-08/202_monopoly.pdf |date=2015-02-23 }}. ''History Detectives''.</ref> This copy featured property groups, organized by letters, later a major feature of ''Monopoly'' as published by Parker Brothers.<ref name="harpers_blog">{{cite web |url=http://harpers.org/blog/2012/10/monopoly-is-theft/?single=1 |title=Monopoly is Theft |last=Ketcham |first=Christopher |date=19 October 2012 |work=The Stream |publisher=Harper's Magazine |access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://landlordsgame.info/games/lg-1903/lg-1903_arden-rules.html Landlord's Game] 1903 Arden Rules Analysis, by Thomas Forsyth</ref>

Although ''The Landlord's Game'' was patented, and some hand-made boards were made, it was not actually manufactured and published until 1906. Magie and two other Georgists established the Economic Game Company of New York, which began publishing her game.<ref name="FamousGame22">Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 22.</ref> Magie submitted an edition published by the Economic Game Company to [[Parker Brothers]] around 1910, which [[Parker Brothers|George Parker]] declined to publish.<ref name="FamousGame22"/> In the UK, it was published in 1913 by the Newbie Game Company under the title ''Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071019220450/http://tt.tf/gamehist/rules/bfnbr.html ''Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit''] photographs on tt.tf via the Internet Archive.</ref><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 23.</ref> Shortly after the game's formal publication, [[Scott Nearing]], a professor in what was then known as the [[Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania|Wharton School of Finance and Commerce]] at the [[University of Pennsylvania]], began using the game as a teaching tool in his classes. His students made their own boards, and taught the game to others.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pp. 14–15.</ref> After Nearing was dismissed from the Wharton School, he began teaching at the [[University of Toledo]]. A former student of Nearing, [[Rexford Tugwell|Rexford Guy Tugwell]], also taught ''The Landlord's Game'' at Wharton, and took it with him to [[Columbia University]].<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pp. 24–25.</ref> Apart from commercial distribution, it spread by word of mouth and was played in slightly variant homemade versions over the years by [[Quakers]], Georgists, university students (including students at [[Smith College]], [[Princeton University|Princeton]], and [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]), and others who became aware of it.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly Companion'', Second edition. p. 17.</ref><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 30.</ref>

[[File:MagiePatent2Page1.png|thumb|right|First page of patent submission for second version of Lizzie Magie's board game, submitted in 1923 and granted in 1924]]
A shortened version of Magie's game, which eliminated the second round of play that used a Georgist concept of a single [[land value tax]], had become common during the 1910s, and this variation on the game became known as ''Auction Monopoly''.<ref>[http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/monopoly.htm Ideafinder.com page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701041925/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/monopoly.htm |date=2006-07-01 }} on the history of ''Monopoly''</ref> The auctioning part of the game came through a rule that auctioned any unowned property to all game players when it was first landed on.<ref name="Berks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080628064925/http://tt.tf/gamehist/articles/berks2boardwalk.html "From Berks to Boardwalk"] originally published in the Winter 1978 ''Historical Review of Berks County''.</ref> This rule was later dropped by the Quakers, and in the current game of ''Monopoly'' an auction takes place only when an unowned property is not purchased outright by the player that first lands on it.<ref name="Berks" /><ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/00009.pdf Monopoly Instructions and Rules] from 2007 (including the Speed Die) from Hasbro.com</ref> That same decade, the game became popular around the community of [[Reading, Pennsylvania|Reading]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="Berks" /> Another former student of Scott Nearing, Thomas Wilson, taught the game to his cousin, Charles Muhlenberg, around 1915–1916.<ref name="Berks" /> The original patent on ''The Landlord's Game'' expired in 1921. By this time, the hand-made games became known simply as ''Monopoly''.<ref name="Adena_Layman">{{cite web |url=http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo08.htm |title=The Monopolization of Monopoly: Daniel W. Layman, Jr. |last=Wolfe |first=Burton |year=1976 |work=Adena.com |publisher=The San Francisco Bay Guardian |access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref><ref>Costello, ''The Greatest Games of All Time'', p. 62</ref> Charles Muhlenberg and his wife, Wilma, taught the game to Wilma's brothers, Louis and Ferdinand "Fred" Thun, in the early 1920s.<ref name="Berks" />

By 1906, Magie had moved back to [[Illinois]], and married Albert W. Phillips in 1910.<ref name="Costello_book_60">{{cite book |last=Costello |first=Matthew J. |title=The Greatest Games of All Time |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |year=1991 |isbn=0-471-52975-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatestgamesofa0000cost/page/60 60] |url=https://archive.org/details/greatestgamesofa0000cost/page/60 }}</ref> She moved to the [[Washington, D.C.]], area with her husband by 1923, and re-patented a revised version of ''The Landlord's Game'' in 1924 (under her married name, Elizabeth Magie Phillips). This version, unlike her first [[patent drawing]], included named streets as part of the [[patent application]] (the games published in 1910 based on her first patent did have named streets, but they had not been mentioned in the 1903 application). Magie sought to regain control over the plethora of hand-made games.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 31.</ref> For her 1924 edition, a couple of streets on the board were named after [[Chicago]] streets and locations, notably "[[Chicago Loop|The Loop]]" and "[[Lake Shore Drive]]".<ref>{{cite book | author=Kennedy, Rod Jr. | title=Monopoly: The Story Behind the World's Best-Selling Game | edition =First | publisher=Gibbs Smith | year=2004 | isbn=1-58685-322-8 | page = 11}}</ref> This revision also included a special "monopoly" rule and card that allowed higher rents to be charged when all three [[Monopoly board layout|railroads and utilities]] were owned, and included "chips" to indicate improvements on properties.<ref>{{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip | title=The Monopoly Companion: The Players Guide | edition=Second | publisher=Adams Media Corporation | year=1999 | isbn=1-58062-175-9 | page=[https://archive.org/details/monopolycompanio00orba_0/page/16 16] | author-link=Philip Orbanes | url=https://archive.org/details/monopolycompanio00orba_0/page/16 }}</ref><ref>Parlett, pp. 352–353.</ref> Magie again approached Parker Brothers about her game, and George Parker again declined, calling the game "too political".<ref name="Costello_book_60" /><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 33.</ref> Parker is, however, credited with urging Magie to take out her 1924 patent.<ref name="Costello_book_60" />

After the Thuns learned the game, they began teaching its rules to their fraternity brothers at [[Williams College]] around 1926.<ref name="Berks" /> Daniel W. Layman, in turn, learned the game from the Thun brothers (who later tried to sell copies of the game commercially, but were advised by an attorney that they could not patent it, as they were not its inventors).<ref name="Berks" /><ref>[http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo15.htm "Louis & Fred Thun"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130215037/http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo15.htm |date=2009-11-30 }}, by Burton H. Wolfe, on adena.com</ref> Layman later returned to his hometown of [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]], and began playing the game with friends there, ultimately producing hand-made versions of the board based on streets of that city.<ref name="Adena_Layman" /> Layman then commercially produced and sold the game, starting in 1932, with a friend in Indianapolis, who owned a company called Electronic Laboratories.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 45.</ref> This game was sold under the name ''The Fascinating Game of Finance'' (later shortened to ''[[Finance (game)|Finance]]'').<ref>Kennedy. p. 12.</ref> Layman soon sold his rights to the game, which was then licensed, produced and marketed by Knapp Electric.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 46.</ref> The published board featured four railroads (one per side), Chance and Community Chest cards and spaces, and properties grouped by symbol, rather than color.<ref>''Passing Go: Early Monopoly, 1933–1937'' by "Clarence B. Darwin" (pseudonym for David Sadowski), Folkopoly Press, River Forest, Illinois. Photograph on p. 197.</ref><ref>[http://landlordsgame.info/games/fn-1932/fn-1932-el.html First Edition of ''Finance''], by Electronic Laboratories, Inc.</ref><ref>[http://landlordsgame.info/games/fn-1932/fn-1932-ke.html Second Edition of ''Finance''], by Knapp Electric, Inc.</ref> Also in 1932, one edition of ''The Landlord's Game'' was published by the Adgame Company with a new set of rules called ''Prosperity'', also by Magie.<ref>[http://landlordsgame.info/games/lgp-1932/lgp-1932.html ''Landlord's Game'' and ''Prosperity''] page.</ref>

It was in Indianapolis that Ruth Hoskins, a Quaker teaching at Earlham College, learned the game, and took it back to Atlantic City.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walsh|first=Tim|title=The Playmakers: Amazing Origins of Timeless Toys|publisher=Keys Publishing|year=2004|isbn=0-9646973-4-3|page=48}}</ref> After she arrived, Hoskins made a new board with Atlantic City street names and railroads.  A group member Jesse Raiford, Eugene Raiford's brother, set the property values that are still in use today. Ruth taught it to a group of local Quakers.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly Companion'' Second edition. p. 20.</ref> It has been argued that their greatest contribution to the game was to reinstate the original Lizzie Magie rule of "buying properties at their listed price" rather than auctioning them, as the Quakers did not believe in auctions.<ref>Anspach, ''The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle'', p. 140.</ref><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 52.</ref> Another source states that the Quakers simply "didn't like the noise of the auctioneering".<ref name="Berks" /> Among the group taught the game by Hoskins were Eugene Raiford and his wife, who took a copy of the game with Atlantic City street names to Philadelphia.<ref name="raiford_letter">[http://landlordsgame.info/articles/eugene-raiford_ltr_02jan64.pdf Eugene Raiford's letter to Vince Leonard] dated 2 January 1964.</ref> Due to the Raifords' unfamiliarity with streets and properties in Philadelphia,<ref name="raiford_letter" /> the Atlantic City-themed version was the one taught to Charles Todd, who in turn taught Esther Darrow, wife of [[Charles Darrow]].<ref name="Companion2">Orbanes, ''Monopoly Companion'', Second edition. p. 21.</ref> After learning the game, Darrow then began to distribute the game himself as ''Monopoly'' and never spoke to the Todds again.<ref name="Berks" />

Darrow initially made the sets of the ''Monopoly'' game by hand with the help of his first son, William Darrow, and his wife. Their new sets retained Charles Todd's misspelling of [[Marven Gardens|"Marvin Gardens"]] and the renaming of the Shore Fast Line to the Short Line.<ref name="Companion2" /> Charles Darrow drew the designs with a drafting pen on round pieces of [[Textile manufacturing terminology#O|oilcloth]],<ref>[http://www.thestrong.org/press/kits/monopoly-american-icon Images for the] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024211845/http://www.thestrong.org/press/kits/monopoly-american-icon |date=2013-10-24 }} Monopoly: An American Icon exhibit at the National Museum of Play at The Strong, including a round hand-made set by Darrow from 1933</ref> and then his son and his wife helped fill in the spaces with colors and make the title deed cards and the [[Chance and Community Chest]] cards. After the demand for the game increased, Darrow contacted a printing company, Patterson and White, which printed the designs of the property spaces on square [[carton]] boards. Darrow's game board designs included elements later made famous in the version eventually produced by Parker Brothers, including black locomotives on the railroad spaces, the car on "Free Parking", the red arrow for "Go", the faucet on "Water Works", the light bulb on "Electric Company", and the question marks on the "Chance" spaces, though many of the actual icons were created by a hired graphic artist.<ref>Walsh, ''The Playmakers'', p. 49.</ref><ref>Anspach, ''The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle'', p. 134.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hinebaugh |first=Jeffrey P. |title=A Board Game Education: Building Skills for Academic Success |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Education |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60709-260-5 |page=72}}</ref> While Darrow received a copyright on his game in 1933, its specimens have disappeared from the files of the [[United States Copyright Office]], though proof of its registration remains.<ref>Anspach, ''The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle'', pp. 148–149.</ref>

===Patent history===
{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3|Patents for Landlord's Game and Monopoly
|-
!Year!!Inventor!!Reference
|-
|1904
|Lizzie J. Magie
|<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=748262 |status=patent |title=Game board |pubdate= |gdate=1904-01-05 |fdate=1903-03-23 |pridate= |inventorlink1=Lizzie Magie |inventor1-given=Lizzie J.
|inventor1-surname=Magie |assign1= |class= <!-- CPC A63F3/00072 --> |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US748626A/en}}</ref>
|-
|1924
|Elizabeth Magie Phillips
|<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=1509312 |status=patent |title=Game board |pubdate= |gdate=1924-09-23 |fdate=1923-04-28 |pridate=1923-04-28 |inventorlink1=Lizzie Magie |inventor1-given=Elizabeth Magie
|inventor1-surname=Phillips |assign1= |class= <!-- A63F3/00072 A63F3/00006 -->  |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1509312A/en}}</ref>
|-
|1935
|Charles B. Darrow
|<ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=2026082 |status=patent |title=Board game apparatus |pubdate=1935-12-31 |gdate=1935-12-31 |fdate=1935-08-31 |pridate=1935-12-31 |inventorlink1=Charles Darrow |inventor1-given=Charles B.
|inventor1-surname=Darrow |assign1=Parker Brothers Inc |class= <!-- CPC A63F3/00072 A63F3/00006 --> |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2026082A/en}}</ref>
|}

==Acquisition by Parker Brothers==
[[File:DarrowPage1.png|thumb|left|First page of Charles Darrow's patent submission for ''Monopoly'', submitted and granted in 1935]]
[[File:Small Box Monopoly.JPG|thumb|right|Box lid of a Parker Brothers-published copy of ''Monopoly'' (the "Number 7 Black Box Edition") around 1936–1941<ref>[http://monopoly.cdbpdx.com/BoxTops/ Early ''Monopoly'' Game Box Designs].</ref>]]
Darrow first took the game to [[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]] and attempted to sell it as his personal invention. They rejected it in a letter dated May 31, 1934.<ref name="Letters">Walsh. Page 51. The original rejection letters from Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers are reproduced on this page.</ref> After Darrow sent the game to Parker Brothers later in 1934, they rejected the game as "too complicated, too technical, [and it] took too long to play".<ref name="GMakers1">{{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip E. | title=The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers | edition=First | publisher=Harvard Business School Press | year=2004 | isbn=1-59139-269-1 | page=[https://archive.org/details/gamemakers00phil/page/92 92] | url=https://archive.org/details/gamemakers00phil/page/92 }}</ref> Darrow received a rejection letter from the firm dated October 19, 1934.<ref name="Letters"/> During this time, the "52 design errors" story was invented as a reason why Parker rejected Monopoly, but this has more recently been proven to be part of the Parker-invented "creation myth" surrounding the game.<ref name="Hasbro_com2012"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3795784/Toy-stories-Combination-of-luck-and-skill-that-gave-birth-to-some-of-our-favourite-games.html |title=Toy stories: Combination of luck and skill that gave birth to some of our favourite games |first=William |last=Shaw |date=16 December 2008 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=4 March 2013 |location=London}}</ref><ref name="Hinebaugh_72">Hinebaugh, ''A Board Game Education'', p. 72</ref>

In early 1935, however, the company heard about the game's excellent sales during the Christmas season of 1934 in Philadelphia and at F.A.O. Schwarz in New York City. Robert Barton, President of Parker Brothers, contacted Darrow and scheduled a new meeting in New York City.<ref>Brady. ''The Monopoly Book''. Page 18.</ref> On March 18, Parker Brothers bought Darrow's game, helped him take out a patent on it, and purchased his remaining inventory.<ref name="Hinebaugh_72" /><ref>Orbanes. ''The Game Makers''. Page 93.</ref> By April, 1935, the company had learned that Darrow was not the sole inventor of the game, but sought out an [[affidavit]] by Darrow to repeat his statements to the contrary, and thus bolster their claim to the game.<ref name="Berks" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo12.htm | title=The Monopolization of Monopoly: Parker Brothers |last=Wolfe |first=Burton |work=The San Francisco Bay Guardian |year=1976 |access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref> Parker Brothers subsequently decided to buy out Magie's 1924 patent and the copyrights of other commercial variants of the game to claim that it had legitimate undisputed rights to the game.

Robert Barton, president of [[Parker Brothers]], bought the rights to ''Finance'' from Knapp Electric later in 1935.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://spoonercentral.com/knapp/kec.html |title=The Knapp Electric Company |last=Spooner |first=Ken |work=The Knapps Lived Here |publisher=Spoonercentral.com |access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adena.com/adena/mo/mo14.htm | title=The Monopolization of Monopoly: The $10,000 Buyout |last=Wolfe |first=Burton |work=Adena.com |publisher=The San Francisco Bay Guardian |year=1976 |access-date=4 June 2013}}</ref> ''Finance'' would be redeveloped, updated, and continued to be sold by Parker Brothers into the 1970s.<ref name="Orbanes2nd">Orbanes, ''Monopoly Companion'' Second edition. Page 24.</ref> Other board games based on a similar principle, such as a game called ''Inflation'', designed by Rudy Copeland and published by the Thomas Sales Co., in [[Fort Worth, Texas]], also came to the attention of Parker Brothers management in the 1930s, after they began sales of ''Monopoly''.<ref>[http://landlordsgame.info/rules/infl-r.html Rules of] Rudy Copeland's ''Inflation'' Game.</ref><ref>Orbanes, ''The Game Makers''. Page 103.</ref> Copeland continued sales of the latter game after Parker Brothers attempted a patent lawsuit against him. Parker Brothers held the Magie and Darrow patents, but settled with Copeland rather than going to trial, since Copeland was prepared to have witnesses testify that they had played ''Monopoly'' before Darrow's "invention" of the game.<ref>Anspach, ''The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle'', pages 100–101.</ref> The court settlement allowed Copeland to license Parker Brothers' patents.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pages 75–76.</ref> Other agreements were reached on ''Big Business'' by Transogram, and ''[[Easy Money (board game)|Easy Money]]'' by Milton Bradley, based on Daniel Layman's ''Finance''.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', page 76.</ref> Another clone, called ''Fortune'', was sold by Parker Brothers, and became combined with ''Finance'' in some editions.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', page 78.</ref>

''Monopoly'' was first marketed on a broad scale by Parker Brothers in 1935. A Standard Edition, with a small black box and separate board, and a larger Deluxe Edition, with a box large enough to hold the board, were sold in the first year of Parker Brothers' ownership. These were based on the two editions sold by Darrow.<ref>Orbanes, Philip. "Monopoly Memories", booklet, published in 2002 by Winning Moves Games. Included with the reproduction of the 1935 Parker Brothers ''Monopoly Deluxe Edition'' set. Page 6.</ref> Parker Brothers sets were the first to include die-cast metal tokens for playing pieces, initially using a [[battleship]], a [[cannon]], a [[clothes iron]], a [[shoe]], a [[top hat]], and a [[thimble]].<ref name="Hinebaugh_73">Hinebaugh, ''A Board Game Education'', p. 73</ref> George Parker himself rewrote many of the game's rules, insisting that "short game" and "time limit" rules be included.<ref name="Redesign">Orbanes. ''The Game Makers''. Page 95.</ref> On the original Parker Brothers board (reprinted in 2002 by Winning Moves Games), there were no icons for the Community Chest spaces (the blue chest overflowing with gold coins came later) and no gold ring on the Luxury Tax space. Nor were there property values printed on spaces on the board. The Income Tax was slightly higher (being $300 or 10%, instead of the later $200 or 10%). Some of the designs known today were implemented at the behest of George Parker.<ref name="Redesign"/> The [[Chance cards]] and [[Community Chest cards]] were illustrated (though some prior editions consisted solely of text), but were without "[[Rich Uncle Pennybags]]", who was introduced in 1936.<ref name="Hinebaugh_73" />

Late in 1935, after learning of ''The Landlord's Game'' and ''Finance'', Robert Barton held a second meeting with Charles Darrow in Boston. Darrow admitted that he had copied the game from a friend's set, and he and Barton reached a revised royalty agreement, granting Parker Brothers worldwide rights and releasing Darrow from legal costs that would be incurred in defending the origin of the game.<ref>Orbanes, ''The Game Makers''. Page 98.</ref>

===Licensing outside the United States===
[[File:Monopoly UK postcard.jpg|thumb|right|Postcard replica of a 1936 poster introducing the board game ''Monopoly'' to the United Kingdom]]
[[File:International Monopoly board game editions.png|thumb|left|''Monopoly'' games in editions from seven countries. '''Clockwise from top right''': Germany, [[Austria]], Spain, Italy, [[Switzerland]], the United Kingdom, and Canada.]]

In December 1935, Parker Brothers sent a copy of the game to Victor Watson, Sr. of [[Waddingtons|Waddington Games]]. Watson and his son Norman tried the game over a weekend, and liked it so much that Waddington took the (then extraordinary) step of making a [[transatlantic telephone cable|transatlantic]] "trunk call" to Parker Brothers, the first such call made or received by either company.<ref>{{cite book| last=Watson| first=Victor| title=The Waddingtons Story: From the early days to Monopoly, the Maxwell bids, and into the next millennium | year=2008 | page=78 | isbn=978-1-906600-36-5 |publisher=Jeremy Mills Publishing}}</ref> This impressed Parker Brothers sufficiently that Waddington was granted licensing rights for Europe and the then-[[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]], excluding Canada.<ref>Orbanes, ''The Game Makers''. Pages 98–99</ref> Waddingtons version, their first board game, with locations from [[London]] substituted for the original Atlantic City ones, was first produced in 1936.<ref>Watson, ''The Waddingtons Story'', pp. 79-80.</ref>

The game was very successful in the United Kingdom and France, but the 1936 German edition, published by [[Schmidt Spiele]], disappeared from the market within three years. This edition, featuring locations in Berlin, was denounced, allegedly by [[Joseph Goebbels]] to the [[Hitler Youth]] due to the game's "Jewish-speculative character".<ref name="Spiele-Buch">{{cite book| last=Glonnegger |first=Erwin |edition=Erweiterte Neuauflage |title=Das Spiele-Buch |year=1999 |page=115 |isbn=3-9806792-0-9 |publisher=Drei Magier Verlag}}</ref> It is also alleged that the real reason behind the Nazi denouncement was because high-ranking Nazis (i.e. Goebbels, again) lived on streets whose names appeared as those sections of the game board given the highest property values, and did not want to be associated with a game.<ref>Orbanes, ''The Game Makers''. Page 103</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Tönnesmann, Andreas | title=Monopoly: Das Spiel, die Stadt und das Glück |edition=First|publisher=Verlag Klaus Wagenbach |year=2011|pages=49–51|isbn=978-3-8031-5181-0}}</ref> The game last appeared in a pre-World War II Schmidt Spiele catalog in 1938.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wenzel |first=Sebastian |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-last=Geithner |editor2-first=Martin |editor2-last=Thiele |title=Nachgemacht: Spielekopien aus der DDR |publisher=DDR Museum Verlag |date=April 2013 |pages=37–40 |chapter=Monopoly  |isbn=978-3-939801-18-4}}</ref> A German edition with "generic" street and train station names (i.e., not recognizable as any single German city) did not appear until 1953.<ref name="Spiele-Buch" /><ref>Tönnesmann, ''Monopoly''. Page 56</ref> The 1936 German edition, with the original cards and the recognizable Berlin locations, was reprinted in 1982 by Parker Brothers and again in 2003 (in a wooden box), and 2011 (in a red metal tin) by [[Hasbro]].<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/brd_classic_games.htm German edition games through 1985] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918073146/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/brd_classic_games.htm |date=2012-09-18 }}, by Albert C. Veldhuis.</ref><ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/brd_nowadays_games.htm German edition games 1986–present] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918165307/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/brd_nowadays_games.htm |date=2012-09-18 }}, by Albert C. Veldhuis.</ref>

Waddington licensed other editions from 1936 to 1938, and the game was exported from the UK and resold or reprinted in Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Chile, The Netherlands, and Sweden. In Italy, under the [[Italian Fascism|fascists]], the game was changed dramatically so that it would have an Italian name, locations in [[Milan]], and major changes in the rules. This was for compliance under Italian law of the period. Italian publishers Editrice Giochi produced the game in Italy until 2009, having held a unique licensing agreement from Parker Brothers and their own copyright dating back to 1935/1936.<ref name="BoardGameStudies" /> As of 2009, Hasbro has taken over the publishing of the game in Italy, but have also, for now, kept the Milan-based properties.<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/italy.htm Monopoly Lexicon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006134048/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/italy.htm |date=2006-10-06 }} page for Italy, by Albert C. Veldhuis.</ref>

In Austria, versions of the game first appeared as ''Business'' and ''Spekulation'' (''Speculation''), and eventually evolved to become ''Das Kaufmännische Talent'' (DKT) (''The Businessman's Talent''). Versions of DKT have been sold in Austria since 1940. The game first appeared as ''Monopoly'' in Austria in about 1981.<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/a_-_standard_editions.htm Monopoly Lexicon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220013055/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/a_-_standard_editions.htm |date=2007-02-20 }} page for Austrian Standard Editions.</ref> The Waddingtons edition was imported into The Netherlands starting in 1937, and a fully translated edition first appeared in 1941.<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/nl_-_klassieke_spellen.htm Monopoly Lexicon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220013135/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/nl_-_klassieke_spellen.htm |date=2007-02-20 }} page for early ''Monopoly'' editions in The Netherlands, in Dutch.</ref>

It has been claimed that Waddingtons later produced special games during [[World War II]] which secretly contained [[File (tool)|files]], a compass, a map printed on silk, and real currency hidden amongst the ''Monopoly'' money, to aid [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] in escaping from German camps.<ref>Walsh. Page 56.</ref><ref>Orbanes. ''The Game Makers''. Color photographic insert, page 10.</ref> However, this story has come under recent scrutiny and is being disputed.<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/english_clasic_games.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101194836/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/english_clasic_games.htm |date=2012-11-01 }} page for early ''Monopoly'' editions from Great Britain.</ref> Among the points of dispute is that there are no existing examples and no one who claims to have used or even seen one.

Collector Albert C. Veldhuis features a map on his "Monopoly Lexicon" website showing which versions of the game were remade and distributed in other countries, with the Atlantic City, London, and Paris versions being the most influential.<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/collecting_monopoly_games.htm English introductory page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011222239/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/collecting_monopoly_games.htm |date=2006-10-11 }} to the Monopoly Lexicon website.</ref> After World War II, homemade games would sometimes appear behind the Iron Curtain, although the game was effectively banned.<ref>[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/brd_-_self-made_games.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721050946/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/brd_-_self-made_games.htm |date=2011-07-21 }} page showing three hand made examples of ''Monopoly'' from the German Democratic Republic</ref> ''Monopoly'' is cited as the board game played most often and most duplicated via hand made copies in the former German Democratic Republic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wenzel |first=Sebastian |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-last=Geithner |editor2-first=Martin |editor2-last=Thiele |title=Nachgemacht: Spielekopien aus der DDR |publisher=DDR Museum Verlag |date=April 2013 |page=32 |chapter=Monopoly  |isbn=978-3-939801-18-4}}</ref>  One official version of the game was printed for the Soviet Union by Parker Brothers in 1988.<ref name="Veldhuis_Russia">[http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/russia.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124075519/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/russia.htm |date=2010-11-24 }} page for Russia.</ref> After the [[Cold War]] ended, official editions have been published throughout eastern Europe by Parker, Tonka and Hasbro. Hungary was the first, in 1992,<ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/hungary.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024085941/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/hungary.htm |date=2012-10-24 }} page for Hungary.</ref> followed by the Czech Republic and Poland in 1993,<ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/czech_republic.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925075716/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/czech_republic.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for the Czech Republic</ref><ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/poland.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419182100/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/poland.htm |date=2012-04-19 }} page for Poland</ref> Croatia in 1994,<ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/croatia.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925075857/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/croatia.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for Croatia</ref> Slovenia in 1996,<ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/slovenia.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925075748/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/slovenia.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for Slovenia</ref> Romania and a new edition for Russia in 1997,<ref name="Veldhuis_Russia"/><ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/romania-1.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024085957/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/romania-1.htm |date=2012-10-24 }} page for Romania</ref> and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, all in 2001.<ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/estonia.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925075240/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/estonia.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for Estonia</ref><ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/latvia.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925080043/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/latvia.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for Latvia</ref><ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/lithuania.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925075423/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/lithuania.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for Lithuania</ref><ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/slowakia.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925075434/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/slowakia.htm |date=2012-09-25 }} page for Slovakia</ref>

==Marketing within the United States in the 1930s==
In 1936, Parker Brothers published four further editions along with the original two: the Popular Edition, Fine Edition, Gold Edition, and Deluxe Edition, with prices ranging from US$2 to US$25 in 1930s money.<ref>Orbanes. ''Monopoly Memories''. Pages 5–6.</ref> After Parker Brothers began to release its first editions of the game, Elizabeth Magie Phillips was profiled in the Washington D.C. ''Evening Star'' newspaper, which discussed her two editions of ''The Landlord's Game''.<ref>Sadowski, ''Passing Go''. Page 139.</ref> In December 1936, wary of the [[Mahjong|Mah-Jongg]] and [[Table tennis|Ping-Pong]] fads that had left unsold inventory stuck in Parker Brothers' warehouse, George Parker ordered a stop to ''Monopoly'' production as sales leveled off. However, during the [[Christmas]] season, sales picked up again, and continued a resurgence.<ref>Brady, ''The Monopoly Book''. Page 20.</ref> In early 1937, as Parker Brothers was preparing to release the board game ''Bulls and Bears'' with Darrow's photograph on the box lid (though he had no involvement with the game), a ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine article about the game made it seem as if Darrow himself was the sole inventor of both ''Bulls and Bears'' and ''Monopoly'':
{{cquote|If it is true that the devil finds work for idle hands to do, the No. 1 U.S. [[Mephistopheles]] is currently a mild little [[Philadelphia]]n named [[Charles Darrow]]. Mr. Darrow's claim to the title, based on Monopoly, U.S. parlor craze of 1936, was last week reinforced when Parker Brothers began to distribute his second invention for idle hands. The new Darrow game is Bulls & Bears. Success of Monopoly, which was last week estimated to be in its sixth million and selling faster than ever, gave Bulls & Bears a pre-publication sale of 100,000, largest on record for a new game.|30px|30px|''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]'' magazine, "Sport: 1937 Games", February 1, 1937, p. 44.}}

==Parker Brothers' marketing 1940s–1960s==
At the start of World War II, both Parker Brothers and Waddington stockpiled materials they could use for further game production. During the war, ''Monopoly'' was produced with wooden tokens in the US, and the game's [[cellophane]] cover was eliminated.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pp. 93–94.</ref> In the UK, metal tokens were also eliminated, and a special spinner was introduced to take the place of [[dice]]. The game remained in print for a time even in the Netherlands, as the printer there was able to maintain a supply of paper.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 94.</ref> Elizabeth Magie's second patent on ''The Landlord's Game'' expired in September, 1941, and it is believed that after the expiration, she was no longer promoted as an inventor of ''Monopoly''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Whitehill |first1=Bruce |year=1999 |title=American Games: A Historical Perspective |journal=Board Games Studies |issue=2 |pages=116–141 |publisher=Research School CNWS, Leiden University, The Netherlands |url=http://www.boardgamestudies.info/pdf/issue2/BGS2-complete.pdf |access-date=April 19, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120175829/http://www.boardgamestudies.info/pdf/issue2/BGS2-complete.pdf |archive-date=November 20, 2008 }}</ref> The game itself remained popular during the war, particularly in camps, and soldiers playing the game became part of the product's advertising in 1944.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 98.</ref>

After the war, sales went from 800,000 a year to over one million. The French and German editions re-entered production, and new editions for Spain, Greece, Finland and Israel were first produced.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pp. 100–101.</ref> By the late 1950s, Parker Brothers printed only game sets with board, pieces and materials housed in a single white box.<ref>Orbanes. ''Monopoly Memories''. p. 2</ref> Several copies of this edition were exhibited at the American National Exhibition in [[Moscow]] in 1959. All of them were stolen from the exhibit.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', page 107.</ref> In the early 1960s, "''Monopoly'' happenings" began to occur, mostly marathon game sessions, which were recognized by a ''Monopoly'' Marathon Records Documentation Committee in New York City.<ref>Brady. p. 25.</ref> In addition to marathon sessions, games were played on large indoor and outdoor boards, within backyard pits, on the ceiling in a [[University of Michigan]] dormitory room, and underwater.<ref>Brady. pp. 26–27.</ref> In 1965, a 30th anniversary set was produced in a special plastic case.<ref name="AnniversaryEditions">Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Popular Game'', photo insert, p. 25.</ref>

==End of Parker Brothers soon to be the owner of General Mills Brian Adam Parker/Marks 08/24/1986

===Marketing under General Mills 1968–1985===
Parker Brothers was acquired by [[General Mills]] in February 1968.<ref>{{cite book| last=Watson| first=Victor| title=The Waddingtons Story |page=81}}</ref> The first ''Monopoly'' edition in Braille is published in 1973.<ref>[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/usa_-_Special_-_and_-_Junior_-_edtions.htm "Monopoly Lexicon"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130703125229/http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/usa_-_Special_-_and_-_Junior_-_edtions.htm |date=2013-07-03 }} page for special U.S. Editions</ref> Also in 1973, as the Atlantic City Commissioner of Public Works considered name changes for Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues, fans of the board game, with support from the president of Parker Brothers, successfully lobbied for the city to keep the names.<ref>Brady, pp. 21–24.</ref> After Parker Brothers was taken over by General Mills, the Monopoly license to Waddingtons was renegotiated (as was the Clue/[[Cluedo]] license to Parker Brothers/General Mills by Waddingtons).<ref>{{cite book| last=Watson| first=Victor| title=The Waddingtons Story |page=82}}</ref> By 1974, Parker Brothers had sold 80 million sets of the game.<ref>Brady. p. 20</ref> In 1975, another anniversary edition was produced, but this edition came in a cardboard box looking much like a standard edition.<ref name="AnniversaryEditions"/> Parker Brothers was under management by General Mills as the first six Monopoly Tournaments were held.

===Kenner Parker Toys and Kenner Parker Tonka 1985–1991===
Kenner was combined with Parker Brothers and spun off as Kenner Parker Toys in 1985. Regular and Deluxe 50th Anniversary editions of ''Monopoly'' were released that same year.<ref name="Veldhuis1">[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/usa-nowadays-editions.htm Albert Vehduis'] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130703134139/http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/usa-nowadays-editions.htm |date=2013-07-03 }} page of US Monopoly editions, 1985–present</ref> [[The Spinoff|The spinoff]] game ''[[Advance to Boardwalk]]'' was first published in 1985. Kenner Parker was acquired by Tonka in 1987. The 1987/1988 ''Monopoly'' Tournaments were held under Kenner Parker Tonka management.

In the United Kingdom, ''Monopoly'' publisher Waddingtons produced its first non-London edition in 1989, creating a Limited Edition based on [[Leeds]] as a charity fundraiser.<ref>{{cite book| last=Watson| first=Victor| title=The Waddingtons Story | pages=180–181}}</ref>

===''Monopoly'' (game show)===
{{further information|Monopoly (game show)}}
In 1990, [[Merv Griffin Enterprises]] turned ''Monopoly'' into a [[Monopoly (game show)|prime time game show]], airing after ''[[Super Jeopardy!]]'' on Saturday nights on ABC during that summer. The program was hosted by [[Mike Reilly (television personality)|Mike Reilly]] and announced by [[Charlie O'Donnell]].

==Marketing==
===1990s===
''[[Monopoly Junior]]'' was first published in 1990. Kenner Parker Tonka was acquired by Hasbro in 1991. An all-Europe edition was published by Parker Brothers in 1991 for the nations of the then [[European Communities]], using the Ecu (European Currency Unit).<ref name="Veldhuis2">[http://muurkrant.nl/monopoly/collecting_monopoly_games.htm Albert Veldhuis'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507145831/http://www.muurkrant.nl/monopoly/collecting_monopoly_games.htm |date=2013-05-07 }} overview of ''Monopoly'' collecting.</ref> After acquisition by Hasbro, publication of ''Monopoly'' in the US ceased at the Parker Brothers plant in [[Salem, Massachusetts]] in November 1991.<ref name="Veldhuis1" />

In 1994, the license to the company that would become USAopoly was issued, and they produced a [[San Diego, California]] edition as their first board. In 1995, a license for new game variations and reprints of ''Monopoly'' was granted to Winning Moves Games. See the [[#Localizations, licenses, and spin-offs|Localizations, licenses, and spin-offs]] section below for details on further releases by both companies.

In 1995, a 60th Anniversary edition was released in a gold box.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17820/monopoly-60th-anniversary-edition-1935-1995 BoardGameGeek] page for Monopoly 60th Anniversary Edition.</ref> In late 1998, Hasbro announced a campaign to add an all-new [[Monopoly (game)#Equipment|token]] to US standard edition sets of ''Monopoly''. Voters were allowed to select from a [[biplane]], a [[piggy bank]], and a [[Money bag|sack of money]] – with votes being tallied through a special website, via a toll-free phone number, and at [[FAO Schwarz]] stores.

In March 1999, Hasbro announced that the winner was the sack of money (with 51 percent of the vote, compared to 29 percent for the biplane and 20 percent for the piggy bank). Thus, the sack of money became the first new token added to the game since the early 1950s.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070609193338/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/pl/page.news_sackofmoney/dn/default.cfm Hasbro's news release] for the new game token in its 1998–1999 campaign via the Internet Archive.</ref> In 1999, Hasbro renamed the [[Rich Uncle Pennybags]] mascot "Mr. Monopoly", and released Star Wars: Episode I, Pokémon and Millennium editions of Monopoly.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Matt+Gissel+of+St.+Albans%2c+Vermont+Crowned+National+Monopoly+Game...-a056542595 Business Wire Press Release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714162425/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Matt+Gissel+of+St.+Albans%2c+Vermont+Crowned+National+Monopoly+Game...-a056542595 |date=2014-07-14 }} naming the winner of the 1999 United States Monopoly Championship, and referring to game's mascot as Mr. Monopoly. Release dated October 19, 1999 archived at The Free Library</ref><ref>[http://apps.shareholder.com/sec/viewerContent.aspx?companyid=HAS&docid=373814 Press Release, dated October 14, 1999] featuring Pokémon-themed products, including Monopoly.</ref><ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hasbro+Opens+Toy+Fair+1999+With+Powerful+Brands%2c+Premier+Partnerships...-a053691273 Business Wire Press Release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714165145/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hasbro+Opens+Toy+Fair+1999+With+Powerful+Brands%2c+Premier+Partnerships...-a053691273 |date=2014-07-14 }} dated February 2, 1999, archived at The Free Library.</ref> A second European edition is released in 1999, this time using the Euro as currency, but incorrectly listing Geneva as the capital of Switzerland.<ref name="Veldhuis2" />

=== 2000s ===
A 65th Anniversary Edition was released in a variation of the white box in 2000.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19373/monopoly-65th-anniversary-1935-2000 BoardGameGeek] page for 65th Anniversary Edition</ref> In 2001, the European Edition is reissued, correcting the mistake of the 1999 printing, and correctly listing Bern as the capital of Switzerland.<ref name="Veldhuis2" /> In 2005, a 70th Anniversary Edition was released in a silver-metallic tin with a plastic slip case.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18895/monopoly-70th-anniversary-edition BoardGameGeek] page for 70th Anniversary Edition.</ref> Also starting in 2005, various "Here & Now" editions were released in multiple countries. The first release of this edition was for the UK market, and its success led to the selection of properties for a US edition by online vote. The most popular properties were released on the US "Here & Now" edition board in 2006. This, in turn, led to a worldwide "Here & Now" edition (released in 2008), along with other national editions (including a second UK "Here and Now" edition) with properties selected by online vote.<ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/shop/details.cfm?R=93E901B1-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4:en_US Hasbro.com (US)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215132500/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/shop/details.cfm?R=93E901B1-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4:en_US |date=2012-12-15 }} page for Monopoly Here & Now World Edition.</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-vies-for-monopoly-real-estate-1.960848 | work=CBC News | title=Calgary vies for Monopoly real estate | date=January 13, 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/geeksearch.php?action=search&objecttype=boardgame&q=monopoly+here+and+now&B1=Go BoardGameGeek] list of "Here & Now" themed releases, with dates.</ref> The main principle of the "Here & Now" editions was "What if Monopoly had been invented today?"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=816-cDquzYs Monopoly: Here and Now] page on YouTube.</ref>

The first changes to the gameplay of the ''Monopoly'' game itself occurred with the publication of both the ''Monopoly Here & Now Electronic Banking Edition'' by Hasbro UK and ''Monopoly: The Mega Edition'' by Winning Moves Games in 2006. The Electronic Banking Edition uses [[Visa Inc.|VISA]]-branded [[Debit card|debit cards]] and a debit card reader for monetary transactions, instead of paper bills.<ref>"[https://news.sky.com/story/439521/monopoly-takes-a-chance-on-plastic Monopoly Takes A Chance On Plastic]" from ''Sky News''. Accessed July 24, 2006.</ref> This edition is available in the UK, Germany, France, Australia and Ireland. A version was released in the US in 2007, albeit without the co-branding by Visa. An electronic counter had been featured in the Stock Exchange editions released in Europe in the early 2000s (decade), and is also a feature of the ''Monopoly City'' board game released in 2009.

The Mega Edition has been expanded to include fifty-two spaces (with more street names taken from Atlantic City), skyscrapers (to be played after hotels), train depots, the 1000 denomination of play money, as well as "bus tickets" and a [[Monopoly (game)#Speed Die|speed die]].<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 188.</ref> Shortly after the release of ''Mega Monopoly'' in 2006, Hasbro adopted the same blue version of the speed die into a special "Speed Die Edition" of the game. By 2008, the die, now red, became a permanent addition to the game, though its use remains optional there.<ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/00009.pdf Monopoly rules] including "Speed Die" and "Classic" variations, from Hasbro.com.</ref> In 2009's "Championship Edition", use of the speed die is mandatory, as it also became mandatory in most of 2009's ''Monopoly'' tournaments.

In addition to permanently adding the speed die in 2008, Hasbro also instituted further changes to the United States standard edition of the board, including making Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues a brown color group, making the Income Tax space a flat $200 (removing the 10% option), changing the colors on the GO space from red to black, increasing the Luxury Tax to $100 (from $75), and changing some Community Chest and Chance cards.<ref name="2008redesign" /> The changes in these four areas made the US standard edition more uniform with the UK and modern European editions. In 2009, Winning Moves Games introduced "The Classic Edition", with a pre-2008 game board and cards, re-inclusion of the "[[sack of money]]" token, and a plain MONOPOLY logo in the center of the board, with neither the 1985 or 2008 version of "Mr. Monopoly" present.<ref>[http://winning-moves.com/product/MonopolyClassic.asp Winning Moves'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508193026/http://winning-moves.com/product/MonopolyClassic.asp |date=2013-05-08 }} ''Monopoly: The Classic Edition'' p. </ref> Also in 2009, ''Monopoly'' "theme packs" entered the retail market, including the Dog Lovers and Sports Fans editions, which include customized money, replacements for houses and hotels, and custom tokens, without a board.

=== 2010s ===
In early 2010, Hasbro began selling the ''Free Parking'' and ''Get out of Jail'' add-on games, which can be played alone or when a player lands on the respective ''Monopoly'' board spaces. If played during a ''Monopoly'' game, success at either game gets the winning player a "free taxi ride to any space on the board" or "out of jail free", respectively.<ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm?R=99E816FB-19B9-F369-10EE-49E016047484:en_US&src=endeca&product_id=26334 Hasbro (US)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603014420/http://www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm?R=99E816FB-19B9-F369-10EE-49E016047484%3Aen_US |date=2012-06-03 }} page for "Free Parking" minigame.</ref><ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm?R=99DA05B8-19B9-F369-108F-46A65BBC8780:en_US&src=endeca&product_id=26333 Hasbro (US)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603021013/http://www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm?R=99DA05B8-19B9-F369-108F-46A65BBC8780%3Aen_US |date=2012-06-03 }} page for "Get out of Jail" minigame.</ref> A new, customizable edition called "U-Build" is also released.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66198/u-build-monopoly BoardGameGeek] page for ''U-Build Monopoly''</ref> Later in 2010, for the 75th anniversary of the game's publication, Hasbro released ''Monopoly Revolution'', giving the game a graphic redesign, as well as returning it to a round shape, which had not been seen since some of Darrow's 1930s custom-made sets.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66213/monopoly-revolution BoardGameGeek] page for ''Monopoly Revolution''.</ref> The game includes "bank cards" and keeps track of players' assets electronically, as was introduced in the "Electronic Banking Edition" earlier in the decade.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100821055841/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/shop/details.cfm?guid=F703BB18-19B9-F369-102E-3FCF074F4507&product_id=26545&src=endeca Hasbro.com description page]</ref> The game also features clear plastic playing pieces for movers, and electronic sound effects, triggered by certain events (for instance, a "jail door slam" sound effect when a player goes to jail). ''Monopoly Live'' was announced at the New York Toy Fair in February 2011.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=New Electronic Monopoly with Evil, All-Seeing Tower |url=https://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/02/new-electronic-monopoly-with-evil-all-seeing-tower/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=17 June 2013 |date=9 February 2011 |first=Charlie |last=Sorrel}}</ref> The ''Monopoly Millionaire'' version of the game was released in 2012.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/130240/monopoly-millionaire BoardGameGeek] page for ''Monopoly Millionaire''</ref>

In early 2013, a board game version of the ''Monopoly Hotels'' online game was released.<ref>[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137244/monopoly-hotels BoardGameGeek] page for ''Monopoly Hotels''</ref> From January 8 to February 5, 2013, through the ''Monopoly'' page on Facebook in a campaign called "Save Your Token", Hasbro took votes from the public to make another permanent change in the lineup of game tokens. The token with the lowest number of "Save Your Token" votes will be retired, and replaced with one of five other tokens, depending on which of the new candidates gets the most votes. The potential tokens were a robot, a helicopter, a cat, a guitar or a diamond ring.<ref>{{cite news|title=Token change for Monopoly to replace an iconic piece|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2013/01/08/monopoly-board-game-tokens-change/1805387/|newspaper=USA Today|access-date=9 January 2013|first1=Brian|last1=Truitt|date=8 January 2013}}</ref> Neither the biplane nor the piggy bank from the 1998 vote are being considered this time. Early on February 6, it was announced that the iron would be retired for having received the fewest votes, and the cat would be replacing it, having received the most votes.<ref>{{cite news|title=Meow! Hasbro unveils new token for Monopoly game|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meow-hasbro-unveils-new-token-for-monopoly-game/|publisher=CBS News|access-date=6 February 2013}}</ref> Starting in February 2013, the US discount chain Target began selling a "Golden Token" set with the eight classic tokens and all five candidates.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/09/which-monopoly-piece-would-you-vote-off-the-board/|title=Which ''Monopoly'' Piece Would You Vote Off the Board?|last=Peckham|first=Matt|date=January 9, 2013|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=April 4, 2018}}</ref> Special editions with the thirteen golden tokens have also been released in the UK and France.<ref>[http://www.toysnplaythings.co.uk/news/latest_news_2/celebrate_gamechanging_vote_with_classic_monopoly_golden_token_edition.aspx Press Release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910025921/http://www.toysnplaythings.co.uk/news/latest_news_2/celebrate_gamechanging_vote_with_classic_monopoly_golden_token_edition.aspx |date=2013-09-10 }} for UK Golden Token Edition</ref><ref>[http://auxerre.joueclubdrive.fr/monopoly-classique-collector-a19410.html Sales page] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130701191849/http://auxerre.joueclubdrive.fr/monopoly-classique-collector-a19410.html |date=2013-07-01 }} for a Golden Token Edition release in France</ref> The first Monopoly game to have the new token lineup was released in June 2013.<ref>[http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/monopoly-game Hasbro Toy Shop] page for 2013 Standard Edition set, including cat token.</ref> In 2015, the game celebrated its 80th anniversary with eight tokens from each decade in a special edition.

==''Monopoly'' tournaments 1973–2015==
The first ''Monopoly'' tournaments were suggested by Victor Watson of Waddington after the [[World Chess Championship 1972]]. Such championships are also held for players of the board game ''[[Scrabble]]''. The first European Championship was held in [[Reykjavík]], [[Iceland]], the same site as the 1972 World Chess Championship. Accounts differ as to the eventual winner: Philip Orbanes and Victor Watson<ref>Interview with Victor Watson for "Under the Boardwalk", 5/23/2009</ref> name John Mair, representing Ireland and the eventual World ''Monopoly'' Champion of 1975, as also having won the European Championship.<ref>Orbanes. ''Monopoly Companion'' Second Edition. p. 156.</ref> [[Gyles Brandreth]], himself a later European ''Monopoly'' Champion, names Pierre Milet, representing France, as the European Champion.<ref>{{cite book|author=Brandreth, Gyles|title=The Monopoly Omnibus|edition=First hardcover|publisher=Willow Books|year=1985|isbn=0-00-218166-5|page=185|author-link=Gyles Brandreth}}</ref> One of the reasons there may be differing accounts of the eventual winner is attributable to a minor controversy with the final game. According to Parker Brothers' Randolph "Ranny" P. Barton,<ref>Interview with Randolph P. Barton for "Under the Boardwalk", 7/28/2008</ref> an error was made by one of the participants and a protest was filed by an opponent. The judges (Barton, Watson, and a representative from [[Miro Company|Miro]], the French publishers of Monopoly) weighed the options of starting the final game over and delaying the chartered plane that would take them home from Iceland vs allowing the game to stand with the error but allowing them to make their flight. In the end, the judges upheld the result of the game with the error uncorrected.

Victor Watson and Ranny Barton began holding tournaments in the UK and US, respectively. World Champions were declared in the United States in 1973 and 1974 (and are still considered official World Champions by Hasbro). While the 1973 tournament, the first, matched three United States regional champions against the UK champion and thus could be argued as the first international tournament, true multinational international tournaments were first held in 1975.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 116.</ref> Both authors (Orbanes and Brandreth) agree that John Mair was the first true World Champion, as decided in tournament play held in [[Washington, D.C.]] days after the conclusion of the European Championship (which Mair had also won), in November 1975.<ref>{{cite book| last=Watson| first=Victor| title=The Waddingtons Story | page=85}}</ref>

By 1982, tournaments in the United States featured a competition between tournament winners in all 50 states, competing to become the United States Champion. National tournaments were held in the US and UK the year before World Championships through 2003–2004 but during the same year as of 2009 (see table, below). The determination of the US champion was changed for the 2003 tournament: winners of an [[Internet]]-based quiz challenge were selected to compete, rather than one state champion for each of the 50 states.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', p. 155.</ref> The tournaments are now typically held every six years. In the past, the US edition Monopoly board was used at the World championship level, while national variants are used at the national level.<ref>Brandreth. p. 187.</ref> Since true international play began in 1975, no World champion has come from the US, still considered the board game's "birthplace". However, Dana Terman, two-time US Champion, placed second at the 1980 World Championship, Richard Marinaccio, the 2009 US Champion, placed third at the 2009 World Championship, and Brian Valentine, the 2015 US Representative, placed third at the 2015 World Championship.

Nicolò Falcone of Italy defeated players from 27 countries plus the defending champion in the 2015 World Championship held at The Venetian resort in [[Macau]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monopolydocumentary.com/tournaments.htm|title=Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story – 2015 Monopoly Championship Info|author=Under the Boardwalk, LLC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monopolychamps.com/|title=Home – 2015 U.S. Monopoly Game Quiz}}</ref> A World Championship had been planned for 2021, but Hasbro has cancelled it due to the [[Coronavirus disease 2019|Coronavirus]] pandemic.

{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3|World Tournament locations and champions
|-
!Year!!Location!!Winner
|-
|1973
|[[Catskills]], [[New York (state)|New York]], US
|Lee Bayrd, United States<ref name="WorldTournaments">1973–1995 World Champions are listed in Philip Orbanes' ''Monopoly Companion'', second edition, p. 171.</ref>
|-
|1974
|New York City, [[New York (state)|New York]], US
|Alvin Aldridge, United States<ref name="WorldTournaments" /><ref name="sportsillustrated.cnn.com">{{cite news| url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1089543/index.htm | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130215181133/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1089543/index.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 15, 2013 | work=CNN | title=For Those Who Can't Get Enough Of Monopoly, Here Are 1) A Book For Novices And 2) A World Champion | date=24 February 1975}}</ref>
|-
|1975
|Washington, D.C., US
|John Mair, Ireland<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1977
|[[Monte Carlo]], [[Monaco]]
|Cheng Seng Kwa, Singapore<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1980
|[[Bermuda]]
|Cesare Bernabei, Italy<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1983
|[[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], [[Florida]], US
|Greg Jacobs, Australia<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1985
|[[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]], [[New Jersey]], US
|Jason Bunn, United Kingdom<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1988
|[[London]], England
|Ikuo Hyakuta, Japan<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1992
|[[Berlin]], Germany
|Joost van Orten, The Netherlands<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|1996
|Monte Carlo, Monaco
|[[Bat Wah Lau|Christopher Woo]], Hong Kong<ref name="WorldTournaments" />
|-
|2000
|[[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
|Yutaka Okada, Japan<ref>[http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/proprietary/wmc00report.html Information on the 2000] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907121031/http://msoworld.com/mindzine/news/proprietary/wmc00report.html |date=2006-09-07 }} World Monopoly Championship from Mind Sports Worldwide's MindZine.</ref>
|-
|2004
|[[Tokyo]], Japan (originally scheduled for Hong Kong)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070614145525/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/pl/page.tourney2003funfacts/dn/default.cfm 2003 U.S. Tournament] "Fun Facts" from hasbro.com via Internet Archive.</ref>
|Antonio Zafra Fernandez, Spain<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060719225233/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/pl/page.tokyo-winner/dn/default.cfm Press Release on] Hasbro.com naming the 2004 World Monopoly Champion via Internet Archive.</ref>
|-
|2009
|[[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], US
|Bjørn Halvard Knappskog, Norway<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly, Money, and You'', p. 150</ref>
|-
|2015
|[[Macau]]
|Nicolò Falcone, Italy<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/MonopolyDoc/status/641197353060462592|title=Under the Boardwalk|work=Twitter}}</ref>
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible"
! colspan=3|United States ''Monopoly'' Championship winners
|-
!Year!!Location!!Winner, Hometown
|-
|1973
|[[Catskills]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
|Lee Bayrd, [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners">1973–2003 US Champions are listed in Philip Orbanes's ''Monopoly Companion'', third edition, p. 169.</ref>
|-
|1974
|[[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
|Alvin Aldridge, [[Dayton]], [[Ohio]]<ref name="sportsillustrated.cnn.com"/><ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1975
|[[Atlantic City]], [[New Jersey]]
|A.E. "Gus" Gostomelsky, [[Skokie, Illinois|Skokie]], [[Illinois]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners" /><ref name="The Daily Reporter">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jQFHAAAAIBAJ&pg=1129%2C1809387|title=It's only a game|newspaper=The Daily Reporter|date=October 27, 1977}}</ref>
|-
|1977
|[[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
|Dana Terman, [[Wheaton, Maryland|Wheaton]], [[Maryland]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1979
|[[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
|Dana Terman, Wheaton, Maryland<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1982
|Washington, D.C.
|Jerome Dausman, Olney, Maryland<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1984
|[[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
|Jim Forbes<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1987
|Washington, D.C.
|Gary Peters, [[Boca Raton]], [[Florida]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1991
|[[New York City]], New York
|Gary Peters, Boca Raton, Florida<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1995
|[[New York City]], New York
|Roger Craig, [[Harrisburg, Illinois|Harrisburg]], [[Illinois]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|1999
|[[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]]
|Matt Gissel, [[St. Albans (town), Vermont|St. Albans]], [[Vermont]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|2003
|[[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]], [[New Jersey]]
|Matt McNally, [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]]<ref name="USTournamentWinners" />
|-
|2009
|Washington, D.C.
|Rick Marinaccio, [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[New York (state)|New York]]<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly, Money, and You'', p. 107</ref>
|-
|2015
|Online Selection Process
|Brian Valentine, [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monopolychamps.com/winners.php|title=USA Representative Chosen! – 2015 U.S. Monopoly Game Quiz}}</ref>
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible"
!colspan=2|Canada ''Monopoly'' Championship winners
|-
!Year!!Winner, Hometown
|-
|1975
|Susan Touchbourne, [[Toronto]]
|-
|1976
|Greg Henkel, [[Winnipeg]]
|-
|1977
|Greg Henkel, Winnipeg
|-
|1980
|David Brooks, [[Concord, Ontario|Concord]]
|-
|1983
|David Brooks, Concord
|-
|1985
|David Brooks, Concord
|-
|1988
|Cara Buffett, [[North Sydney, Nova Scotia|North Sydney]]
|-
|1992
|Jay Bleiweiss, Toronto
|-
|1995
|Bill Bartel, Winnipeg
|-
|2000
|Bill Bartel, Winnipeg
|-
|2004
|Leon Vandendooren, [[Edmonton]]
|-
|2009
|Will Lusby, [[Ottawa]]<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly, Money, and You'', p. 17</ref>
|-
|2015
|Andrea Cameron, [[Holland Landing]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1529605/canada-crowns-a-monopoly-champion|title=Canada Crowns a Monopoly Champion!|date=9 December 2015|access-date=2015-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701204913/http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1529605/canada-crowns-a-monopoly-champion|archive-date=2015-07-01|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|}

==Localizations, licenses, and spin-offs==
The original hand made editions of the ''Monopoly'' game had been localized for the cities or areas in which it was played, and Parker Brothers has continued this practice. Their version of ''Monopoly'' has been produced for international markets, with the place names being localized for cities including [[London]] and [[Paris]] and for countries including the [[Netherlands]] and Germany, among others. By 1982, Parker Brothers stated that the game "has been translated into over 15 languages...".<ref>Quotation from the inside cover of the game booklet included with the special Canadian Edition of ''Monopoly'', published in 1982.</ref> In 2009, Hasbro reported that ''Monopoly'' is officially published in 27 languages, and has been licensed by them in 81 countries.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/discover/history.cfm |title=Hasbro's Monopoly History and Fun Facts page |access-date=2010-01-02 |archive-date=2009-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810014137/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/discover/history.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2013, Hasbro stated that the game is now available in 43 languages and 111 countries.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131222162306/http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/discover/about.cfm ''Monopoly'' History] on hasbro.com.</ref>

[[File:Licensed and collectible US Monopoly sets.jpg|thumb|right|Licensed and special collectible editions of ''Monopoly'', produced for the United States market between 1997 and 2006]]
The game has also inspired official spin-offs, such as the board game ''[[Advance to Boardwalk]]'' from 1985. There have been six card games: ''[[Waterworks (card game)|Water Works]]'' from 1972, ''[[Free Parking]]'' from 1988, ''[[Express Monopoly]]'' from 1993, ''Monopoly: The Card Game'' from 1999, ''[[Monopoly Deal]]'' from 2008 and ''[[Monopoly Millionaire Deal]]'' from 2012. Finally, there have been two dice games: ''[[Don't Go to Jail]]'' from 1991 and an update, ''Monopoly Express'', (2006–2007). A second product line of games and licenses exists in ''[[Monopoly Junior]]'', first published in 1990. In the late 1980s, official editions of ''Monopoly'' appeared for the [[Master System]], [[Commodore 64]], and [[Commodore 128]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Orbanes, Philip E. | title=The Monopoly Companion | edition=First | publisher=Bob Adams, Inc. | year=1988 | isbn=1-55850-950-X | page=[https://archive.org/details/monopolycompanio0000orba/page/190 190] | url=https://archive.org/details/monopolycompanio0000orba/page/190 }}</ref> A [[Monopoly (game show)|television game show]], produced by [[King World Productions]], was attempted in the summer of 1990, but lasted for only 12 episodes. In 1991–1992, official versions appeared for the [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] [[Macintosh]] and Nintendo's [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]], [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]], and [[Game Boy]].<ref>[http://www.monopolycollector.com/zcollection.html#Computer List of electronic version release dates] on monopolycollector.com.</ref> In 1995, as [[Hasbro]] (which had taken over [[Kenner|Kenner Parker]] [[Tonka]] in 1991) was preparing to launch [[Hasbro Interactive]] as a new brand, they chose ''Monopoly'' and ''[[Trivial Pursuit]]'' to be their first two [[CD-ROM]] games.<ref>[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46080/0000046080-95-000014.txt U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] 10-Q Quarterly Report for Hasbro, filed November 15, 1995. A launch date of October 25, 1995 for Hasbro Interactive is given in the report.</ref> The Monopoly CD-ROM game also allowed for play over the Internet.<ref>[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46080/0000046080-96-000005.txt Hasbro Annual Report], filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 29, 1996.</ref> CD-ROM versions of the officially licensed ''[[Star Wars]]'' and [[1998 FIFA World Cup|FIFA World Cup '98]] editions also were released.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly Companion'' Second Edition. p. 185.</ref> Later CD-ROM exclusive spin-offs, ''Monopoly Casino'' and ''[[Monopoly Tycoon]]'', were also produced under license.

Various manufacturers of the game have created dozens of officially licensed versions, in which the names of the properties and other elements of the game are replaced by others according to the game's theme. The first such license was awarded in 1994, to the company that became USAopoly, starting with a San Diego edition of Monopoly and later including themes such as [[national park]]s, ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Star Wars]]'', [[Nintendo]], [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] characters, ''[[Pokémon]]'', ''[[Peanuts]]'', various particular cities (such as [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]] and [[New York City]]), states, colleges and universities, the [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]], [[NASCAR]], individual professional sports teams, and many others.<ref>[http://www.usaopoly.com/about-us USAopoly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702132838/http://usaopoly.com/about-us |date=2015-07-02 }} About Us page</ref> USAopoly also sells special corporate editions of ''Monopoly''.<ref>[http://www.usaopoly.com/about_us.php/#corporate USAopoly Corporate Sales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513033427/http://www.usaopoly.com/about_us.php#corporate |date=2007-05-13 }} information</ref> Official corporate editions have been produced for [[Best Buy]], the [[Boy Scouts of America]], [[Cornwell Tools|Cornwell Quality Tools]], [[FedEx]], [[Target Corporation|Target]], [[Marriott Corporation|Marriott]] and [[United Parcel Service|UPS]], among others.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pp. 203–204.</ref> In 1995, a second license was awarded to Winning Moves Games in Massachusetts.<ref>[http://winning-moves.com/about-us/ Winning Moves Games] About Us page</ref> Winning Moves has produced a new board game and card games based on ''Monopoly'' in the United States. Winning Moves also produces official localized editions of the game in the UK, France, Germany and Australia.<ref>[http://shop.winningmoves.co.uk/categorylist/monopoly/ Localized Monopoly Editions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207175948/http://shop.winningmoves.co.uk/categorylist/monopoly/ |date=2013-02-07 }} in the UK</ref><ref>[http://winningmoves.de/index.php?id=5 Localized Monopoly Editions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101200408/http://winningmoves.de/index.php?id=5 |date=2015-01-01 }} in Germany</ref><ref>[http://www.winningmoves.fr/produits.php?show=7 Localized Monopoly Editions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716150659/http://www.winningmoves.fr/produits.php?show=7 |date=2013-07-16 }} in France</ref><ref>[http://www.winningmoves.com.au/custom/?q=clients Client list] for localized/special ''Monopoly'' Editions in Australia</ref> The ''[[Doctor Who]] 50th Anniversary Edition Monopoly'' is a special case, having been originally produced by Winning Moves in the UK, and resold by USAopoly within the US.<ref>Game box and rules: ''Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Edition Monopoly'', published 2012 by USAopoly in the United States</ref> A third license was awarded in 2000 by Hasbro to Winning Solutions, Inc., which produces specialty deluxe editions mostly for sale by specialized retailers.<ref>[http://www.winningsolution.com/about/ Winning Solutions, Inc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308030847/http://www.winningsolution.com/about/ |date=2013-03-08 }} About Us page</ref> Other licensed localized editions of the game are being published in Nigeria and The Netherlands, among other locations.<ref>[http://www.ahmedia.nl/ Localized ''Monopoly'' Editions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117030001/http://www.ahmedia.nl/ |date=2016-01-17 }} in The Netherlands</ref><ref>[http://www.bestmangames.com/ Bestman Games' website] featuring the first "City Edition" of ''Monopoly'' for Africa: Lagos, Nigeria</ref>

When creating some of the modern licensed editions, such as the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' and [[The Powerpuff Girls]] editions of ''Monopoly'', Hasbro included special variant rules to be played in the theme of the licensed property. [[Infogrames]], which has published a CD-ROM edition of ''Monopoly'', also includes the selection of "house rules" as a possible variant of play. [[Electronic Arts]], which publishes current digital versions of the game, such as for the [[Wii]], also includes the selection of certain house rules.

Unofficial versions of the game, which share some of the same playing features, but also incorporate changes so as not to infringe on copyrights, have been created by firms such as [[Late for the Sky Production Company]] and Help on Board. These are done for smaller cities, sometimes as charity fundraisers, and some have been created for college and university campuses. Others have non-geographical themes such as Wine-opoly and Chocolate-opoly. There is also a version called ''Make Your Own -OPOLY'', which allows players to customize all the game equipment and rules.<ref>[http://www.tdcgames.com/MYO.htm Make Your Own -OPOLY, the first do it yourself board game.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221035526/http://www.tdcgames.com/MYO.htm |date=2006-02-21 }}</ref>

Before the creation of Hasbro Interactive, and after its later sale to [[Infogrames]], official computer and video game versions have been made available on many platforms. In addition to the versions listed above, they have been produced for [[Amiga]], [[BBC Micro]], [[Game Boy Advance]], [[Game Boy Color]], [[GameCube]], [[IBM compatible]]s, [[Nintendo 64]], [[PlayStation]], [[PlayStation 2]], [[Sega Genesis]], [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]], and [[Mobile game|mobile phones]]. A version for [[Windows CE]] was planned in 1999.<ref>[http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68329&p=irol-newsArticle_pf&ID=19764&highlight= Hasbro Interactive] Press Release dated January 7, 1999.</ref> A [[handheld electronic game]] was first released in 1998 that allowed for one human player against up to three player-selected or randomly chosen AI "personalities" out of five.<ref>[http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/MonopolyHandHeld.pdf Monopoly Handheld game instructions]</ref> A [[Nintendo DS]] release (along with ''[[Battleship (game)|Battleship]]'', ''[[Boggle]]'', and ''[[Yahtzee]]'') has been published (by Atari), as well as a stand-alone edition for the same console (by EA). In 2001, [[Stern (game company)|Stern]] released a [[pinball machine]] version of Monopoly, designed by [[Pat Lawlor]].<ref>[http://www.sternpinball.com/monopoly.shtml Monopoly Pinball page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909065008/http://www.sternpinball.com/monopoly.shtml |date=2006-09-09 }} at sternpinball.com.</ref>

===House rules and custom rules===
The official Parker Brothers rules and board remained largely unchanged from 1936 to 2008. [[Ralph Anspach]] argued against this during an on-air conversation with ''The Monopoly Book'' author [[Frank Brady (writer)|Maxine Brady]] in 1975, calling it an end to "steady progress" and an impediment to progress.<ref>Anspach, p. 303.</ref> Several authors who have written about the board game have noted many of the "house rules" that have become common among players, although they do not appear in Parker Brothers' rules sheets. [[Gyles Brandreth]] included a section titled "Monopoly Variations", [[Tim Moore (writer)|Tim Moore]] notes several such rules used in his household in his foreword, [[Philip Orbanes|Phil Orbanes]] included his own section of variations, and Maxine Brady noted a few in her preface.<ref>Brandreth, pp. 169–174.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Moore, Tim|title=Do Not Pass Go: From the Old Kent Road to Mayfair|publisher=Vintage UK, division of Random House|year=2002|isbn=0-09-943386-9|page=4|author-link=Tim Moore (writer)}}</ref><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly Companion'', Second Edition. pp. 140–142.</ref><ref>Brady, p. 10</ref> Authors Noel Gunther and Richard Hutton published ''Beyond Boardwalk and Park Place'' in 1986, as a guide, per the cover, "to making ''Monopoly'' fun again", by introducing new variations of rules and strategies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gunther |first1=Noel |last2=Hutton |first2=Richard |title=Beyond Boardwalk and Park Place |year=1986 |publisher=Bantam |isbn=0-553-34341-6}}</ref> R. Wayne Schmittberger, a former editor of ''Games'' magazine, acknowledged the work of Gunther and Hutton in his own 1992 guide ''New Rules for Classic Games'' (which includes several pages of Monopoly variations and suggestions that vary from the standard rules of the game).<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmittberger |first=R. Wayne |title=New Rules for Classic Games |year=1992 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |isbn=0-471-53621-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newrulesforclass00rway/page/4 4] |url=https://archive.org/details/newrulesforclass00rway/page/4 }}</ref>

==''Anti-Monopoly, Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group, Inc.'' court case 1976–1985==
Starting in 1974, Parker Brothers and its then corporate parent, [[General Mills]], attempted to suppress publication of a game called ''[[Anti-Monopoly]]'', designed by [[San Francisco State University]] economics professor [[Ralph Anspach]] and first published the previous year.<ref name="harpers_blog" /> Anspach began to research the game's history, and argued that the copyrights and trademarks held by Parker Brothers should be nullified, as the game came out of the public domain. Among other things, Anspach discovered the empty 1933 Charles B. Darrow file at the United States Copyright Office, testimony from the ''Inflation'' game case that was settled out of court, and letters from Knapp Electric challenging Parker Brothers over ''Monopoly''. As the case went to trial in November 1976, Anspach produced testimony by many involved with the early development of the game, including Catherine and Willard Allphin, Dorothea Raiford and Charles Todd. Willard Allphin attempted to sell a version of the game to [[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]] in 1931, and published an article about the game's early history in the UK in 1975.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', page 121.</ref> Raiford had helped Ruth Hoskins produce the early Atlantic City games.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', page 122.</ref> Even Daniel Layman was interviewed, and Darrow's widow was deposed.<ref>Anspach, ''The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle'', pages 104–106 and pages 134–135.</ref><ref>[http://landlordsgame.info/articles/Anspach-Collection-Description.pdf The Anspach Archives Collection] description. A list of letters and court depositions used in the ''Anti-Monopoly'' case is given on pages 4-19.</ref> The presiding judge, Spencer Williams, originally ruled for Parker Brothers/General Mills in 1977, allowing the Monopoly trademark to stand, and allowing the companies to destroy copies of Anspach's ''Anti-Monopoly''.<ref name="wsj_anti" /><ref>Anspach, ''The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle'', page 249.</ref> Anspach appealed.

In December 1979, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals]] ruled in favor of Professor Anspach, with an opinion that agreed with the facts about the game's history and differed from Parker Brothers' "official" account.<ref name="1979appeals">{{cite court |date=1979-12-20 |litigants=Anti-Monopoly, Inc. v. General Mills Fun Group, Inc. |vol=611 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=296 |court=[[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th Cir.]] |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4422552636781130392&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr }}</ref>  The court also upheld a "purchasing motivation" test (described in the decision as a "Genericness Doctrine"), a "test by which the trademark was valid only if consumers, when they asked for a ''Monopoly'' game, meant that they wanted Parker Brothers' version...".<ref name="1979appeals" /><ref name="GMakers2">Orbanes, ''The Game Makers''. Page 170.</ref> This had the effect of potentially nullifying the ''Monopoly'' trademark, and the court returned the case to Judge Williams.<ref name="1979appeals" /> Williams heard the case again in 1980, and in 1981 he again held for Parker Brothers.<ref>{{cite court |date=1981-05-11 |litigants=Anti-Monopoly, Inc. v. General Mills Fun Group, Inc. |vol=515 |reporter=F.Supp. |opinion=448 |court=[[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|N.D. Cal.]] |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6982729427036642805&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr }}</ref><ref>Anspach, pages 269–271.</ref> Anspach appealed again, and in August 1982 the appeals court again reversed.<ref name="1982appeals">{{cite court |date=1982-08-26 |litigants=Anti-Monopoly, Inc. v. General Mills Fun Group, Inc. |vol=684 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=1316 |court=[[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th Cir.]] |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6564033480042498040&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr}}</ref><ref>Anspach, page 273.</ref> The case was then appealed by General Mills/Parker Brothers to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]], which decided not to hear the case in February 1983, and denied a petition for rehearing in April.<ref>Anspach, page 286.</ref> This allowed the appeals court's decision to stand and further allowed Anspach to resume publication of his game.<ref>[http://www.antimonopoly.com/excerpt_court_ruling_original.htm Partial scan of the United States Supreme Court decision] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005100752/http://www.antimonopoly.com/excerpt_court_ruling_original.htm |date=2006-10-05 }} to not hear the ''Anti-Monopoly, Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group, Inc.'' case.</ref><ref>Parlett, page 354.</ref>

With the trademark nullified, the name "Monopoly" entered the public domain, where the naming of games was concerned, and a profusion of non-Parker-Brothers variants were published. Parker Brothers and other firms lobbied the [[United States Congress]] and obtained a revision of the trademark laws.<ref name="GMakers2" /><ref name="USLaw">See H.R. 4460, and S. 1440, United States Congress, First Session, 1983, H.R. 6285 and S. 1990, 98th United States Congress, Second Session, 1984. This was signed into Public Law 98-620, by [[Ronald Reagan]] on November 8, 1984.</ref><ref>[http://www.sji.gov/PDF/SJI_Authorization.pdf Text of] the "Trademark Clarification Act of 1984" [PDF].</ref> The case was finally settled in 1985, with ''Monopoly'' remaining a valid trademark of Parker Brothers, and Anspach assigning the ''Anti-Monopoly'' trademark to the company but retaining the ability to use it under license.<ref name="wsj_anti" /><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pages 120–125.</ref> Anspach received compensation for court costs and the destroyed copies of his game, as well as unspecified damages. He was allowed to resume publication with a legal disclaimer.<ref>Anspach, page 301</ref> Anspach later self-published a book about his research and legal fights with General Mills, Kenner Parker Toys, and Hasbro.

===Legal status===
Parker Brothers/Hasbro now claims trademark rights to the name and its variants, and has asserted it against others such as the publishers of ''[[Ghettopoly]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seattlemedium.com/racially-insensitive-game-finds-new-home-on-amazon/ |title=Racially Insensitive Game Finds New Home On Amazon |last=Bennett |first=Chris B. |work=Seattle Medium |date=13 March 2013 |access-date=2 Jan 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.districtchronicles.com/news/view.php/423983/Racially-insensitive-game-finds-new-home |title=Racially Insensitive Game Finds New Home On Amazon |last=Bennett |first=Chris B. |work=District Chronicles |access-date=2 Jan 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122024928/http://www.districtchronicles.com/news/view.php/423983/Racially-insensitive-game-finds-new-home |archive-date=22 January 2016 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Professor Anspach assigned the ''Anti-Monopoly'' trademark back to Parker Brothers, and Hasbro now owns it.<ref name="wsj_anti" /> Anspach's game remains in print. The previous publishers were a company called Talicor,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wafreepress.org/36/court.html |title=Go to Court, Go Directly to Court |last=Collins |first=Doug |date=November–December 1998 |issue=36 |work=Washington Free Press |access-date=28 May 2013}}</ref> but the game is currently distributed and sold by University Games worldwide.<ref>[http://www.universitygames.com/ugitem.asp?itemno=01851&brand=UG University Games] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929135038/http://www.universitygames.com/ugitem.asp?itemno=01851&brand=UG |date=2007-09-29 }} USA website, ''Anti-Monopoly'' page</ref><ref>[http://www.universitygames.nl/theme/anti-monopoly University Games website]; ''Anti-Monopoly'' page</ref>

Various patents have existed on the game of ''Monopoly'' and its predecessors, such as ''The Landlord's Game'', but all have now expired. The specific graphics of the game board, cards, and pieces are protected by [[United States copyright law|copyright law]] and trademark law, as is the specific wording of the game's rules.

==''Monopoly'' as a brand==
[[File:Monopoly logo T-shirt and model cars.jpg|thumb|Twelve [[Johnny Lightning]] model cars bearing ''Monopoly'' artwork, and a 13th game token, resting on a ''Monopoly'' T-shirt]]
Parker Brothers created a few accessories and licensed a few products shortly after it began publishing the game in 1935. These included a money pad and the first stock exchange add-on in 1936, a birthday card, and a song by [[Charles Tobias]] (lyrics) and John Jacob Loeb (music).<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', Appendix II, page 199</ref><ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', photo insert page 29.</ref> At the conclusion of the ''Anti-Monopoly'' case, Kenner Parker Toys began to seek trademarks on the design elements of Monopoly. It was at this time that the game's main logo was redesigned to feature "[[Rich Uncle Pennybags]]" (now "Mr. Monopoly") reaching out from the second "O" in the word Monopoly.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pages 136–137.</ref> To commemorate the game's 50th anniversary in 1985, the company commissioned artist Lou Brooks to redesign and illustrate the main logo as a red street sign-like banner, as well as the character Rich Uncle Pennybags reaching out of the "O". Brooks was also hired at the time to develop and illustrate the game's special "Commemorative Edition" embossed tin box packaging. The art was also carried over onto the more traditional cardboard game box which was revised for the anniversary.<ref>''American Showcase Volume 9'' (1986) p. 281. New York. {{ISBN|0-931144-36-1}}.</ref><ref>Texas Monthly, Contributors, November 2008.</ref>

All items stamped with the red MONOPOLY logo also feature the word "Brand" in small print. In the mid-1980s, after the success of the first "collector's tin anniversary edition" (for the 50th anniversary), an edition of the game was produced by the [[Franklin Mint]], the first edition to be published outside Parker Brothers. At about the same time, McDonald's started its first [[McDonald's Monopoly|''Monopoly'' game promotions]], considered the company's most successful, which continue to the present.<ref>Orbanes, ''Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game'', pages 135–136.</ref> The twentieth such promotion was sponsored in 2012.<ref>[http://www.playatmcd.com/Inactive ''McDonald's Monopoly'' 2012 page] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130509044500/http://www.playatmcd.com/Inactive |date=2013-05-09 }} - note the 20th Edition logo.</ref>

In recent years, the ''Monopoly'' brand has been licensed onto a line of [[slot machine]]s built by [[WMS Gaming]] (first introduced in 1998, six models had been made by 2000, and over 20 by 2005).<ref>[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46080/0000950123-98-008585.txt U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 8-K Filing] dated September 28, 1998</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20130630163059/http://ir.wms.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=76037&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=450557&highlight= WMS Press Release] for a renewal of the license to produce Monopoly-themed slot machines, dated September 16, 2003</ref><ref>[http://ir.wms.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=76037&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=752666&highlight= WMS Press Release] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130630170734/http://ir.wms.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=76037&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=752666&highlight= |date=2013-06-30 }} dated September 6, 2005, citing "over 20 titles of MONOPOLY-branded games".</ref> The slots were named "Most Innovative Gaming Product in 1999 and voted "most popular" in 2001.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WMS+Gaming%27s+MONOPOLY+Slot+Machines+Named+1999%27s+Most+Innovative...-a053568253 Business Wire Press Release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305042333/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WMS+Gaming%27s+MONOPOLY+Slot+Machines+Named+1999%27s+Most+Innovative...-a053568253 |date=2016-03-05 }}, dated January 14, 1999, archived at The Free Library</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20130630161220/http://ir.wms.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=76037&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=187089&highlight= WMS Press Release] dated June 28, 2001, with results from ''Casino Player Magazine''.</ref> The brand has also been licensed onto instant-win [[lottery]] tickets, and lines of 1:64 scale [[model car]]s produced by [[Johnny Lightning]], which also included collectible game tokens.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061022062009/http://www.illinoislottery.com/PicknPlay/PNP5.htm Illinois Lottery's] "Pick and Play" US$5 MONOPOLY lottery tickets via Internet Archive</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929180734/http://www.ohiolottery.com/games/instants/GameDetails.aspx?Id=494 Ohio Lottery] Monopoly US$2 Instant Game via Internet Archive</ref> Other licenses have been issued for clothing and accessories, including a line of bathroom accessories.<ref>[http://www.canada-shops.com/Stores/michaelrodents/c223682.2.html Monopoly Bathroom Accessories] on Canada-shops.com</ref> Licensee Winning Moves Games also had a Monopoly Calculator that could be used as a standard calculator, or used to aid in transactions during a game.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/FEATURE%2FU.S.+MONOPOLY+Champ+Uses+MONOPOLY+Calculator+to+Train+for...-a057433260 Monopoly Calculator] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305025820/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/FEATURE%2FU.S.+MONOPOLY+Champ+Uses+MONOPOLY+Calculator+to+Train+for...-a057433260 |date=2016-03-05 }} 1999 press release.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of London Monopoly locations|List of London ''Monopoly'' locations]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

===Official sites===
* [http://www.monopoly.com The official U.S. ''Monopoly'' web site]
* [http://www.monopoly.co.uk The official UK ''Monopoly'' web site]
* {{Facebook|Monopoly|Monopoly}}

===History===
* {{US patent|748626}} – Patent for the first version of ''The Landlord's Game'', Issued on Jan 5, 1904
* {{US patent|1509312}} – Patent for the second version of ''The Landlord's Game'', Issued on Sep 23, 1924
* {{US patent|2026082}} – Patent awarded to C.B. Darrow for ''Monopoly'' on December 31, 1935
* [http://landlordsgame.info/ The History of ''The Landlord's Game''] and ''Monopoly''.
* [http://www.worldofmonopoly.com/index.php History of ''Monopoly'' at World of Monopoly]
* [http://sundown-farm-and-ranch.com/album/vintage%20monopoly%20games/index.shtml Online photo album] of many historical U.S. ''Monopoly'' sets, from Charles Darrow's sets through the 1950s from the Fernandez Collection Sundown Farm and Ranch
* [http://monopoly.cdbpdx.com/ Another online photo album] of early Parker Brothers and Waddington sets, in 1935–1954.
* [http://www.MonopolyDocumentary.com ''Under the Boardwalk – The MONOPOLY Story''] (2010) – Documentary film includes detailing the early history of the game with interviews including Phil Orbanes, Randolph Barton, Victor Watson, and Charles Darrow II.
* “[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/ruthless-monopolys-secret-history/ Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History],” ''PBS-American Experience,'' aired February 20, 2023 .

{{Monopoly}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Board Game Monopoly}}
[[Category:Monopoly (game)]]
[[Category:History of board games|Monopoly]]
{{DISPLAYTITLE:History of ''Monopoly''}}

[[de:Monopoly#Entstehung]]