Love it or hate it, Monopoly is hands down one of the most iconic board games in existence. This elaborate, often long, game of taking ownership and buying as much as you can was very much a reflection of actual monopolizing in the society it was created in.
Monopoly is commonly known to be invented by Charles Darrow in the 1930s. Until recent years, this seemed to be the case. But recently it was discovered that Elizabeth Magie, a progressive individual, created a game called The Landlord’s Game, which was the actual first known version of the Monopoly we know today.
It was meant to originally point out the immorality of Monopoly, particularly reflecting on Monopolists of those times like Carnegie and Rockefeller. The Monopoly we know now is exactly what it wasn’t originally meant to be:
The elitists taking control of territories and business.
But, looking past that, Monopoly is now the most popular family board game and has grown into multiple versions. With today’s monopoly games you can find pretty much any theme you can think of, from Dog-opoly, Horse-opoly, Seinfield-opoly, etc.
UNT Media Library has various kinds of Monopoly games, including a card game version, a junior version, and Monopoly for the wii! So, Happy National Play Monopoly Day folks! Get your game on.
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