Monopoly

Monopoly
Monopoly is an American-originated board game published by Parker Brothers. Subtitled "The Fast-Dealing Property Trading Game", the game is named after the economic concept of monopoly —the domination of a market by a single entity. It is currently published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro. Players move around the game board buying or trading property, developing theirproperties with houses and hotels, and collecting rent from their opponents.
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History
Further information: History of the board game Monopoly
The history of Monopoly can be traced back to 1903, when an American woman named Elizabeth (Lizzie) J. Magie Phillips created a game through which she hoped to be able to explain the single tax theoryof Henry George (it was intended to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies). Her game, The Landlord's Game, was self-published, beginning in 1906. A series of variant board games based on her concept were developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. By 1934, a board game called Monopoly had beencreated which formed the basis of the game sold by Parker Brothers, beginning in 1935. Several people, mostly in the Midwestern United States and near the East Coast, contributed to the game's design and evolution. But by the 1970s, the idea that the game had been created solely by Charles Darrowhad become popular folklore: it was printed in the game's instructions and even in the 1974 book TheMonopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game by Maxine Brady.
In 1936, Parker Brothers began licensing the game for sale outside of the United States. In 1941, the British Secret Intelligence Servicehad John Waddington Ltd., the licensed manufacturer of the game in the United Kingdom, create a special edition for World War IIprisoners of war held by the Nazis.[4] Hiddeninside these games were maps, compasses, real money, and other objects useful for escaping. They were distributed to prisoners by Secret Service-created fake charity groups.
Economics professor Ralph Anspach published a game Anti-Monopoly in 1973, and was sued for trademark infringement by Parker Brothers in 1974. The case went to trial in 1976. Anspach won on appeals in 1979, as the 9th DistrictCourt determined that the trademark Monopoly was generic, and therefore unenforceable. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case, allowing the appellate court ruling to stand. This decision was overturned by the passage of Public Law 98-620 in 1984. With that law in place, Parker Brothers and its parent companies (currently Hasbro) continue to hold valid trademarks for thegame Monopoly.
A new wave of licensed products began in 1994, when Hasbro granted a license to USAopoly to begin publishing a San Diego Edition of Monopoly, which has since been followed by over a hundred more.[8] Other licensees include Winning Moves Games (since 1995) in the United States, UK, France, Germany and Australia, AH Media in The Netherlands, and Bestman Games in Nigeria.-------------------------------------------------
[edit]Board
The Monopoly game board consists of forty spaces containing twenty-eight properties (twenty-two colored streets, four railway stations and two utilities), three Chance spaces, three Community Chest spaces, a Luxury Tax space, an Income Tax space, and the four corner squares: GO, (In) Jail/Just Visiting, Free Parking, and Go to Jail.
[edit]US versionsThere have been some changes to the board since the original: the colors of Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues (which changed from purple to brown), the colors of the GO square (which changed from red to black), the adoption of a flat $200 Income Tax (formerly the player's choice of $200 or 10% of their total holdings, which they may not calculate until after making their decision), and...