''Anti-Monopoly'' is a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor

Ralph Anspach Ralph Anspach (15 March 1926 – March 2022) was a German-born American economics professor and games creator from San Francisco State University. Anspach was a graduate of the University of Chicago and fought with the Mahal in 1948 in support o ...

in response to '' Monopoly''. The idea of an anti-monopoly board game dates to 1903 and the original Monopoly created by

Lizzie Magie Elizabeth J. Magie Phillips (''née'' Magie; May 9, 1866 – March 2, 1948) was an American Game design#Game designer, game designer, writer, feminist, and georgism, Georgist. She invented ''The Landlord's Game'', the precursor to ''Monopoly (game ...

Background and history

Anspach created ''Anti-Monopoly'' in part as a response to the lessons taught by the mainstream game, which he believed created the impression that monopolies were something desirable. His intent was to demonstrate how harmful monopolies could be to a free-enterprise system, and how

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

laws work to curtail them in the real world. The game was originally to be produced in 1973 as ''Bust the Trust'', but the title was changed to ''Anti-Monopoly''. It has seen multiple printings and revisions since 1973. In 1984, a new version appeared as ''Anti-Monopoly II''; this version was updated and re-released in 2005 without the numerical designation. The game is currently still in print, and is produced and distributed worldwide by University Games.

Gameplay

The original ''Anti-Monopoly'' game begins with the board in a monopolised state, effectively the result of a completed ''Monopoly'' game. Instead of real estate and public utilities, properties in ''Anti-Monopoly'' are individual businesses that have been brought under single ownership. Players take the role of federal case workers bringing indictments against each monopolised business in an attempt to return the state of the board to a free market system. In ''Anti-Monopoly II'' individual players choose to play either by monopolist or competitor rules at the beginning of the game. This version plays more like the actual ''Monopoly'' game in that it is based on the buying and selling of real estate. Among other differences, competitors charge lower rents and can improve any property they own at any time, while monopolists must own at least two properties in a group before building houses on them and charge much higher rents.

Trademark lawsuit

In 1974, Parker Brothers sued Anspach over the use of the "''Monopoly''" name, claiming trademark infringement. While preparing his legal defense, Anspach became aware of ''Monopoly''s history prior to Charles Darrow's sale of the game to Parker in 1935, and how it had evolved from

Elizabeth Magie Elizabeth J. Magie Phillips (''née'' Magie; May 9, 1866 – March 2, 1948) was an American game designer, writer, feminist, and Georgist. She invented '' The Landlord's Game'', the precursor to ''Monopoly'', to illustrate teachings of the progre ...

's original '' Landlord's Game'' into the version Darrow appropriated. Anspach based his defense on the grounds that the game itself existed in effectively the public domain before Parker purchased it, and therefore Parker's trademark claim on it should be nullified. The case dragged on for ten years, with numerous appeals and overturned judicial verdicts, until Anspach and Parker ultimately reached a settlement, permitting him to continue using the name ''Anti-Monopoly'' and distributing the game. For a time during the dispute, the game was marketed as simply "Anti."

Related games

* ''Syndrome'', a similar game in that it inverts the objective of ''Monopoly'' but with the aim of giving away money and property, was described by science fiction author

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

in his short story " War Game".

Selchow and Righter Selchow and Righter was a 19th- and 20th-century game manufacturer best known for the games ''Parcheesi'' and ''Scrabble''. It was based in Bay Shore, New York. It dates back to 1867 when it was founded as E. G. Selchow & Co. In 1880, to reflec ...

published the game as ''Go for Broke'' in 1965. * ''

Class Struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

'', a board game based on Marxism, created by Bertell OllmanPlocek, Keith
"The Story of Class Struggle, America's Most Popular Marxist Board Game,"
''Mental Floss'' (Aug. 12, 2014). * In Germany, where the original game was and still is very popular, two more versions of ''Anti-Monopoly'' were created and popular in the late 1970s and 1980s: ''Provopoli - Wem gehört die Stadt'' ("To whom the city belongs"), where squatters take over parts of the town, and ''Ökopoli'' ("Ecopoly") where the objective is to take over the town from polluters.

References

External links