''The Landlord's Game'' is a
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
patented in 1904 by
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 ...
as . It is a
realty
In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...
and
taxation
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...
game intended to educate users about
Georgism
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
. It is the inspiration for the 1935 board game ''
Monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
''.
History
In 1902 to 1903, Magie designed the game
and play tested it in
Arden, Delaware
Arden, officially the Village of Arden, is a village and art colony in New Castle County, Delaware, United States, founded in 1900 as a radical Georgist single-tax community by sculptor Frank Stephens and architect Will Price. The village occup ...
.
The game was created to be a "practical demonstration of the present system of
land grabbing
Land grabbing is the contentious issue of large-scale land acquisitions: the buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and transnational companies, governments, and individuals.
While used broadly throughout history, land grabbing as ...
with all its usual outcomes and consequences". She based the game on the economic principles of
Georgism
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
, a system proposed by
Henry George
Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...
, with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich
property owner
In property law, title is an intangible construct representing a bundle of rights in (to) a piece of property in which a party may own either a legal interest or equitable interest. The rights in the bundle may be separated and held by different ...
s and impoverish tenants. She knew that some people could find it hard to understand why this happened and what might be done about it, and she thought that if Georgist ideas were put into the concrete form of a game, they might be easier to demonstrate. Magie also hoped that when played by children the game would provoke their natural suspicion of unfairness, and that they might carry this awareness into adulthood.
["The Landlord's Game", in ''The Single Tax Review'', Autumn 1902, via]
/ref>
''The Landlord's Game'' has some similarities to the basic rules of the board game ''Zohn Ahl
Zohn Ahl ("creek" "wood") is a roll-and-move board game played by the Kiowa Indians of North America. It is often cited as a typical representative of many similar Native American games. It is often equated (or possibly confounded) with Tsoñä (" ...
'', played by the Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
Indians of North America. There are hints that suggest Elizabeth Magie might have known ''Zohn Ahl'' and incorporated some of the game's ideas.
In 1903, Magie filed for a patent on the game[ which was granted in 1904.] Magie and fellow Georgists formed a company, Economic Game Company, in 1906 New York to publish the game.[ Besides Magie, the incorporators were E. H. Monroe of Chicago and E. G. Lenbusher of New York. Magie approached ]Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
to publish this and one other game in 1909. The other game was accepted while ''Landlord's'' was rejected as too complicated.[p. 21.]
In the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
''The Landlord's Game'' was first published in 1913 by the Newbie Game Company, formed by a Liberal Committee from the village of Newbie in Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
, under the title ''Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit''; although, despite the title change, it was recognizably the same game.[ ''Landlord'' sold well in the Northeast amongst its left-wing intellectuals,][ while ''Brer'' was unsuccessful.]
Scott Nearing
Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, pacifist, vegetarian and advocate of simple living.
Biography
Early years
Nearing was born in Morris Run, Tioga County, ...
, socialist professor of economics at Wharton School of Finance
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...
from 1906 to 1915, lived in Arden in 1910, where Magie invented the game, learned about the game and taught it to his students.[ College students made up their own boards to use with her rules.][ Various versions of the game popped up over the following years under a variety of names, ''Monopoly'', ''Finance'', and ''Auction'' being among them. Among the ]Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
and Philadelphia communities of Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
, the game was particularly popular with college students and economics professors. Jesse and Eugene Raiford, Quakers in Atlantic City, used household items instead of pawns and changed the properties to those of Atlantic City.[
With Magie's first patent having expired, in 1923, Magie decided to attempt to regain control by applying for another patent.][p. 31.] On September 23, 1924, a second patent was issued to Magie for ''The Landlord's Game''. Adgame Company (Inc.) published ''Landlord's Game and Prosperity'' under this patent in 1932.[Appendix III: p. 201.]
Robert Baron had Parker Brothers design its own version, ''Fortune'', before negotiation to purchase her patents in case the discussion fell apart or she sold to another potential buyer, Dave Knapp, publisher of ''Finance''.[pp. 77–78.] Magie held the patent until 1935, when she sold it to Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...
for $500.. The company had recently started distributing ''Monopoly'', which it purchased from Charles Darrow
Charles Brace Darrow (August 10, 1889 – August 28, 1967) was an American board game designer who is credited as the inventor of the board game Monopoly. Although the original idea for the game came from Lizzie Magie's '' The Landlord's Game'', ...
who claimed to have invented it.[ The company only printed a very small run of the game to secure the copyright. Surviving copies of ''The Landlord's Game'' by Parker Brothers are considered by many the rarest of all 20th century board games. Parker Brothers pushed her game aside for Darrow's by 1936. Magie then did two interviews showcasing copies of the original board with '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and ''The Evening Star'' to show that Darrow was not the inventor of the game.[
In 1937, ''Carnival'' was published based on the 1904 version. Parker Brothers published their edition of the game in 1939.][
In a 2004 episode of ]PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
' ''History Detectives
''History Detectives'' is a documentary television series on Public Broadcasting Service, PBS. It features investigations made by members of a small team of researchers to identify and/or authenticate items which may have historical significance or ...
'' (title: "Monopoly; Japanese Internment Camp Artwork; The Lewis and Clark Cane"), the show investigated a game board belonging to a Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
man, having an intermediate version of a game combining elements of ''The Landlord's Game'' and ''Monopoly''. The investigators concluded that this game board was the missing link that proves that ''Monopoly'' was derived from ''The Landlord's Game''.[
In 2019, game designer Tom Forsyth produced a replica version of the game through his company yourPlay. The replica went on to sell 500 copies in 2020. As of 2021, yourPlay is planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign to produce a larger number of copies.
]
Description
The set had rules for two different games, anti-monopolist and Monopolist. The anti-monopolist rules reward all players during wealth creation, whereas the monopolist rules incentivize forming monopolies and forcing opponents out of the game.[ In the anti-monopolist or Single Tax version (later called "Prosperity"), the game is won when the player with the least money doubles their original stake.][
The board featured a track around the outside edge of the board split into blocks representing properties and had their purchase price, and their rental value listed in the block. New York City's Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Wall Street were the top properties in price and rent. The published game included ]Chance cards
''Monopoly'' is a multi-player economics-themed board game. In the game, players roll two dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents, a ...
with quotes attributed to Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
and Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
.[
From the 1904 patented version to the published 1906 version, the property names were changed and the rule for increased rent for multiple railroads owned was added.][p. 22.]
Patents
The game's first patent was the first issued for a game while claiming four features in the application, the most important feature was a continuous path game. At the time, most games had a start and end spot.[pp. 9–10.] With the first patent having expired in 1921, Magie applied for another patent with five new claims.
The claims of Magie's second patent could not include those of the first (now in the public domain) and leaned more towards the single tax theory of play. One common misconception is that Parker Brothers acquired the rights to Magie's original invention of ''Monopoly'' play and the unique design by purchasing the later 1924 patent. Parker Brothers acquired Magie's patent to ''The Landlord's Game'' but although both patents had the same name they covered different claims. The substitution or confusion of the early patent for the latter is still commonplace.[Anspach/Hoskins Archives]
See also
* Bertell Ollman's ''Class Struggle''
References
:
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
''Monopoly'' Game History, ''Landlord's Game'' History
*
The Straight Dope: Was Monopoly originally meant to teach people about the evils of capitalism?
* and – Patents for the first and second version of ''The Landlord's Game''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landlords Game, The
Board games introduced in 1904
History of board games
Monopoly (game)
Economic simulation board games
Georgism
Works about landlords
Social justice board games