Monopoly Mastermind: Charles B. Darrow

Monopoly Mastermind: Charles B. Darrow — page 1 — Chapter 1 A Play Sensation Anyone can be a millionaire for a day All it takes is a game of Monopoly Monopoly is the most popular board game in the world It is played in more than one hundred countries But how did one board game become a worldwide sensation It is partly thanks to the resourcefulness and determination of a man named Charles B Darrow Charles was born in Maryland on August 10 1889 He was an only child Soon after Charles was born the Darrows moved to Pennsylvania There his father worked as a civil engineer Little is known about Charles’s childhood As a young adult he took several classes at the University of Pennsylvania But he never graduated Darrow joined the military during World War I After the war ended in 1918 he worked as a heating engineer Around this time Darrow married a woman named Esther Darrow and Esther settled down in Germantown Pennsylvania Many people believe that’s where Monopoly 4

Monopoly Mastermind: Charles B. Darrow — page 2 — Monopoly is popular with people of all ages especially families all around the world was first created But that is not entirely true The board game actually began in Virginia with a woman named Elizabeth Magie 5

Monopoly Mastermind: Charles B. Darrow — page 3 — Chapter 2 The Landlord’s Game Elizabeth Magie was a busy independent woman She worked as a secretary and an actress She was also a writer and inventor Magie felt that greedy landlords were ruining the economy She supported the tax reforms proposed by economist Henry George George believed people should be taxed based on the value of the land they owned This way wealthy landlords would pay higher taxes than laborers Magie thought a board game would be a fun way to teach people about 6 Henry George’s 1879 book Progress and Poverty and other writings inspired Magie’s interest in economics

Monopoly Mastermind: Charles B. Darrow — page 4 — George’s tax theory In 1903 she created The Landlord’s Game The board had nine spaces on each side The spaces represented properties Players rolled dice and moved pieces around the board A player who landed on an unowned property could purchase it If the property was already owned he or she had to pay rent to the owner Magie hoped the game would show people how greed hurt others Magie tried to sell The Landlord’s Game to the Parker Brothers game company But Parker Brothers thought it was too confusing And the company didn’t think a game about business would sell well So Magie found a company in New York that helped her publish the game herself fun fact Magie owned her own home and didn’t marry until she was 44 years old This was very unusual for a woman in the early 1900s 7

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