Fact and Fiction of American Invention

Fact and Fiction of American Invention — page 3

Fact and Fiction of American Invention — page 4 — CHAPTER ONE WHO THOUGHT OF IT FIRST The popular board game Monopoly has been around for decades Players rush to buy up as much property as possible Then they charge rent to other players who land on each property One popular story about Monopoly's invention says that the idea for the game came from a man named Charles Darrow He had the idea while unemployed Many people assumed that Darrow was dreaming of financial success But today people know more about the story Charles Darrow retired as a millionaire one year after selling Monopoly to Parker Brothers

Fact and Fiction of American Invention — page 5 — PERSPECTIVES In 1934 Darrow sent his idea for the game to Parker Brothers This company DEFENDING AN IDEA In 1868 Margaret Knight invented a machine that would give paper bags flat bottoms Then they would not tip over A man named Charles Annan tried to steal Knight's idea He filed a patent for the invention But Knight sued him and won She went on to file more than 20 patents in her lifetime Ryan P Smith wrote an article for Smithsonian Magazine about Knight's fight for recognition In it he said No doubt many female inventors of the early 1900s and later were spurred on by Knight's courageous example was a successful toy company It bought the rights to Monopoly from Darrow in 1935 But the company also paid a woman named Elizabeth Magie She had patented a remarkably similar game in 1904 She called her invention the Landlord's Game Magie thought that monopolies were bad for society If a few people owned too much real estate they could charge an unreasonable amount of rent She created her game

Fact and Fiction of American Invention — page 6 — Elizabeth Magie may have spent more money creating and patenting the Landlord's Game than she earned from it to point out that monopolies take away competition Competition keeps costs reasonable Magie's game taught this with two sets of rules One was against monopolies and one was for them Magie played the Landlord's Game with her family and friends They then shared it with others The game spread

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