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♪ ♪

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00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,566
♪ ♪

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00:00:23,566 --> 00:00:26,566
(dice thudding)

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00:00:36,100 --> 00:00:38,233
PATRICK JAGODA:
We played on vacation,
and it never ended well.

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00:00:38,233 --> 00:00:40,433
I mean, it would always end in a
fight.

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It was either somebody
was cheating.

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These weren't the rules, right?

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00:00:44,866 --> 00:00:46,933
There were always house rules
that we were applying.

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So it was a very intense series
of games growing up.

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MARY PILON:
We always played Monopoly at
Christmas Eve.

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That was our family tradition,
still is.

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As a kid, it wasn't just
exciting

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to win at a game, but also
seeing my brother

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get destroyed.

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As the little sister,

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it was, like, a very exciting
feeling,

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if I had to be honest
about it.

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It's America's game, right?

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It's all of our game.

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It's the games of our childhood.

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ERIC ZIMMERMAN:
But there's a dark side, too.

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It's not all,

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you know, rainbows and,
and unicorns.

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It's a cut-throat game:
"I only win when you lose."

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(dice clattering)

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BRYANT SIMON:
In America, we've created

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a myth that capitalists like
competition,

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but no capitalist
wants competition.

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What all companies want is
monopoly.

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JAGODA:
This story about Monopoly is
filled with ironies.

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I mean, this is one of the
things

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that makes it so compelling.

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It's not just the twists and
turns,

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but the fact that it is a
game about capitalism

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that was created to teach people
about

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something completely different.

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KATE RAWORTH:
The dynamics written into the
rules of this game

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were never intended to be the
rules.

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It should come with
a health warning,

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like a packet of
cigarettes.

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"You are playing
a twisted version of this game."

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TOM FORSYTH:
It was supposed to be a
critique of capitalism,

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and it turned out to be a
celebration of it.

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RAWORTH:
And so it's a story that teaches
us:

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compete, acquire, be ruthless,

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and you will go on to conquer
the world.

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It's monopoly through
and through.

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(kids talking in background)

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Read the instructions.

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Pass me the instructions.

51
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Uh, what piece do you guys want
to be?
Okay.

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I'll be car.
I wanna be the hat.

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You're the banker?

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I want to be the banker.
Okay.

55
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So, how much money do we give
out?

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I think, like, $500.
Yeah, $500.

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No, "two of each, 500s."

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Everybody gets two 500s.

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That's a lot of money.
That's so weird.

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And six 20s.

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Okay, this is a lot of money.
I know!

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My goal in life is to win
and beat you all.

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Wow.

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(dice clattering)

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♪ ♪

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PILON:
Once upon a time, in the
great Great Depression,

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there's this man named Charles
Darrow.

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He's unemployed, as are
millions of Americans.

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He has this big light bulb
moment, this big eureka moment,

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and out comes Monopoly.

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He's told no one will buy this
game.

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It's a game about property and
money at a time

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when Americans
are so desperately lacking

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in exactly those things.

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But undeterred, he ultimately
ends up at Parker Brothers.

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They decide to sell the game,
it becomes

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a massive bestseller,

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and it saves him

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and Parker Brothers from the
brink of destruction.

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(laughs):
Everybody lives
happily ever after.

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There's just one problem with
that story,

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and it's that it's not true.

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SINGERS (on radio):
♪ KNBR, 68, it's San Francisco ♪

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RADIO HOST:
24 until 11:00...

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PILON:
In the early 1970s,
Ralph Anspach

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is an economics professor

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at San Francisco State
University.

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Ralph is an impassioned
anti-monopolist.

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He thinks that monopolies
are at the root

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of all that is wrong in
this country

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and create power imbalances.

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His ideas aren't getting across,

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and he's frustrated,

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because at this point, the OPEC
oil cartels

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are dominating headlines.

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(car horns honking)

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TRISTAN DONOVAN:
OPEC, the Arab oil monopoly,

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controls the oil supply.

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They've just hiked up prices,

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there are queues at the petrol
pumps,

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the economy is in tatters.

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It's a crisis, an absolute
crisis in 1973.

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6:00 tomorrow,
we'll be open again.

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Ralph believed that monopolies

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were one of the major forces

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holding back the optimal version

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of American capitalism.

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And so what better way to teach
people

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about those complex systems than
having them play

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and experience a board game?

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INTERVIEWER:
Ralph, tell me about

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the board game that you
invented,

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and how did it come about?

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ANSPACH:
It was a very hot day,
chaos on the roads.

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It took me about four hours

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rather than one hour to get
home.

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And when I finally got, sat down
at the dinner table,

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I was X-rated cussing out the
oil monopolists.

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And suddenly my eight-year-old
son says,

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"Dad, you are a really
poor loser."

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I said, "Why, William?

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Why am I a poor loser?"

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He said, "Yesterday, we played
Monopoly,

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"I won the game, and now
you're such a poor loser,

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you're attacking my victory."

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I tried to explain to them, "You
shouldn't take it personal."

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And I started looking for a game

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that would show the
anti-monopoly side.

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Unfortunately, there was no such
game.

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I began to think about
that, and that's what happened.

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I invented Anti-Monopoly.

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♪ ♪

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PILON:
Anti-Monopoly becomes a
hit in the Bay Area.

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It's sold at local stores.

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00:06:12,766 --> 00:06:15,466
Patty Hearst reportedly plays a
version of the game.

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And it becomes kind of this
counter-cultural icon.

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ANSPACH:
The point of Anti-Monopoly

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was to retain all
the fun of Monopoly,

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but at the same time,
make it very clear

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that the monopolists are the bad
guys when they play.

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Anti-Monopoly has a message.

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Monopolies are not a nice thing
in capitalism.

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It's the dark
underside of capitalism.

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DONOVAN:
Anti-Monopoly is there to
basically turn the tables

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00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:48,366
on the Parker Brothers game.

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Instead of
trying to build a monopoly,

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you try to break them up.

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There'll be steel monopolies to
smash,

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oil monopolies to smash.

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So, you know, it was about
busting

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these giant corporations.

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PILON:
Anti-Monopoly takes off,

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it starts selling,
all over the country,

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00:07:04,666 --> 00:07:08,700
and it looks like it's going to
be a huge hit.

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And then one day,

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Ralph receives a letter.

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00:07:12,166 --> 00:07:15,400
It is from attorneys who
represent General Mills,

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which at that point owned
Parker Brothers, and they say,

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"You cannot sell Anti-Monopoly--
you are infringing

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upon our right to sell
our game."

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ANSPACH:
The letter said,

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"Take the game off the market
immediately,

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00:07:26,133 --> 00:07:29,600
"destroy all games you have,
and also,

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"we want you to put an ad in
newspapers

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00:07:32,433 --> 00:07:35,966
saying that you're
sorry that you attacked us,"

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00:07:35,966 --> 00:07:38,166
and so on and so forth--
that's how it began.

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It was enough to frighten
anybody out of their wits,

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but I get mad about things like
that,

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when some big company
attacks a little guy

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00:07:46,766 --> 00:07:51,933
for what I consider to be
no valid reason.

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So, I got ready to fight.

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PILON:
Ralph's a very cause-driven
guy,

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and I think some of that's
from his childhood.

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Ralph was born in the city of
Danzig.

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He was Jewish.

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Somewhere around the age of 12,
his family moved

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to New York to
escape the coming Nazi threat.

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00:08:10,966 --> 00:08:12,933
PILON:
He's a scrappy kid

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00:08:12,933 --> 00:08:16,600
in New York City,
he doesn't know the language.

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And then works his way through
school,

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eventually to getting his
doctorate.

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DONOVAN:
I think this gave him a
kind of attitude

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00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,366
of, "I need to
stand up to bullies."

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You know, if someone was trying

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00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,233
to push him into a corner,
he's gonna hit back.

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We've sold a half a million
Anti-Monopolies,

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and not a single consumer

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00:08:32,533 --> 00:08:34,433
has complained to us or to
Parker Brothers.

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00:08:34,433 --> 00:08:36,466
REPORTER:
Complained about confusion,
you mean?

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00:08:36,466 --> 00:08:38,066
That's right, not a single
person claimed

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00:08:38,066 --> 00:08:39,833
that they had bought
Anti-Monopoly and they thought

192
00:08:39,833 --> 00:08:42,800
it was a General Mills game
or something like that.

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00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:47,233
PILON:
Now he lawyers up and he
serves a counterpunch.

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00:08:47,233 --> 00:08:51,233
He actually sues Parker Brothers
first,

195
00:08:51,233 --> 00:08:54,600
so that way, he can claim
jurisdiction in California.

196
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,366
Part of Ralph's strategy

197
00:08:56,366 --> 00:09:00,000
is to prove that the Monopoly
trademark is dubious.

198
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,533
So Ralph is on a mission

199
00:09:01,533 --> 00:09:04,200
to piece together Monopoly's
early history,

200
00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,433
trying to find out what happened
with the game

201
00:09:06,433 --> 00:09:10,966
before Parker Brothers started
to sell it.

202
00:09:10,966 --> 00:09:12,333
FORSYTH:
And then one day,

203
00:09:12,333 --> 00:09:14,566
Ralph is working at home, and
his son Mark

204
00:09:14,566 --> 00:09:16,066
comes running into his office,
and he said,

205
00:09:16,066 --> 00:09:18,233
"Dad, Dad, there's this book
I've been reading

206
00:09:18,233 --> 00:09:22,533
"and it says that Monopoly was
invented by a woman.

207
00:09:22,533 --> 00:09:24,700
This woman Lizzie Magie."

208
00:09:24,700 --> 00:09:25,900
And Ralph is, like,

209
00:09:25,900 --> 00:09:27,833
"Wait, who's Lizzie Magie?"

210
00:09:27,833 --> 00:09:30,833
♪ ♪

211
00:09:33,333 --> 00:09:37,666
PILON:
Elizabeth Magie was born
in 1866 in Macomb, Illinois.

212
00:09:38,900 --> 00:09:40,666
Her family was very political.

213
00:09:40,666 --> 00:09:43,866
Her father was a very
influential newspaper owner.

214
00:09:43,866 --> 00:09:47,200
He was one of the early founders
of the Republican Party.

215
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:49,033
He had traveled with Abraham
Lincoln

216
00:09:49,033 --> 00:09:51,166
during the Stephen Douglas
debates.

217
00:09:51,166 --> 00:09:53,533
She was exposed to a lot of big
ideas.

218
00:09:54,900 --> 00:09:58,533
And at a time when women were
not afforded many opportunities

219
00:09:58,533 --> 00:10:00,166
to be in the public space,

220
00:10:00,166 --> 00:10:02,166
she took every single one that
she could.

221
00:10:03,166 --> 00:10:04,633
She was an actress,

222
00:10:04,633 --> 00:10:08,000
she was politically very active.

223
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,100
She is a writer, and
she produced plays,

224
00:10:10,100 --> 00:10:11,666
and she also invented

225
00:10:11,666 --> 00:10:13,466
 
a way for typewriters
(typewriter keys clacking)

226
00:10:13,466 --> 00:10:16,966
to move paper more efficiently.
(carriage slides)

227
00:10:16,966 --> 00:10:20,500
JAGODA:
I think of Lizzie Magie as a
performance artist in some ways.

228
00:10:21,566 --> 00:10:24,533
I'm serious, I mean, how do you,
how do you classify her, right?

229
00:10:24,533 --> 00:10:26,566
I mean, she's an engineer,

230
00:10:26,566 --> 00:10:27,933
she's a poet,

231
00:10:27,933 --> 00:10:30,700
she's a writer,
she's an activist,

232
00:10:30,700 --> 00:10:33,600
she's a staunch feminist.

233
00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,766
SPARROW:
She is doing all of these things
that

234
00:10:35,766 --> 00:10:38,466
a lot of women in that time were
not

235
00:10:38,466 --> 00:10:41,200
allowed to do, or able to do.

236
00:10:43,333 --> 00:10:45,500
She was really pushing
boundaries.

237
00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:50,033
♪ ♪

238
00:10:52,066 --> 00:10:54,166
JAGODA:
In 1906, she's living in Chicago

239
00:10:54,166 --> 00:10:56,633
and she puts out a newspaper ad

240
00:10:56,633 --> 00:10:58,966
describing herself as

241
00:10:58,966 --> 00:11:02,200
a young woman American slave.

242
00:11:04,566 --> 00:11:08,366
The idea is that she's selling
herself to the highest bidder,

243
00:11:08,366 --> 00:11:11,633
and to her dismay, people
actually put forward offers.

244
00:11:11,633 --> 00:11:15,866
But the idea of this is
completely performance art.

245
00:11:15,866 --> 00:11:17,000
And so she tried to show

246
00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,700
how poorly women are paid
relative to men,

247
00:11:19,700 --> 00:11:21,466
and how difficult it is in
particular

248
00:11:21,466 --> 00:11:24,266
to be an unmarried woman in
America.

249
00:11:27,333 --> 00:11:28,700
RAWORTH:
She was a social rebel

250
00:11:28,700 --> 00:11:30,166
on many fronts,

251
00:11:30,166 --> 00:11:34,600
and she used shocking
performance and play

252
00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:39,800
 
to throw counter-intuitive ideas
into society.

253
00:11:41,033 --> 00:11:45,066
PHIL ORBANES:
During the Gilded Age,
in the 1890s or early 1900s,

254
00:11:45,066 --> 00:11:48,200
when capitalism was highly
unregulated,

255
00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,500
if you had a dominant position
in the marketplace,

256
00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:53,700
you could dictate price
and availability.

257
00:11:53,700 --> 00:11:57,266
 
These big industrialist
millionaires

258
00:11:57,266 --> 00:12:00,200
dominated industries in the
U.S.,

259
00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,200
and they became monopolists in
their field.

260
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,666
ORBANES:
And so people who had it made,
the wealthy,

261
00:12:06,666 --> 00:12:10,466
employed lots of servants,
had lavish homes,

262
00:12:10,466 --> 00:12:13,933
and everybody
else struggled to get by.

263
00:12:13,933 --> 00:12:16,266
JAGODA:
Lizzie Magie, even in the early
20th century

264
00:12:16,266 --> 00:12:17,700
before the Great Depression,

265
00:12:17,700 --> 00:12:20,200
is seeing poverty
and inequality everywhere.

266
00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,500
And so much of that poverty is
organized around land monopoly:

267
00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:27,000
the idea of people being able to
own land

268
00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:31,933
and extract immense amounts of
profits from the working class.

269
00:12:33,966 --> 00:12:37,100
PILON:
Lizzie Magie sees this
income inequality,

270
00:12:37,100 --> 00:12:39,766
the rich getting richer
and the poor getting poorer,

271
00:12:39,766 --> 00:12:42,466
and she becomes an impassioned
follower of Henry George.

272
00:12:44,533 --> 00:12:47,766
Henry George was a hugely
influential public speaker

273
00:12:47,766 --> 00:12:49,800
and thinker of his time.

274
00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:51,766
He published a book called
"Progress and Poverty"

275
00:12:51,766 --> 00:12:54,366
that was a massive, massive
bestseller.

276
00:12:54,366 --> 00:12:55,900
There's an estimate that as many

277
00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:58,033
as five million of his books

278
00:12:58,033 --> 00:13:00,466
are sold during his lifetime.

279
00:13:00,466 --> 00:13:02,200
PILON:
He was really interested in

280
00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,000
land, landlords,
property ownership,

281
00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:05,966
and how should that be taxed.

282
00:13:05,966 --> 00:13:08,900
ENGLAND:
George, like many people before
and after him, say,

283
00:13:08,900 --> 00:13:11,200
"Land's not something anyone's
ever made.

284
00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,733
It's a gift of God,
and it belongs to all of us."

285
00:13:15,733 --> 00:13:18,400
You know, we think of the
American dream as owning a home.

286
00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:20,166
Well, it was back in the 1890s,

287
00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:21,733
but it was out of the reach of
most people.

288
00:13:21,733 --> 00:13:23,300
They had to rent.

289
00:13:23,300 --> 00:13:26,833
And the landlord, according
to Henry George, was the devil.

290
00:13:26,833 --> 00:13:30,700
ENGLAND:
He sees rent and growing
property values

291
00:13:30,700 --> 00:13:33,900
as a source of inequality.

292
00:13:33,900 --> 00:13:35,500
His solution is

293
00:13:35,500 --> 00:13:38,933
what his supporters eventually
call the single tax.

294
00:13:38,933 --> 00:13:40,566
The single tax.
The single tax.

295
00:13:40,566 --> 00:13:41,933
The single tax.

296
00:13:41,933 --> 00:13:44,500
 
This is the Georgeist idea

297
00:13:44,500 --> 00:13:47,633
that you would tax land at such
a high level

298
00:13:47,633 --> 00:13:49,433
that it would essentially be
communal,

299
00:13:49,433 --> 00:13:51,266
and nothing else would
have to be taxed.

300
00:13:51,266 --> 00:13:54,133
For George, this wasn't, like,
an anti-capitalist statement.

301
00:13:54,133 --> 00:13:56,366
This was,
this was more about fairness.

302
00:13:56,366 --> 00:13:58,200
This was more about leveling the
playing field.

303
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,200
(hissing)

304
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,133
RAWORTH:
Lizzie Magie wanted to
make Henry George's point clear.

305
00:14:05,133 --> 00:14:07,700
Not everybody's going to read a
political tract.

306
00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:10,200
She had a genius idea.

307
00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:13,433
She wanted to make it visible
through the dynamics of a game.

308
00:14:13,433 --> 00:14:16,166
♪ ♪

309
00:14:16,166 --> 00:14:20,100
JAGODA:
In 1904, Lizzie Magie receives
the patents,

310
00:14:20,100 --> 00:14:23,366
the first patent by a woman for
a board game in U.S. history,

311
00:14:23,366 --> 00:14:26,100
for The Landlord's Game.

312
00:14:26,100 --> 00:14:27,633
RAWORTH:
The Landlord's Game is making

313
00:14:27,633 --> 00:14:30,266
a piercing political point
and with humor.

314
00:14:30,266 --> 00:14:33,333
So she's got
Lord Blueblood's estate.

315
00:14:33,333 --> 00:14:35,900
"No trespassing,
go to jail."

316
00:14:35,900 --> 00:14:37,300
We've got a poorhouse,

317
00:14:37,300 --> 00:14:38,933
Beggarman's Court,

318
00:14:38,933 --> 00:14:40,633
Gee Whiz Railroad,

319
00:14:40,633 --> 00:14:42,300
Slambang Trolley.

320
00:14:42,300 --> 00:14:46,733
"Labor upon Mother Earth
produces wages."

321
00:14:46,733 --> 00:14:48,233
One of the interesting things

322
00:14:48,233 --> 00:14:50,166
about The Landlord's Game

323
00:14:50,166 --> 00:14:52,600
is that it, it has
two sets of rules.

324
00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,500
 
One was to show how
evil monopolies were.

325
00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:58,400
And in this version, players
would compete

326
00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,200
to be the last person standing,
just like present-day Monopoly.

327
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,300
But she introduced, along with
it, a second set of rules.

328
00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:07,533
Instead of paying rent to the
landlord

329
00:15:07,533 --> 00:15:08,933
whose property you've
just landed on,

330
00:15:08,933 --> 00:15:11,066
the rent actually goes into the
public treasury,

331
00:15:11,066 --> 00:15:13,100
reinvested in the community

332
00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:14,800
to create more public goods,

333
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,500
public utilities,
public education, and of course,

334
00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:18,633
this changes everything.

335
00:15:18,633 --> 00:15:20,400
It perhaps de-emphasized

336
00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:22,300
our traditional pleasures--

337
00:15:22,300 --> 00:15:24,966
dominating other players,
coming out ahead,

338
00:15:24,966 --> 00:15:27,166
being the winner-- in favor of

339
00:15:27,166 --> 00:15:30,633
critical points
about how economy

340
00:15:30,633 --> 00:15:32,733
and, and the social
fabric is structured,

341
00:15:32,733 --> 00:15:33,966
and might be structured
differently.

342
00:15:37,266 --> 00:15:39,733
JAGODA:
I get why Elizabeth Magie would
have wanted

343
00:15:39,733 --> 00:15:42,066
to make The Landlord's Game to
teach people

344
00:15:42,066 --> 00:15:43,666
about the single tax.

345
00:15:43,666 --> 00:15:46,900
Because games are such a
powerful way

346
00:15:46,900 --> 00:15:50,266
of internalizing a new set
of rules, of practicing it,

347
00:15:50,266 --> 00:15:53,000
of experiencing it in a hands-on
fashion.

348
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,166
One, two, three,
four, five,

349
00:15:55,166 --> 00:15:57,366
six, seven, eight--
what's that?

350
00:15:57,366 --> 00:15:58,800
St. Charles Place.

351
00:15:58,800 --> 00:15:59,966
I own it.

352
00:15:59,966 --> 00:16:01,200
JAGODA:
When we play a game,

353
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:02,800
we sit down for a couple of
hours

354
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,366
and we enter into a
different kind of narrative,

355
00:16:05,366 --> 00:16:08,600
a different set of roles,
a different series of rules.

356
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:10,866
LINDSAY GRACE:
The whole idea in playing
a game

357
00:16:10,866 --> 00:16:13,066
is that you get to experiment
with things

358
00:16:13,066 --> 00:16:15,700
you may not get to experiment
without cost.

359
00:16:15,700 --> 00:16:17,966
 
"You've been elected chairman of
the board.

360
00:16:17,966 --> 00:16:20,000
Pay each player $50"?

361
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,333
(others cheer)
Good Lord!

362
00:16:22,333 --> 00:16:23,533
ZIMMERMAN:
That's what play is.

363
00:16:23,533 --> 00:16:26,566
Play is playing with these
structures.

364
00:16:26,566 --> 00:16:29,400
It's not just what happens on
the board with the pieces.

365
00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,500
It's in the players' heads
and in the social space

366
00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:35,100
that kind of ties them all
together as they play.

367
00:16:35,100 --> 00:16:37,000
You need another 100.

368
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,100
No, I, I already gave you
the other 100.

369
00:16:39,100 --> 00:16:42,466
I, I had, I had two 100s,
and then I gave him one,

370
00:16:42,466 --> 00:16:44,333
and then I was, like,
realized I owed three,

371
00:16:44,333 --> 00:16:46,800
so I gave him a 500,
and he gave me $100 back,

372
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,433
and that's $400.

373
00:16:48,433 --> 00:16:50,366
Here, I passed go.

374
00:16:50,366 --> 00:16:53,433
ZIMMERMAN:
That relationship to
me is incredibly powerful,

375
00:16:53,433 --> 00:16:56,300
that we enter into the system of
rules,

376
00:16:56,300 --> 00:16:58,733
but then what results is this
experience

377
00:16:58,733 --> 00:17:02,533
that's sort of wildly creative
and, and social and chaotic,

378
00:17:02,533 --> 00:17:04,966
and that's the emotional
experience of play.

379
00:17:04,966 --> 00:17:06,366
No!

380
00:17:06,366 --> 00:17:07,700
CHILD:
Oh, my God, chill!

381
00:17:07,700 --> 00:17:10,433
That was so terrible!

382
00:17:10,433 --> 00:17:13,466
ZIMMERMAN:
And I think that Lizzie Magie,
like many game designers,

383
00:17:13,466 --> 00:17:15,700
recognized the sense of power
a board game

384
00:17:15,700 --> 00:17:18,300
can have on its audience.

385
00:17:18,300 --> 00:17:22,000
♪ ♪

386
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,033
PILON:
The Monopoly board is an
iconic image

387
00:17:25,033 --> 00:17:26,766
and its design is universal.

388
00:17:26,766 --> 00:17:28,566
And when you look at Lizzie
Magie's Landlord's Game,

389
00:17:28,566 --> 00:17:31,666
you see the origins of Monopoly
in it.

390
00:17:31,666 --> 00:17:34,533
And one of the first things that
Ralph Anspach finds

391
00:17:34,533 --> 00:17:36,533
when he starts to research who
Lizzie Magie was

392
00:17:36,533 --> 00:17:39,266
is her 1904 patent.

393
00:17:39,266 --> 00:17:42,366
This discovery completely
changes Ralph's case,

394
00:17:42,366 --> 00:17:45,700
and he can start to work from
that 1904 date

395
00:17:45,700 --> 00:17:47,366
and see, where did this game go?

396
00:17:47,366 --> 00:17:49,533
And that kind of starts the
detective story

397
00:17:49,533 --> 00:17:52,100
that ends up taking over a lot
of Ralph's life.

398
00:17:56,066 --> 00:17:58,600
ANSPACH:
The whole thing became
a little suspicious,

399
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,366
but I got even angrier thinking,

400
00:18:01,366 --> 00:18:06,533
here's these guys who seem
to have stolen this game

401
00:18:06,533 --> 00:18:10,000
and they're attacking me,

402
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,833
when I invented my game.

403
00:18:13,833 --> 00:18:16,966
And my game was, you know,

404
00:18:16,966 --> 00:18:20,600
was different from their game,
and yet they're coming after me.

405
00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,300
PILON:
Ralph is undeterred.

406
00:18:23,300 --> 00:18:25,666
He knows that Lizzie Magie had a
patent

407
00:18:25,666 --> 00:18:27,366
for her Landlord's Game in 1904

408
00:18:27,366 --> 00:18:30,000
and had one renewed in 1924.

409
00:18:31,066 --> 00:18:33,700
So how Charles Darrow was able
to go in in 1935

410
00:18:33,700 --> 00:18:36,200
and get a patent for Monopoly

411
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,700
with his name on it is
mysterious.

412
00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:43,733
♪ ♪

413
00:18:46,333 --> 00:18:47,933
Ralph and his lawyers put
out ads

414
00:18:47,933 --> 00:18:50,966
trying to find people who can
testify in his case

415
00:18:50,966 --> 00:18:55,133
that they played Monopoly prior
to 1935.

416
00:18:55,133 --> 00:18:57,433
He's hoping to discover how
Lizzie Magie's

417
00:18:57,433 --> 00:19:00,633
Landlord's Game transformed into
the game that we know today.

418
00:19:00,633 --> 00:19:02,933
And this has him
traveling all over the country

419
00:19:02,933 --> 00:19:05,533
and talking to all sorts of
people.

420
00:19:05,533 --> 00:19:10,566
♪ ♪

421
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,500
(airplane engine roars)

422
00:19:15,500 --> 00:19:17,566
He goes into people's homes,

423
00:19:17,566 --> 00:19:19,766
and they start pulling these
boards out of their closets.

424
00:19:19,766 --> 00:19:21,933
They hoist them up.

425
00:19:21,933 --> 00:19:24,100
This is
critical evidence for him.

426
00:19:25,166 --> 00:19:29,100
♪ ♪

427
00:19:36,566 --> 00:19:38,766
ANSPACH:
When I uncovered the folk game,

428
00:19:38,766 --> 00:19:41,633
the people that were playing on
homemade boards and so on,

429
00:19:41,633 --> 00:19:45,233
I thought that that was enough
to win the lawsuit,

430
00:19:45,233 --> 00:19:48,733
but my lawyer said, "Hey, Ralph,
you're not there yet,

431
00:19:48,733 --> 00:19:53,533
"because nobody seems to know

432
00:19:53,533 --> 00:19:56,400
"where Parker Brothers' Monopoly
came from.

433
00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:00,766
"So maybe Darrow did invent it
from scratch, you never know.

434
00:20:00,766 --> 00:20:03,933
Sometimes that happens,
they're parallel inventions."

435
00:20:03,933 --> 00:20:08,733
So, I had one more hurdle
to overcome:

436
00:20:08,733 --> 00:20:12,333
where does Parker Brothers',
Darrow's Monopoly come from?

437
00:20:12,333 --> 00:20:15,666
♪ ♪

438
00:20:19,666 --> 00:20:24,466
♪ ♪

439
00:20:24,466 --> 00:20:26,266
DONOVAN:
Until the 1800s,

440
00:20:26,266 --> 00:20:28,500
pretty much all board games were
folk games,

441
00:20:28,500 --> 00:20:30,766
you know, people just passed
them down.

442
00:20:30,766 --> 00:20:34,133
No one owned them, anyone could
do what they like with them,

443
00:20:34,133 --> 00:20:36,233
just like folk music.

444
00:20:36,233 --> 00:20:39,966
♪ ♪

445
00:20:42,433 --> 00:20:45,166
That started to change in the
19th century,

446
00:20:45,166 --> 00:20:48,366
when you have box-packaged,
mass-produced games.

447
00:20:48,366 --> 00:20:50,333
And Monopoly, in a way,

448
00:20:50,333 --> 00:20:51,633
was the very last folk game.

449
00:20:51,633 --> 00:20:55,066
♪ ♪

450
00:20:55,066 --> 00:20:58,066
FORSYTH:
Shortly after inventing
The Landlord's Game,

451
00:20:58,066 --> 00:20:59,566
Lizzie Magie is starting to
share it,

452
00:20:59,566 --> 00:21:01,300
and some of the people
she's sharing it with

453
00:21:01,300 --> 00:21:02,566
are single taxers.

454
00:21:02,566 --> 00:21:04,633
PILON:
One of them is Scott Nearing,

455
00:21:04,633 --> 00:21:07,200
this economics professor at the
University of Pennsylvania,

456
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,866
and the game starts spreading on
college campuses.

457
00:21:10,866 --> 00:21:12,500
DONOVAN:
And people started copying it
and sharing it.

458
00:21:12,500 --> 00:21:14,300
No one is really
sure where it came from,

459
00:21:14,300 --> 00:21:16,166
no one remembers the name,

460
00:21:16,166 --> 00:21:18,033
so they call it names
like Monopoly,

461
00:21:18,033 --> 00:21:20,366
or Finance, or Business.

462
00:21:20,366 --> 00:21:23,033
PILON:
A few people actually market

463
00:21:23,033 --> 00:21:24,533
their versions of the game
in places like Fort Worth

464
00:21:24,533 --> 00:21:26,233
and Indianapolis,

465
00:21:26,233 --> 00:21:27,900
and the folk game continues to
spread,

466
00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:32,666
from one community to the next,
up and down the East Coast.

467
00:21:32,666 --> 00:21:34,300
DONOVAN:
As it gets spread around,

468
00:21:34,300 --> 00:21:37,400
people adapt it to reflect
their own interests.

469
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,566
One of the first things that
gets lost

470
00:21:39,566 --> 00:21:41,966
is Magie's kind
of single tax rules.

471
00:21:41,966 --> 00:21:44,366
In the single tax version of
the game,

472
00:21:44,366 --> 00:21:47,000
again, you got to
remember this was not Monopoly,

473
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,633
it was the opposite.

474
00:21:48,633 --> 00:21:51,433
It was about not putting wealth
in one person,

475
00:21:51,433 --> 00:21:53,300
but putting it in
the entire community.

476
00:21:53,300 --> 00:21:56,166
It was boring, of course,
to players,

477
00:21:56,166 --> 00:21:58,700
because players, when you play a
game, you want to win.

478
00:21:58,700 --> 00:22:02,233
And so Lizzie's rules for
single tax, Georgeist-type play

479
00:22:02,233 --> 00:22:04,233
just didn't really catch on.

480
00:22:04,233 --> 00:22:06,266
DONOVAN:
But the game is spreading,

481
00:22:06,266 --> 00:22:09,300
people keep changing the rules
around to suit themselves.

482
00:22:09,300 --> 00:22:12,333
And so it actually spent 30
years evolving,

483
00:22:12,333 --> 00:22:14,833
just like folk games used to do.

484
00:22:14,833 --> 00:22:16,100
Eventually,

485
00:22:16,100 --> 00:22:19,400
a Quaker teacher
moves to Atlantic City

486
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:24,200
and she introduces it to the
local Quaker community there.

487
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,800
(riders cheerfully screaming)

488
00:22:30,300 --> 00:22:31,800
PILON:
In the late 1920s,

489
00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,900
the Quakers in Atlantic City
were playing the folk game.

490
00:22:35,033 --> 00:22:38,700
So they put Atlantic City
properties onto the game board.

491
00:22:38,700 --> 00:22:41,166
♪ ♪

492
00:22:41,166 --> 00:22:43,933
Atlantic City was a very
segregated city at that point,

493
00:22:43,933 --> 00:22:48,033
and the Quakers
reflected that, too.

494
00:22:48,033 --> 00:22:50,466
SIMON:
Looking at the Monopoly board,

495
00:22:50,466 --> 00:22:52,366
the first two properties
you confront,

496
00:22:52,366 --> 00:22:54,533
Baltic and Mediterranean,

497
00:22:54,533 --> 00:22:58,533
which was the segregated Black
part of town.

498
00:22:58,533 --> 00:23:00,600
And perhaps it's not surprising.

499
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:04,166
Those are the cheapest
properties on the board.

500
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:08,500
Go to the light blue properties.

501
00:23:08,500 --> 00:23:10,966
Oriental Avenue, for instance,

502
00:23:10,966 --> 00:23:14,166
was an area of relatively modest

503
00:23:14,166 --> 00:23:15,800
rooming houses.

504
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,466
Many of them were

505
00:23:17,466 --> 00:23:20,933
places patronized by
lower-middle-class Jews.

506
00:23:23,833 --> 00:23:25,933
But then as you turn the board,

507
00:23:25,933 --> 00:23:28,566
and you get to the yellow
properties,

508
00:23:28,566 --> 00:23:30,866
and the green properties,

509
00:23:30,866 --> 00:23:33,500
those were always more
established,

510
00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:37,166
more residential, wealthier
parts of town.

511
00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:42,666
And then the highest end in
Atlantic City is the Boardwalk.

512
00:23:42,666 --> 00:23:45,600
Here's where first- and second-
generation immigrants

513
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,800
came to show off they'd made it
in America

514
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,300
by having a Black man
push them down the Boardwalk.

515
00:23:55,233 --> 00:23:57,100
We've believed this kind of
illusion

516
00:23:57,100 --> 00:23:59,433
that segregation was a
Southern phenomenon,

517
00:23:59,433 --> 00:24:01,366
but Atlantic City is really a
reflection

518
00:24:01,366 --> 00:24:03,100
of the larger nation,

519
00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:09,200
and Park Place and the Boardwalk
are perfect examples of it.

520
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:10,766
PILON:
The changes that the Atlantic
City

521
00:24:10,766 --> 00:24:12,466
Quaker community make
to the board,

522
00:24:12,466 --> 00:24:14,066
they're also creating,
inadvertently,

523
00:24:14,066 --> 00:24:16,333
this snapshot of race and class

524
00:24:16,333 --> 00:24:19,500
in one of America's most popular
vacation destinations

525
00:24:19,500 --> 00:24:21,533
in the 1920s.

526
00:24:23,233 --> 00:24:24,966
Ultimately, as Ralph discovers

527
00:24:24,966 --> 00:24:28,066
this Atlantic City version
of Monopoly,

528
00:24:28,066 --> 00:24:30,066
he realizes there is no way

529
00:24:30,066 --> 00:24:33,233
that Charles Darrow invented
this game.

530
00:24:33,233 --> 00:24:35,866
I got a lot of people who
played the game before,

531
00:24:35,866 --> 00:24:39,866
but no hint of the missing link

532
00:24:39,866 --> 00:24:41,566
between the folk game

533
00:24:41,566 --> 00:24:45,666
and, uh, Parker Brothers'
Monopoly.

534
00:24:45,666 --> 00:24:48,533
PILON:
Finally, one of these early
players says,

535
00:24:48,533 --> 00:24:49,900
"You know who you really need to
talk to

536
00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:51,966
is Charles and Olive Todd."

537
00:24:51,966 --> 00:24:53,866
ANSPACH:
A certain Charles Todd.

538
00:24:53,866 --> 00:24:56,866
He was the one who introduced a
game

539
00:24:56,866 --> 00:25:01,266
that was developed by
Atlantic City Quakers.

540
00:25:01,266 --> 00:25:03,733
He introduced it to
Charles Darrow.

541
00:25:03,733 --> 00:25:06,900
So I wandered down to
Augusta, Georgia,

542
00:25:06,900 --> 00:25:09,833
and I met Charles Todd

543
00:25:09,833 --> 00:25:12,266
and his wife.

544
00:25:12,266 --> 00:25:15,133
And they told me that something
very peculiar happened,

545
00:25:15,133 --> 00:25:19,966
because they said the Darrows
were real pains in the neck.

546
00:25:19,966 --> 00:25:22,900
♪ ♪

547
00:25:22,900 --> 00:25:24,900
PILON:
One evening in the early 1930s,

548
00:25:24,900 --> 00:25:27,133
the Todds invite Charles and
Esther Darrow

549
00:25:27,133 --> 00:25:30,466
to their home for dinner,
and at this point,

550
00:25:30,466 --> 00:25:32,366
people would make their own
boards at home,

551
00:25:32,366 --> 00:25:34,033
and you would have a Monopoly
night.

552
00:25:34,033 --> 00:25:36,466
DONOVAN:
The Todds introduce the
Darrows to this game

553
00:25:36,466 --> 00:25:40,133
they know called Monopoly,
and the Darrows love it.

554
00:25:40,133 --> 00:25:41,766
So a few days later,

555
00:25:41,766 --> 00:25:44,333
Charles Darrow gets in touch
and goes...

556
00:25:44,333 --> 00:25:46,133
PILON:
"That Monopoly game was so
great.

557
00:25:46,133 --> 00:25:48,300
I would love for someone
to write down the rules for me."

558
00:25:48,300 --> 00:25:51,700
ANSPACH:
Todd said he wasn't very
enthusiastic, but he did it.

559
00:25:51,700 --> 00:25:55,066
PILON:
Charles Todd has his secretary
write up the rules.

560
00:25:55,066 --> 00:25:56,266
ANSPACH:
So he gave him the rules.

561
00:25:56,266 --> 00:25:59,166
Then he didn't see him for
a while.

562
00:25:59,166 --> 00:26:01,933
(objects clattering)

563
00:26:01,933 --> 00:26:03,033
DONOVAN:
All contact ceases.

564
00:26:03,033 --> 00:26:05,333
It's a mystery to the Todds.

565
00:26:05,333 --> 00:26:06,666
They're kind of, like,

566
00:26:06,666 --> 00:26:08,866
"Have we done something
to offend them?"

567
00:26:08,866 --> 00:26:10,366
And then one day,

568
00:26:10,366 --> 00:26:13,233
Charles Todd
is passing a local bank.

569
00:26:13,233 --> 00:26:14,266
ANSPACH:
He saw an advertisement

570
00:26:14,266 --> 00:26:15,900
in the bank.

571
00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:17,633
DONOVAN:
And it says,

572
00:26:17,633 --> 00:26:18,833
"Come to this event.

573
00:26:18,833 --> 00:26:20,300
"Charles Darrow is
introducing everyone

574
00:26:20,300 --> 00:26:22,866
to his wonderful new game,
Monopoly."

575
00:26:25,366 --> 00:26:29,166
So Charlie Todd told me
he was in a fury.

576
00:26:29,166 --> 00:26:31,266
And I asked,
"Well, did you ever see

577
00:26:31,266 --> 00:26:32,933
the Darrows again
after that?"

578
00:26:32,933 --> 00:26:35,366
And he said, "No--
whenever they saw me,

579
00:26:35,366 --> 00:26:37,033
"they would quickly go
across the street

580
00:26:37,033 --> 00:26:38,966
or walk someplace else."

581
00:26:38,966 --> 00:26:42,200
And that's how
Darrow got the game.

582
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,500
♪ ♪

583
00:26:54,033 --> 00:26:58,633
♪ ♪

584
00:27:02,766 --> 00:27:05,433
PILON:
If you wanted to publish a board
game in America,

585
00:27:05,433 --> 00:27:06,733
one of the first places
you would go to

586
00:27:06,733 --> 00:27:11,433
was Parker Brothers
in Salem, Massachusetts.

587
00:27:11,433 --> 00:27:12,733
DONOVAN:
In the late 19th century,

588
00:27:12,733 --> 00:27:16,266
board games were all
produced in New England,

589
00:27:16,266 --> 00:27:20,733
and games, per se,
were seen as slightly sinful.

590
00:27:20,733 --> 00:27:23,233
Games,
certainly for children,

591
00:27:23,233 --> 00:27:25,800
had to have
a kind of moral element.

592
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:26,966
They had to be
a teaching tool,

593
00:27:26,966 --> 00:27:28,366
they couldn't
just be for fun.

594
00:27:28,366 --> 00:27:30,900
The first significant board game

595
00:27:30,900 --> 00:27:32,800
published in America

596
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,433
was The Mansion of Happiness,

597
00:27:34,433 --> 00:27:36,733
and it was emblematic

598
00:27:36,733 --> 00:27:39,533
of what games
were supposed to be--

599
00:27:39,533 --> 00:27:42,366
they were moralistic
and educational.

600
00:27:42,366 --> 00:27:44,366
One of the big changes
that came along

601
00:27:44,366 --> 00:27:46,066
was a guy called
George Parker.

602
00:27:46,066 --> 00:27:49,933
He started his own game company,
Parker Brothers,

603
00:27:49,933 --> 00:27:51,200
and his emphasis was on,

604
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,066
"This isn't
an educational tool,

605
00:27:53,066 --> 00:27:54,700
this is entertainment."

606
00:27:54,700 --> 00:27:57,100
PILON:
So, thanks to George Parker's
innovation,

607
00:27:57,100 --> 00:28:00,000
Parker Brothers become the
biggest company in the industry.

608
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,633
But not without
their share of mistakes,

609
00:28:02,633 --> 00:28:04,500
and he was haunted by them.

610
00:28:04,500 --> 00:28:08,700
(Ping-Pong game playing,
ragtime music playing)

611
00:28:11,333 --> 00:28:14,033
ORBANES:
In the early 1900s,
Parker Brothers

612
00:28:14,033 --> 00:28:16,466
decided to license Ping-Pong
from London,

613
00:28:16,466 --> 00:28:19,833
and they began
to market it in the country.

614
00:28:19,833 --> 00:28:21,300
JAGODA:
And this works for a few years.

615
00:28:21,300 --> 00:28:23,000
And they're able to market this

616
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:24,066
as a game that not only men,

617
00:28:24,066 --> 00:28:25,433
but women can play.

618
00:28:25,433 --> 00:28:29,066
So this becomes a really
generalized sort of game.

619
00:28:29,066 --> 00:28:30,900
ORBANES:
Unfortunately for
Parker Brothers,

620
00:28:30,900 --> 00:28:32,566
it didn't stop anybody else

621
00:28:32,566 --> 00:28:34,333
from selling the same equipment

622
00:28:34,333 --> 00:28:37,666
under the generic name
table tennis.

623
00:28:37,666 --> 00:28:40,300
And this difference between
Ping-Pong and table tennis

624
00:28:40,300 --> 00:28:42,366
gets in the way of
their, their market,

625
00:28:42,366 --> 00:28:45,633
and so they lose
a monopoly over Ping-Pong.

626
00:28:45,633 --> 00:28:48,700
Parker Brothers loses
multiple times on huge games.

627
00:28:48,700 --> 00:28:50,500
They lose on Ping-Pong,

628
00:28:50,500 --> 00:28:52,466
they lose on Tiddlywinks.

629
00:28:52,466 --> 00:28:54,333
Is that what it's called?

630
00:28:54,333 --> 00:28:58,300
And so you could not control
Ping-Pong or Tiddlywinks,

631
00:28:58,300 --> 00:29:01,866
and worse, as far as
George Parker was concerned,

632
00:29:01,866 --> 00:29:03,166
was Mah-Jongg.

633
00:29:03,166 --> 00:29:04,366
Many people

634
00:29:04,366 --> 00:29:07,766
don't know this,
but Mah-Jongg in the 1920s

635
00:29:07,766 --> 00:29:10,400
was the biggest
game fad ever in America.

636
00:29:12,333 --> 00:29:14,933
And Parker
let that slip away.

637
00:29:18,533 --> 00:29:20,300
(stock market bell ringing,
people clamoring)

638
00:29:21,766 --> 00:29:23,833
PILON:
By the beginning of
the Great Depression,

639
00:29:23,833 --> 00:29:26,433
Parker Brothers is not
doing well as a company.

640
00:29:26,433 --> 00:29:28,766
Robert Barton, who's the son-in-
law of George Parker,

641
00:29:28,766 --> 00:29:30,233
had just taken over the firm.

642
00:29:30,233 --> 00:29:33,300
 
DONOVAN:
Robert Barton was a
capable businessman,

643
00:29:33,300 --> 00:29:35,466
but he was in
circumstances that were

644
00:29:35,466 --> 00:29:37,200
horrendous for any business.

645
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,733
Parker Brothers finds themself

646
00:29:39,733 --> 00:29:41,200
in this really dire
situation.

647
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:42,666
They're laying off employees.

648
00:29:42,666 --> 00:29:46,000
They're actually potentially
looking at going bankrupt.

649
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,833
And Barton hears about
this game out of Philadelphia

650
00:29:49,833 --> 00:29:51,833
that's doing,
actually, quite well,

651
00:29:51,833 --> 00:29:56,333
invented by this local guy
named Charles Darrow.

652
00:29:56,333 --> 00:30:00,200
ORBANES:
Charles Darrow in
the early 1930s

653
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,600
was a heating repair engineer,

654
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,733
which meant he fixed
steam radiators.

655
00:30:05,733 --> 00:30:07,400
But during the Depression,

656
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,566
he lost his job,
like so many other

657
00:30:09,566 --> 00:30:10,933
millions of Americans.

658
00:30:10,933 --> 00:30:12,300
PILON:
He has a wife and
these two children,

659
00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:13,400
and one of his children

660
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,633
has pretty advanced
health problems.

661
00:30:15,633 --> 00:30:16,933
He needs to be at

662
00:30:16,933 --> 00:30:18,133
a special type of school,

663
00:30:18,133 --> 00:30:20,100
and the Darrows
cannot afford it.

664
00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:22,900
So he needs money and
he needs it very, very fast.

665
00:30:24,366 --> 00:30:28,066
ORBANES:
Charles Darrow begins to
make, by hand,

666
00:30:28,066 --> 00:30:29,333
copies of Monopoly.

667
00:30:29,333 --> 00:30:31,733
He actually took
a round table that he had,

668
00:30:31,733 --> 00:30:34,366
and the first Monopoly board
you see from him

669
00:30:34,366 --> 00:30:36,200
is actually
a gigantic circle.

670
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,700
ORBANES:
But then he began
to automate the process

671
00:30:39,700 --> 00:30:41,666
little by little.

672
00:30:41,666 --> 00:30:44,600
Darrow actually hires
a professional artist

673
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,566
to do the artwork
for his board.

674
00:30:46,566 --> 00:30:48,966
He provided

675
00:30:48,966 --> 00:30:51,566
the everyman's touch

676
00:30:51,566 --> 00:30:52,900
to the appearance of
the game.

677
00:30:52,900 --> 00:30:56,500
A much more pleasant,
engaging,

678
00:30:56,500 --> 00:30:58,333
simpler look.

679
00:30:58,333 --> 00:31:01,100
And so, Charles Darrow

680
00:31:01,100 --> 00:31:03,733
made 500 copies
in the summer of 1934.

681
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:07,766
Essentially
he's self-publishing.

682
00:31:07,766 --> 00:31:11,000
He's making a few sets
with money he has,

683
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,966
selling those,
taking the money he's earned,

684
00:31:12,966 --> 00:31:14,333
building some more.

685
00:31:14,333 --> 00:31:18,066
Really bootstrapping
to make this business work.

686
00:31:21,033 --> 00:31:24,433
Charles Darrow does go to the
big game manufacturers,

687
00:31:24,433 --> 00:31:26,300
including Parker Brothers.

688
00:31:26,300 --> 00:31:28,233
And he gets rejected
at first.

689
00:31:28,233 --> 00:31:29,833
They look at the game,

690
00:31:29,833 --> 00:31:31,266
and it's a game about
mortgages,

691
00:31:31,266 --> 00:31:34,366
and building houses,
and building hotels.

692
00:31:34,366 --> 00:31:37,100
It's, for the time,
a really complicated game.

693
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,900
So, essentially they all say no.

694
00:31:41,900 --> 00:31:46,466
And eventually, he goes to
Wanamaker's in Philadelphia,

695
00:31:46,466 --> 00:31:49,500
a big department store,
and he persuades them

696
00:31:49,500 --> 00:31:50,966
to start stocking the game.

697
00:31:50,966 --> 00:31:53,900
ORBANES:
And that gives Darrow
the opportunity

698
00:31:53,900 --> 00:31:56,300
to go to a few other stores
in Philadelphia

699
00:31:56,300 --> 00:31:58,133
and to F.A.O. Schwarz,

700
00:31:58,133 --> 00:32:02,033
the leading toy emporium
here in New York.

701
00:32:03,066 --> 00:32:06,366
By the time
Christmas of 1934

702
00:32:06,366 --> 00:32:08,600
has come and gone,

703
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,033
Darrow has made
a thousand copies--

704
00:32:10,033 --> 00:32:13,233
two print runs--
and they have sold out.

705
00:32:13,233 --> 00:32:16,233
It starts selling,
and selling, and selling,

706
00:32:16,233 --> 00:32:19,033
and eventually,
Charles Darrow is

707
00:32:19,033 --> 00:32:20,900
making enough sales there

708
00:32:20,900 --> 00:32:22,933
for Parker Brothers
and other game manufacturers

709
00:32:22,933 --> 00:32:25,866
to take a look at
Philadelphia and go, "Hmm."

710
00:32:25,866 --> 00:32:28,033
(train clacking on track)

711
00:32:28,033 --> 00:32:29,866
PILON:
Robert Barton had already
turned Darrow down,

712
00:32:29,866 --> 00:32:33,033
but now he invites him
to New York City

713
00:32:33,033 --> 00:32:35,233
with the intention
of buying his game.

714
00:32:35,233 --> 00:32:36,866
DONOVAN:
They negotiate to

715
00:32:36,866 --> 00:32:39,700
buy the game from him,
and during this negotiation,

716
00:32:39,700 --> 00:32:41,666
Robert Barton
asks Charles Darrow,

717
00:32:41,666 --> 00:32:44,400
you know, "Is this your game,
100% yours?"

718
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,533
And Charles Darrow goes,
"Yes, of course."

719
00:32:47,866 --> 00:32:51,500
And so they sign it,
and start putting out Monopoly.

720
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,366
ORBANES:
Parker Brothers acquires
Monopoly in March of 1935,

721
00:32:58,366 --> 00:33:02,100
and around June 1,
they've moved heaven and earth,

722
00:33:02,100 --> 00:33:04,700
and they make their first
10,000-print run.

723
00:33:05,933 --> 00:33:07,866
And the game sells pretty well.

724
00:33:07,866 --> 00:33:10,900
FORSYTH:
But the very fact
that Monopoly could actually be

725
00:33:10,900 --> 00:33:14,066
the hit they're looking for
actually makes Barton nervous.

726
00:33:14,066 --> 00:33:17,033
Parker Brothers didn't want
to lose Monopoly

727
00:33:17,033 --> 00:33:19,100
the way they'd lost Mah-Jongg.

728
00:33:19,100 --> 00:33:22,033
I mean, Barton realizes
he had to do something.

729
00:33:22,033 --> 00:33:25,533
Parker Brothers writes
a letter to Charles Darrow

730
00:33:25,533 --> 00:33:27,533
asking him for
his origin story

731
00:33:27,533 --> 00:33:31,733
about how he
came up with Monopoly.

732
00:33:31,733 --> 00:33:32,966
PILON:
Darrow writes back,

733
00:33:32,966 --> 00:33:34,633
"Dear Mr. Barton,

734
00:33:34,633 --> 00:33:36,700
"The history of Monopoly
is really quite simple.

735
00:33:36,700 --> 00:33:39,200
(typewriter keys clacking)
"Being unemployed at the time

736
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,300
"and badly needing
anything to occupy my time,

737
00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:43,833
"I made by hand
a very crude game

738
00:33:43,833 --> 00:33:45,933
"for the sole purpose
of amusing myself.

739
00:33:45,933 --> 00:33:49,433
"Later, friends called,
and we played the game,

740
00:33:49,433 --> 00:33:51,233
"unnamed at that time.

741
00:33:51,233 --> 00:33:53,566
"One of them asked me
to make a copy for him,

742
00:33:53,566 --> 00:33:56,066
"which I did,
charging him four dollars.

743
00:33:56,066 --> 00:33:58,433
"Friends of his
wanted copies and so forth.

744
00:33:58,433 --> 00:34:00,533
"So much for the outline of

745
00:34:00,533 --> 00:34:01,666
the history of Monopoly."

746
00:34:01,666 --> 00:34:02,933
That's all we get.

747
00:34:02,933 --> 00:34:05,800
(laughing):
Charles Darrow is a charlatan.

748
00:34:09,166 --> 00:34:11,800
But for Parker Brothers,
it doesn't matter.

749
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:15,533
If you can sell the
origin story to consumers,

750
00:34:15,533 --> 00:34:18,100
they're much more likely
to accept him as the creator.

751
00:34:18,100 --> 00:34:20,900
And because so many people
could identify with

752
00:34:20,900 --> 00:34:22,333
the Great Depression story

753
00:34:22,333 --> 00:34:25,066
and the movement
from poverty to riches,

754
00:34:25,066 --> 00:34:28,200
the right origin story
might just be enough

755
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:30,800
to, to win the
public imagination.

756
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,566
(car horn honking)

757
00:34:34,566 --> 00:34:37,600
It's remarkable that
this game took off

758
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,100
on the back end of
the Great Depression.

759
00:34:40,100 --> 00:34:41,400
Why would people

760
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:43,466
want to play a game
about accumulating wealth

761
00:34:43,466 --> 00:34:45,266
after most of them

762
00:34:45,266 --> 00:34:47,766
had lived in abject poverty
for years?

763
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,866
I think part of the reason
is wish fulfillment.

764
00:34:52,866 --> 00:34:55,566
What better fantasy to have

765
00:34:55,566 --> 00:34:57,400
during and after
the Great Depression

766
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,633
than being able to be in
a position of power

767
00:34:59,633 --> 00:35:01,800
and being able to
accumulate mass wealth,

768
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:02,900
when you know
you'll never be able

769
00:35:02,900 --> 00:35:04,166
to do that
in your own life?

770
00:35:04,166 --> 00:35:08,233
Monopoly is a quintessential
American game

771
00:35:08,233 --> 00:35:10,700
by virtue of how it plays.

772
00:35:12,133 --> 00:35:14,433
Everyone,

773
00:35:14,433 --> 00:35:16,533
regardless of your race,
religion,

774
00:35:16,533 --> 00:35:17,933
or creed,

775
00:35:17,933 --> 00:35:20,200
starts off with
the same amount of money.

776
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,566
GRACE:
Everybody has a fair chance,

777
00:35:22,566 --> 00:35:23,866
everyone collects $200

778
00:35:23,866 --> 00:35:25,500
when they pass go,

779
00:35:25,500 --> 00:35:27,100
everyone has the opportunity
to purchase.

780
00:35:28,766 --> 00:35:30,566
 
All of these things
are baked in.

781
00:35:30,566 --> 00:35:33,900
RAWORTH:
Monopoly creates a
very false sense of,

782
00:35:33,900 --> 00:35:35,600
"Well, we all
started off equally.

783
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:37,100
"If I've got ahead,
it must be my skill,

784
00:35:37,100 --> 00:35:38,100
it must be my hard work."

785
00:35:38,100 --> 00:35:39,233
(dice rattling)

786
00:35:39,233 --> 00:35:40,766
I got you, John.

787
00:35:40,766 --> 00:35:42,533
And that'll be $100.

788
00:35:42,533 --> 00:35:44,033
RAWORTH:
When actually, in real life,

789
00:35:44,033 --> 00:35:48,466
we do not start on
that same starting line.

790
00:35:48,466 --> 00:35:51,600
SPARROW:
Monopoly makes it easy
to imagine

791
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,700
that you can, you know,
accomplish your goals,

792
00:35:55,700 --> 00:35:56,766
accomplish your vision.

793
00:35:56,766 --> 00:35:58,033
You can start a business,

794
00:35:58,033 --> 00:36:00,266
and you don't have to think

795
00:36:00,266 --> 00:36:01,800
what you,
about what you look like,

796
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,500
where you come from,

797
00:36:03,500 --> 00:36:05,233
that you're from
a different class,

798
00:36:05,233 --> 00:36:07,466
from a different race, from a,
have a different gender,

799
00:36:07,466 --> 00:36:08,933
have a different
gender expression.

800
00:36:08,933 --> 00:36:10,800
You don't have to think about
any of that at all.

801
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:12,100
Right?

802
00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:14,200
And that is
the problem in the myth

803
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,000
that Monopoly
continues to just push forward.

804
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:22,266
♪ ♪

805
00:36:24,466 --> 00:36:27,233
♪ ♪

806
00:36:27,233 --> 00:36:29,333
DONOVAN:
Monopoly becomes

807
00:36:29,333 --> 00:36:31,433
an instant success.
(register rings)

808
00:36:31,433 --> 00:36:34,400
♪ ♪

809
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,633
The orders flood in.

810
00:36:35,633 --> 00:36:37,500
They can't make games
fast enough.

811
00:36:37,500 --> 00:36:39,966
They put on extra shifts
in their factory

812
00:36:39,966 --> 00:36:41,266
and they still can't catch up.

813
00:36:41,266 --> 00:36:43,233
It's one of those games

814
00:36:43,233 --> 00:36:45,100
that just hits at
the right moment,

815
00:36:45,100 --> 00:36:47,233
and suddenly
everyone wants one.

816
00:36:48,233 --> 00:36:52,100
ORBANES:
In 1936, the game went from
a quarter of a million

817
00:36:52,100 --> 00:36:54,166
to nearly 1.8 million,

818
00:36:54,166 --> 00:36:58,600
which literally was
the maximum number of games

819
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,000
that Parker Brothers could make,
even mobilizing

820
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,400
the entirety of
Salem, Massachusetts, to help.

821
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:05,933
It's the biggest success

822
00:37:05,933 --> 00:37:08,166
the board game industry
has ever seen.

823
00:37:08,166 --> 00:37:11,033
(coins jingling,
cash register rings)

824
00:37:11,033 --> 00:37:14,866
♪ ♪

825
00:37:14,866 --> 00:37:16,700
And then, one day,

826
00:37:16,700 --> 00:37:18,166
Parker Brothers' lawyer

827
00:37:18,166 --> 00:37:21,633
rushes into Barton's office
and goes,

828
00:37:21,633 --> 00:37:24,800
"There's a game
just like Monopoly

829
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,500
"called Finance.

830
00:37:26,500 --> 00:37:27,566
"And actually,
there's another game

831
00:37:27,566 --> 00:37:29,033
"that is just like it,
as well,

832
00:37:29,033 --> 00:37:30,433
and another game."

833
00:37:30,433 --> 00:37:33,200
And suddenly, he's
in a position where

834
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,166
he thought he
had the biggest hit ever

835
00:37:35,166 --> 00:37:37,033
and he had the rights to it,

836
00:37:37,033 --> 00:37:39,266
and now it's pretty obvious

837
00:37:39,266 --> 00:37:41,900
that Charles Darrow
has copied this game.

838
00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:43,633
Robert Barton has a problem,

839
00:37:43,633 --> 00:37:46,100
that the thing that is saving
his company from bankruptcy,

840
00:37:46,100 --> 00:37:48,300
Monopoly,
that is this runaway hit,

841
00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:50,000
was not invented by Darrow.

842
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,000
He needs to protect Monopoly
at all costs.

843
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,700
ORBANES:
And so Robert Barton,
attorney by trade,

844
00:37:56,700 --> 00:37:59,433
decides he has to own
every game

845
00:37:59,433 --> 00:38:02,133
that's remotely similar
to Monopoly.

846
00:38:02,133 --> 00:38:04,566
PILON:
He needs to get control of
these other competing games:

847
00:38:04,566 --> 00:38:07,800
Finance, Easy Money, Inflation.

848
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,433
But Barton has another problem,

849
00:38:10,433 --> 00:38:12,566
and that is Lizzie Magie.

850
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,566
At this point,
Lizzie Magie is married

851
00:38:16,566 --> 00:38:20,333
and working as a secretary
in Washington, D.C.

852
00:38:20,333 --> 00:38:22,000
We don't know if she realized

853
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,100
that The Landlord's Game
had been spreading.

854
00:38:24,100 --> 00:38:25,766
But we do know by 1935

855
00:38:25,766 --> 00:38:28,100
that the Darrow story
starts to take off.

856
00:38:28,100 --> 00:38:31,333
♪ ♪

857
00:38:31,333 --> 00:38:35,900
FORSYTH:
Lizzie is reading about
this inventor Charles Darrow,

858
00:38:35,900 --> 00:38:37,900
and she actually
goes to the press

859
00:38:37,900 --> 00:38:40,133
and says, "Wait a second,
that's my game."

860
00:38:40,133 --> 00:38:42,233
You know,
"That's my invention."

861
00:38:42,233 --> 00:38:46,300
DONOVAN:
For Parker Brothers,
this is a complete disaster.

862
00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:49,766
And so Parker Brothers decides
it, it needs to shut this down.

863
00:38:49,766 --> 00:38:52,133
It needs to preserve
Charles Darrow's story.

864
00:38:52,133 --> 00:38:54,933
PILON:
So, George Parker
comes from retirement

865
00:38:54,933 --> 00:38:56,566
in a very dramatic fashion

866
00:38:56,566 --> 00:38:58,300
and he takes a train
to Washington, D.C.

867
00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,666
♪ ♪

868
00:39:00,666 --> 00:39:02,100
DONOVAN:
George Parker is quite
elderly at this point,

869
00:39:02,100 --> 00:39:03,433
and he goes to Lizzie Magie

870
00:39:03,433 --> 00:39:06,166
to sweet-talk her into
selling the rights.

871
00:39:06,166 --> 00:39:09,166
He says, "We, Parker Brothers,
are going to publish

872
00:39:09,166 --> 00:39:12,166
your Landlord's Game
and two other games of yours."

873
00:39:12,166 --> 00:39:15,133
"We'll put your picture
on the front of these boxes

874
00:39:15,133 --> 00:39:17,800
and talk about you as an
originator of board games."

875
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,966
And she thinks, "Wow,"
you know,

876
00:39:19,966 --> 00:39:21,100
"My Georgeist teaching tools

877
00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:23,233
"are going to be
front and center

878
00:39:23,233 --> 00:39:25,466
with one of the biggest
game companies in the world."

879
00:39:25,466 --> 00:39:28,766
She kind of figures, "Well,
no one paid any attention to

880
00:39:28,766 --> 00:39:30,300
"The Landlord's Game before.

881
00:39:30,300 --> 00:39:33,800
Maybe this is a chance to
revive interest in single tax."

882
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:37,200
So for $500,
she signs over the rights.

883
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:38,766
They pay her $500.

884
00:39:38,766 --> 00:39:39,766
$500.

885
00:39:39,766 --> 00:39:41,266
$500.

886
00:39:41,266 --> 00:39:44,800
And Parker Brothers
acquires the rights to her game.

887
00:39:46,133 --> 00:39:47,933
FORSYTH:
This is the great irony
of it all.

888
00:39:47,933 --> 00:39:51,133
Parker Brothers comes in
and monopolizes Monopoly,

889
00:39:51,133 --> 00:39:52,466
and Lizzie,

890
00:39:52,466 --> 00:39:55,466
she's that kid sitting on
the sideline of Monopoly

891
00:39:55,466 --> 00:39:57,966
who just got taken out
of the game.

892
00:40:00,066 --> 00:40:01,966
PILON:
Per the terms of
their agreement,

893
00:40:01,966 --> 00:40:03,833
Parker Brothers
released The Landlord's Game

894
00:40:03,833 --> 00:40:05,466
and two other
Lizzie Magie titles,

895
00:40:05,466 --> 00:40:08,766
but did little to publicize them
and they didn't sell well.

896
00:40:08,766 --> 00:40:10,900
Then, when they release

897
00:40:10,900 --> 00:40:12,266
the new version of
The Landlord's Game,

898
00:40:12,266 --> 00:40:15,466
it bears no resemblance
to the original.

899
00:40:15,466 --> 00:40:17,000
Even worse, she discovers that

900
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,566
Parker Brothers
took advantage of

901
00:40:18,566 --> 00:40:20,000
the fine print
in their contract

902
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:21,533
which gave them
editorial control,

903
00:40:21,533 --> 00:40:24,633
and they published the game
with only one set of rules,

904
00:40:24,633 --> 00:40:26,800
omitting the single tax version.

905
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,433
Finally, two years later,

906
00:40:29,433 --> 00:40:31,200
when her patent
expires for good,

907
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,466
they erase her from
the history of the game

908
00:40:33,466 --> 00:40:35,033
and betray her again.

909
00:40:35,033 --> 00:40:37,566
Any acknowledgement of her
in the press

910
00:40:37,566 --> 00:40:39,766
or that she had
any role in the game

911
00:40:39,766 --> 00:40:41,800
is very, very quickly
lost to history.

912
00:40:43,266 --> 00:40:47,433
RAWORTH:
She was hanging onto the belief
that Parker Brothers

913
00:40:47,433 --> 00:40:49,066
would now finally publish
her game.

914
00:40:49,066 --> 00:40:51,400
They would print her face on
the cover of the board.

915
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:52,666
And so they say,

916
00:40:52,666 --> 00:40:54,466
"There you are, Lizzie,
there's your face.

917
00:40:54,466 --> 00:40:55,733
"You see,
we've acknowledged you

918
00:40:55,733 --> 00:40:57,200
"as the inventor of the game,

919
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,733
but we'll just let
that edition quietly slip."

920
00:41:00,733 --> 00:41:04,066
And so, they flatter her
into insignificance.

921
00:41:04,066 --> 00:41:05,900
Magie makes $500,

922
00:41:05,900 --> 00:41:07,866
Darrow makes
over a million dollars.

923
00:41:07,866 --> 00:41:09,733
(laughing):
Not exactly fair.

924
00:41:09,733 --> 00:41:12,733
♪ ♪

925
00:41:12,733 --> 00:41:15,800
PILON:
One of the last traces we have
of Lizzie Magie's life

926
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,500
is the 1940 U.S. Census.

927
00:41:18,766 --> 00:41:21,300
What's interesting
about that census is that

928
00:41:21,300 --> 00:41:22,966
she died in 1948,
so it's the last one

929
00:41:22,966 --> 00:41:26,066
that she would've
been able to participate in.

930
00:41:26,066 --> 00:41:29,600
And she lists her occupation
as maker of games.

931
00:41:32,566 --> 00:41:34,866
And her income as zero.

932
00:41:41,900 --> 00:41:44,000
(birds chirping)

933
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,033
DONOVAN:
By the late 1970s,

934
00:41:46,033 --> 00:41:49,566
the Anti-Monopoly case
has dragged on for years.

935
00:41:49,566 --> 00:41:52,266
Ralph is on the verge of ruin.

936
00:41:53,266 --> 00:41:55,300
It's not like
he's a rich man.

937
00:41:55,300 --> 00:41:56,866
He's kind of
there scraping it together,

938
00:41:56,866 --> 00:41:59,366
paying lawyers,
paying court fees,

939
00:41:59,366 --> 00:42:01,066
trying to fight this Goliath.

940
00:42:01,066 --> 00:42:03,766
FORSYTH:
It's not just Ralph's case.

941
00:42:03,766 --> 00:42:06,600
His son Mark had helped him
to design the game

942
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,466
and his wife, Ruth,
was busy running the company.

943
00:42:10,466 --> 00:42:13,133
And so it's really taking a toll
on his whole family.

944
00:42:13,133 --> 00:42:16,133
We were in real
financial trouble.

945
00:42:16,133 --> 00:42:19,500
We had three mortgages
on our home,

946
00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:23,200
and one of
the mortgage holders

947
00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,233
was about to foreclose on us.

948
00:42:25,233 --> 00:42:28,833
PILON:
He takes out loans on his home,
these second mortgages,

949
00:42:28,833 --> 00:42:30,833
which is, when you think about
Monopoly, very ironic.

950
00:42:30,833 --> 00:42:34,566
So he's just completely worn
down in every sense.

951
00:42:34,566 --> 00:42:36,466
DONOVAN:
And then, on the eve of
the court case,

952
00:42:36,466 --> 00:42:38,900
lawyers inside General Mills
and Parker Brothers

953
00:42:38,900 --> 00:42:40,066
make Ralph an offer.

954
00:42:40,066 --> 00:42:41,600
And it's big,
it's a good one.

955
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,066
Equivalent of more than
two million dollars.

956
00:42:44,066 --> 00:42:45,466
There's just one catch:

957
00:42:45,466 --> 00:42:47,833
he's not allowed to talk about
the game's origins.

958
00:42:47,833 --> 00:42:49,233
And Ralph says no.

959
00:42:49,233 --> 00:42:52,466
He's come this far,
he's going to see it out.

960
00:42:52,466 --> 00:42:54,266
People said
"You're crazy," you know.

961
00:42:54,266 --> 00:42:56,166
"Take the money
and run to the bank."

962
00:42:56,166 --> 00:42:58,333
But I just

963
00:42:58,333 --> 00:43:01,133
can't live with myself if I

964
00:43:01,133 --> 00:43:02,366
cave in.

965
00:43:02,366 --> 00:43:05,333
This was about
something beyond money.

966
00:43:05,333 --> 00:43:08,633
This was about proving a story,
proving a case.

967
00:43:08,633 --> 00:43:10,766
That was not something
that was up for sale

968
00:43:10,766 --> 00:43:11,866
at any price for him.

969
00:43:11,866 --> 00:43:14,033
Ralph now has the evidence

970
00:43:14,033 --> 00:43:17,466
of how the board game
changed over the years,

971
00:43:17,466 --> 00:43:19,766
and he doesn't just
want to be paid off

972
00:43:19,766 --> 00:43:21,800
and to let Parker Brothers
carry on as before.

973
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:22,800
He wants to win.

974
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:27,333
♪ ♪

975
00:43:27,333 --> 00:43:30,100
PILON:
Ralph and his attorneys are
trying to prove that

976
00:43:30,100 --> 00:43:32,566
the Monopoly patent itself
is fraudulent.

977
00:43:32,566 --> 00:43:34,600
And that's
a pretty scandalous thing

978
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:35,800
to be alleging at this time.

979
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:37,233
You have to remember that
when this case

980
00:43:37,233 --> 00:43:39,200
was coming about
in the mid-1970s,

981
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:41,900
the Monopoly story
hadn't really been challenged,

982
00:43:41,900 --> 00:43:44,400
and certainly
not to this extent,

983
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:45,533
and where the stakes
were so high.

984
00:43:48,033 --> 00:43:49,466
So for this trial,

985
00:43:49,466 --> 00:43:52,700
Ralph calls upon
nine of the folk game players.

986
00:43:52,700 --> 00:43:55,800
These folk players testify to
playing this game before 1935.

987
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:57,633
So it goes from rumor
to record.

988
00:43:57,633 --> 00:44:01,966
LAWYER:
Mr. Harvey, did you ever play
a real estate trading game?

989
00:44:01,966 --> 00:44:03,033
HARVEY:
Yes.

990
00:44:03,033 --> 00:44:04,233
LAWYER:
And what year did you

991
00:44:04,233 --> 00:44:05,500
first play such a game, sir?

992
00:44:05,500 --> 00:44:08,566
HARVEY:
I would say it was 1931.

993
00:44:08,566 --> 00:44:10,866
WOMAN:
I had a Quaker friend at Smith,

994
00:44:10,866 --> 00:44:14,133
and I went to visit her in
the spring of 1922.

995
00:44:14,133 --> 00:44:15,366
We played it all the time.

996
00:44:15,366 --> 00:44:17,266
MAN:
I was at M.I.T.--
I copied theirs.

997
00:44:17,266 --> 00:44:18,900
That's the way it went,
from one person to another.

998
00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:20,466
LAWYER:
...give a name to the game?

999
00:44:20,466 --> 00:44:22,033
WOMAN:
It was called Monopoly.

1000
00:44:22,033 --> 00:44:23,933
MAN: Monopoly.
MAN 2: Monopoly.

1001
00:44:23,933 --> 00:44:25,500
WOMAN:
They were all playing Monopoly.

1002
00:44:25,500 --> 00:44:27,266
♪ ♪

1003
00:44:27,266 --> 00:44:29,100
ANSPACH:
We had them.

1004
00:44:29,100 --> 00:44:31,633
You know, we had them
over a barrel now.

1005
00:44:31,633 --> 00:44:34,933
Because they were
sitting there with a

1006
00:44:34,933 --> 00:44:36,900
game that seemed
to have been stolen.

1007
00:44:38,933 --> 00:44:41,700
We were really quite confident
we were going to win.

1008
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,700
So they go through this
whole trial,

1009
00:44:45,700 --> 00:44:48,066
and the judge issues a ruling,
and it is not good.

1010
00:44:49,066 --> 00:44:50,766
 
But I think we have to be
realistic.

1011
00:44:50,766 --> 00:44:52,800
This was a
David vs. Goliath story,

1012
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,866
and Ralph's judge generally
ruled on Goliath's side.

1013
00:44:57,033 --> 00:44:59,966
DONOVAN:
The judge rules in
Parker Brothers' favor.

1014
00:44:59,966 --> 00:45:03,033
It says, "You must not
put out Anti-Monopoly,"

1015
00:45:03,033 --> 00:45:06,433
and for Ralph,
this is an absolute disaster.

1016
00:45:06,433 --> 00:45:07,533
I mean, this is ruin.

1017
00:45:07,533 --> 00:45:08,933
He's not only lost his game,

1018
00:45:08,933 --> 00:45:10,133
he won't get court costs,

1019
00:45:10,133 --> 00:45:11,300
he won't get anything.

1020
00:45:12,700 --> 00:45:14,533
ANSPACH:
That was it, we were finished.

1021
00:45:14,533 --> 00:45:17,100
I remember I was
terribly depressed.

1022
00:45:17,100 --> 00:45:18,500
We lost the case.

1023
00:45:18,500 --> 00:45:23,033
The judge ordered us
to turn over all our games

1024
00:45:23,033 --> 00:45:25,433
to Parker Brothers.

1025
00:45:25,433 --> 00:45:27,866
Then Parker Brothers
did something

1026
00:45:27,866 --> 00:45:29,133
which is not usually done,

1027
00:45:29,133 --> 00:45:32,600
but Parker Brothers
was determined

1028
00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:34,633
to teach others a lesson.

1029
00:45:34,633 --> 00:45:37,300
(machine grinding)

1030
00:45:37,300 --> 00:45:38,433
PILON:
Part of the ruling

1031
00:45:38,433 --> 00:45:40,400
is that Ralph has to
hand over

1032
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,100
his Anti-Monopoly games.

1033
00:45:42,100 --> 00:45:44,566
Parker Brothers
take these games,

1034
00:45:44,566 --> 00:45:46,200
and they're in
Mankato, Minnesota,

1035
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:48,600
which is not far from where
they're being manufactured...

1036
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:52,300
ANSPACH:
40,000 of our games were

1037
00:45:52,300 --> 00:45:55,100
literally buried in Minnesota

1038
00:45:55,100 --> 00:45:58,233
with a national story
describing this.

1039
00:45:58,233 --> 00:46:00,533
"This is what happens
to people who challenge

1040
00:46:00,533 --> 00:46:02,433
this great company
and this great game."

1041
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,366
PILON:
Ralph later told me
something to the effect of,

1042
00:46:06,366 --> 00:46:09,066
"It felt like they were
dumping me in the trash."

1043
00:46:09,066 --> 00:46:11,700
ANSPACH:
I just couldn't face it.

1044
00:46:11,700 --> 00:46:15,033
I couldn't face to see
these games turned into

1045
00:46:15,033 --> 00:46:16,766
trash, you know?

1046
00:46:16,766 --> 00:46:18,333
I couldn't...

1047
00:46:18,333 --> 00:46:20,400
I didn't have the,

1048
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,400
the courage to see that.

1049
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:30,000
♪ ♪

1050
00:46:32,266 --> 00:46:33,733
Is it your turn or Louis?

1051
00:46:33,733 --> 00:46:34,766
It's Louis.
Okay.

1052
00:46:34,766 --> 00:46:37,400
(chanting):
Four, four, four...

1053
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:39,033
I didn't cheat!

1054
00:46:39,033 --> 00:46:40,700
(laughing, talking at once)

1055
00:46:40,700 --> 00:46:42,066
No!
Yes!

1056
00:46:42,066 --> 00:46:43,666
Why are you happy?

1057
00:46:43,666 --> 00:46:45,433
JAGODA:
I think the competition
of Monopoly

1058
00:46:45,433 --> 00:46:47,866
is quintessentially American.

1059
00:46:47,866 --> 00:46:50,033
Monopoly might not be
the perfect game for

1060
00:46:50,033 --> 00:46:52,333
teaching people
about economics,

1061
00:46:52,333 --> 00:46:55,033
but it's a really great way
of training people's emotions

1062
00:46:55,033 --> 00:46:56,733
to be aligned
with competition,

1063
00:46:56,733 --> 00:46:58,466
and wanting competition,

1064
00:46:58,466 --> 00:46:59,600
wanting victory.

1065
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,800
Believe in the dice!

1066
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:04,500
GRACE:
Monopoly claims that there is

1067
00:47:04,500 --> 00:47:06,200
a sort of right way to win

1068
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:07,766
that means some other people
are going to have to lose.

1069
00:47:08,766 --> 00:47:10,066
How much is that?

1070
00:47:10,066 --> 00:47:11,566
$1,200.
Geez.

1071
00:47:11,566 --> 00:47:13,400
Well, I don't
have enough, so, whatever.

1072
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:14,400
You're bankrupt,
you're out.

1073
00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:16,166
Yeah, I know.
Bye!

1074
00:47:16,166 --> 00:47:17,366
Why?

1075
00:47:17,366 --> 00:47:18,800
RAWORTH:
Why is this game

1076
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,766
the game that we remember
and loved and wanted to play?

1077
00:47:20,766 --> 00:47:22,966
And the traits it brings out

1078
00:47:22,966 --> 00:47:26,166
are ruthlessness, greed,

1079
00:47:26,166 --> 00:47:28,933
acquisition, accumulation,

1080
00:47:28,933 --> 00:47:30,933
no pity for your opponent,

1081
00:47:30,933 --> 00:47:33,266
and the irony is that
we're drawn to playing it.

1082
00:47:33,266 --> 00:47:36,500
I have the most money!

1083
00:47:36,500 --> 00:47:37,900
It is a zero-sum game, and so

1084
00:47:37,900 --> 00:47:40,033
the, the kind of rhetoric there

1085
00:47:40,033 --> 00:47:42,366
is that there
can be only one victor.

1086
00:47:42,366 --> 00:47:44,500
And I think that's
an interesting metaphor of

1087
00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:46,100
the way that our
capitalist system works

1088
00:47:46,100 --> 00:47:47,100
in the United States.

1089
00:47:47,100 --> 00:47:48,333
(claps)
You got lucky.

1090
00:47:48,333 --> 00:47:52,866
(wildlife chittering)

1091
00:47:52,866 --> 00:47:55,500
PILON:
After his defeat,
Ralph is determined

1092
00:47:55,500 --> 00:47:56,900
to keep fighting.

1093
00:47:56,900 --> 00:47:58,233
He appeals,

1094
00:47:58,233 --> 00:47:59,466
and it takes another six years

1095
00:47:59,466 --> 00:48:01,200
for his case to go
through the legal system,

1096
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:04,066
until there's only
one place left to go.

1097
00:48:04,066 --> 00:48:07,266
♪ ♪

1098
00:48:07,266 --> 00:48:08,733
Ralph gets on a train

1099
00:48:08,733 --> 00:48:10,200
to Washington, D.C.

1100
00:48:10,200 --> 00:48:11,833
He's got all of his
legal papers with him,

1101
00:48:11,833 --> 00:48:15,333
and he walks them himself
to the Supreme Court.

1102
00:48:17,266 --> 00:48:18,833
And that's kind of
an amazing moment,

1103
00:48:18,833 --> 00:48:20,066
because when you think about,

1104
00:48:20,066 --> 00:48:22,033
here's Ralph,
this guy who ten years ago

1105
00:48:22,033 --> 00:48:23,533
is making a game
called Anti-Monopoly,

1106
00:48:23,533 --> 00:48:25,466
and gets a cease-and-desist
at his doorstep

1107
00:48:25,466 --> 00:48:27,800
about a board game,
now finds himself

1108
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:31,000
appealing for his right
to make these games

1109
00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:32,866
at the Supreme Court of
the United States.

1110
00:48:35,500 --> 00:48:38,500
DONOVAN:
And when it comes down to
the Supreme Court's decision,

1111
00:48:38,500 --> 00:48:40,233
they back Ralph.

1112
00:48:40,233 --> 00:48:43,266
The makers of the popular board
game Monopoly today

1113
00:48:43,266 --> 00:48:45,600
drew a chance card
and lost, for real.

1114
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:47,500
They didn't go to jail,
they didn't pass go,

1115
00:48:47,500 --> 00:48:49,533
but lost their monopoly
on Monopoly.

1116
00:48:49,533 --> 00:48:51,600
PILON:
Ralph pretty much wins it all.

1117
00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:54,466
He gets a significant
lump of money.

1118
00:48:54,466 --> 00:48:55,966
DONOVAN:
Parker Brothers has to

1119
00:48:55,966 --> 00:48:59,866
repay him for all the copies of
the game they destroyed,

1120
00:48:59,866 --> 00:49:02,866
and cover his court costs,
and pay him damages.

1121
00:49:02,866 --> 00:49:05,433
PILON:
He wins his right to produce
Anti-Monopoly

1122
00:49:05,433 --> 00:49:07,166
and to keep making his games,

1123
00:49:07,166 --> 00:49:09,900
but he also wins
the right to talk about

1124
00:49:09,900 --> 00:49:12,566
the game's history
and its origins openly.

1125
00:49:12,566 --> 00:49:14,700
That, for him,
is a huge, huge win,

1126
00:49:14,700 --> 00:49:16,133
because at this point,

1127
00:49:16,133 --> 00:49:18,400
he had been talking about
the game for a decade,

1128
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,133
but he wanted to keep
telling the story

1129
00:49:20,133 --> 00:49:22,733
of Lizzie Magie, Darrow,
and what really happened.

1130
00:49:22,733 --> 00:49:24,566
♪ ♪

1131
00:49:26,433 --> 00:49:28,366
ANSPACH:
Most people thought
that I was crazy.

1132
00:49:28,366 --> 00:49:30,866
And, of course,
I felt very vindicated.

1133
00:49:30,866 --> 00:49:33,166
Because, you know,
it was a long struggle,

1134
00:49:33,166 --> 00:49:37,733
but I was determined to
accomplish my goals,

1135
00:49:37,733 --> 00:49:42,133
regardless of
all the opposition and so on.

1136
00:49:42,133 --> 00:49:44,433
And maybe the...

1137
00:49:45,533 --> 00:49:48,866
Maybe the idea that there's
something else in the story.

1138
00:49:48,866 --> 00:49:50,833
Namely,

1139
00:49:50,833 --> 00:49:54,200
the little guy
can win out sometimes,

1140
00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:56,966
and overcome.

1141
00:49:56,966 --> 00:49:59,300
♪ ♪

1142
00:49:59,300 --> 00:50:01,633
Monopoly is more than a game.

1143
00:50:01,633 --> 00:50:06,233
It's a commentary
on both what's great

1144
00:50:06,233 --> 00:50:09,900
and what's dark
about our business empires.

1145
00:50:09,900 --> 00:50:12,300
JAGODA:
Is anything just a game
in American society?

1146
00:50:12,300 --> 00:50:14,133
When games are
one of the most popular

1147
00:50:14,133 --> 00:50:15,900
cultural forums that we have,

1148
00:50:15,900 --> 00:50:20,333
when they train us in
so many norms and ideas

1149
00:50:20,333 --> 00:50:22,966
that we move outside
of the game space,

1150
00:50:22,966 --> 00:50:25,766
can we say that
something is just a game?

1151
00:50:25,766 --> 00:50:27,800
PILON:
Monopoly is tied to

1152
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,866
so much history and
so many memories for people,

1153
00:50:30,866 --> 00:50:32,966
that belongs to everybody.

1154
00:50:32,966 --> 00:50:35,733
But I think that
the myth of Monopoly

1155
00:50:35,733 --> 00:50:38,700
does obscure a lot of
realities about this country.

1156
00:50:38,700 --> 00:50:41,466
About class,
about race, about gender,

1157
00:50:41,466 --> 00:50:45,266
about how our current,
dare I say,

1158
00:50:45,266 --> 00:50:46,600
game of capitalism
is played,

1159
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:47,766
and has been for centuries.

1160
00:50:47,766 --> 00:50:51,533
So it ends up becoming
this microcosm of

1161
00:50:51,533 --> 00:50:53,100
the bigger story of
this country

1162
00:50:53,100 --> 00:50:55,866
and how we perceive it now
and look back on it.

1163
00:50:55,866 --> 00:50:58,600
SIMON:
It's an interesting question,
if Monopoly creates

1164
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:01,100
a misguided view about
the United States.

1165
00:51:01,100 --> 00:51:03,300
And maybe the way
to think about it is,

1166
00:51:03,300 --> 00:51:05,666
what if the original game
had caught on?

1167
00:51:05,666 --> 00:51:08,166
Would that have paved the way

1168
00:51:08,166 --> 00:51:10,433
for an alternative
political vision of America?

1169
00:51:10,433 --> 00:51:13,700
That puts a lot on a game,

1170
00:51:13,700 --> 00:51:15,133
but I think capitalists

1171
00:51:15,133 --> 00:51:17,433
have always
wanted to tell a story

1172
00:51:17,433 --> 00:51:19,500
about how, in America,

1173
00:51:19,500 --> 00:51:23,166
some people get ahead
and other people fall behind,

1174
00:51:23,166 --> 00:51:26,866
and that's either luck,
that's the roll of the dice,

1175
00:51:26,866 --> 00:51:29,700
that's because they didn't
play the game the right way.

1176
00:51:29,700 --> 00:51:31,966
It's just like Monopoly.

1177
00:51:38,333 --> 00:51:43,600
♪ ♪

1178
00:51:51,433 --> 00:51:55,400
♪ ♪

1179
00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:11,866
♪ ♪