Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game--And How It Got That Way [Paperback]

Philip E. Orbanes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2007

Philip Orbanes, master of all things Monopoliana, traces the remarkable story of the world’s most famous board game, from its origins as a collegiate teaching tool in the early twentieth century through Monopoly’s explosive growth in the postwar decades, to the game’s current status as a fixture in homes across the globe. Along the way, Orbanes includes memorable Monopoly personality portraits, surprising Monopoly legends and lore, and an extraordinary tour of the ingenious advertising that contributed to the game’s rise in popularity. This is the first and only book to cover comprehensively the origin, growth, and global reach of the game that has become a universal and everyday cultural icon.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his account of the development of "the most significant money game in history" (200 million copies sold in 60 countries since 1935), former Parker Brothers vice president Orbanes (The Monopoly Companion) sets the game against a backdrop of political and economic events spanning a century. He introduces entrepreneurs and game inventors, beginning with Elizabeth Magie, who created the Landlord's Game in 1903 to educate people about Henry George's idea of a "single tax" on landlords (it even had a space called "No Trespassing/Go to Jail"). Initially unpublished, it circulated among game players in handmade copies on oilcloth. In 1930, Quakers in Atlantic City added local street names—Illinois, Pennsylvania, Mediterranean—to their handmade variation, which became the source of the Monopoly game that Charles Darrow marketed in 1934. Tracing this evolution, Orbanes covers collectors, foreign editions, memorabilia, licensing, copyrights and trademarks with fascinating details: Esquire magazine's Esky was the springboard for Monopoly's cartoon financier, and the metal tokens were inspired by the charms from charm bracelets that Darrow's 11-year-old niece used as game pieces. Orbanes heightens the readability by interweaving his own personal story—at Parker Brothers, which he joined in 1979, and judging Monopoly world tournaments—throughout this lively chronicle that puts the iconic game in the context of a slice of social history. 32 pages of b&w photos, 40 illus. throughout. (Nov. 30)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Who would have thought that Monopoly, the world's best-known board game, originated from an educational game created by a proponent of the obscure Progressive "single tax" theory? Elizabeth Magie's innovative game, Magie's Mother Earth, which eventually came to be known as the Landlord Game, circulated underground on college campuses for 30 years before a man named Charles Darrow put in place most of the elements which remain to this day. Orbanes, who has played a special role in the evolution of the game, serving as chief judge at the U.S and world Monopoly championships, unearths rare stories, drawings, and photographs of a long and previously unknown history of Monopoliana--an explosive craze that took hold in the darkest throes of the Depression era to bring hope and diversion to a population desperate for better times. The game, which harkens back to the era of powerful trusts controlled by men like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan, still survives despite the dominance of video games, and this release may find it a new generation of devotees. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306815745
• ISBN-13: 978-0306815744
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #789,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Game that Changed the World!, November 10, 2006

By 

Cocoa Jean "CJB" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game--And How It Got That Way (Hardcover)

Monopoly's impact on world history is truly amazing. As one of six children, Monopoly was a beloved favorite in my family. But, I had no idea how much more than "just a game" it is! The author takes you on a 100 year journey from the mind of Lizzie Phillips (who conceived Monopoly's forerunner as a political tool) to radical professor Scott Nearing (who popularized the game), through movers in the Roosevelt Adminstration, and on to Parker Brothers who published Monopoly and spread it worldwide. The Monopoly game helped prisoners escape in WWII, served in the Cold War, and on and on. Along the way, hundreds of millions of players played it, competed in tournaments, and absorbed it into our culture in more ways than I could have imagined. I also learned the best properties to buy, and the appendices list every version published, which is great in case you want to start collecting. I loved this book and highly recommend it as a fascinating, well-researched, delightful read!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A real disappointment, February 2, 2007

By 

Eric G (Northeast US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game--And How It Got That Way (Hardcover)

Love Monopoly and love pop culture history, so I was anxious to read this treatment of the history of America's favorite game. Unfortunately, the book does not live up to its promise.

Here's the core problem - the actual Monopoly content probably only fills about 75 pages. The rest of the text is the author's simplistic and superficial efforts at summarizing the American history that surrounded each decade of the game's life. So, instead of reading about Monopoly, I'm reading about FDR's New Deal and the author's thoughts on World War II.

He's no historian and his historical treatments are elementary-school level. By the 1960s, I was skimming over all his useless verbiage and trying (desperately) to find more on the game itself. The back cover teases with interesting Monopoly facts, but trivia of that ilk is given short shrift in the book.

Finally, he's just not a particularly good writer, using painful analogies and awkward prose. I'm not saying don't read it, especially if you have a high level of interest in the topic, but don't expect too much.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and informative... within reason, May 29, 2007

By 

Christopher Barat (Owings Mills, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game--And How It Got That Way (Hardcover)

If you're a casual player of Monopoly®, you may never have managed to see a game through to the finish. However, it won't take you much time at all to complete this breezy, informative survey of the tortuous development of the "real estate trading game" from a didactic method of teaching a 19th-century economic nostrum (Henry George's "single tax") to a pastime that is enjoyed around the world. Orbanes is in a position to know all about Monopoly®, having written the previous "The Monopoly® Companion", serving as a judge at Monopoly® tournaments, and being in touch with the many collectors and fans who have come to specialize in the game and its variants and spin-offs. He does commit a fairly egregious number of faux pas of a purely historical nature, however. The ending is weak, with entirely too much time being spent on a description of Monopoly® tournaments and various individuals who have an online Monopoly® presence. It might have been better had the book been an oversized hardback, with larger space being provided for the many illustrations of Monopoly® variants, precursors, and rip-offs. Even so, this book is worth reading by anyone who enjoys the game and the general history of American pop culture.