When she first began designing what would eventually become the basis of the classic board game Monopoly in the early 1900s, the writer, advocate and inventor Elizabeth Magie had no idea the game would eventually be seen as an ode to capitalism.
Magie was a progressive who conceived the game as a critique of wealthy and powerful monopolists of her time, such as John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie. In fact, that interpretation of her greatest invention—a multiplayer game she originally called “The Landlord’s Game” in 1904—would horrify her for the rest of her life.
The story of Monopoly, “is very much an American story, and very much about capitalism and money,” says journalist and author Mary Pilon. Pilon’s 2015 book The Monopolists traces Monopoly’s history from its very first origins to today.
Monopoly’s story, Pilon adds, is also the tale of a woman whose credit for the creation of one of the most iconic games in American history would be eclipsed for decades.
Influence of Reformer Henry George
Born in Macomb, Illinois in 1866 to a homemaker mother and newspaper publisher father, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie was an ambitious iconoclast who sought to change the way Americans viewed everything from land ownership to taxes to gender roles. Her father, James, had instilled in his children the belief that inequality between the rich and the poor—driven by “the vicious, the ignorant, and the millionaires”—was the greatest threat to American society.
Both James and Lizzie were strident followers of the 19th-century reformer and politician Henry George. George advocated for a “single tax” that would eliminate all taxes except for those on land, since, George argued, land could not truly belong to anyone.
Followers of George’s theories in the post-Civil War era called themselves “Georgists,” and established Single Tax clubs and social groups across the country. These clubs gave young women like Lizzie an outlet to explore new ideas and concepts, says Pilon.
An outspoken advocate for women’s rights, Magie did not marry until her mid-40s and spoke out on behalf of working women and against sexism and societal expectations in her writings and public speeches.
As Magie sought ways to spark discussions about Georgism, inequality and land ownership beyond Single Tax clubs, she conceived of the idea for a game.
Creation of the The Landlord’s Game
The Gilded Age, spanning roughly from the end of the Civil War to the 1930s, saw a new approach to leisure time. As publishers developed greater access to chromolithography—which allowed color printing on cardboard and wood—board games could be created for a wider, mainstream audience in ways that were not previously possible.
Like many board game designers of the era, Magie aimed to shape the values of her players through specifically designed rules and interactions. A product as simple and accessible as a game was particularly appealing to the Georgist movement, Pilon says, because followers were deeply concerned that the ideas of the charismatic George would fall out of favor after his death in 1897.
In her 1903 patent application for the The Landlord’s Game, Magie carefully describes a game board with “corner-spaces, one constituting the starting-point, and a series of intervening spaces indicating different denominations….distinguished by coloring or other marking.”
Her patent application also clearly states the game’s purpose: “The object of the game is to obtain as much Wealth or money as possible.” Notably, unlike the Monopoly we know today, Magie’s version featured two sets of rules: the Monopolist rules, which focus on individuals acquiring great wealth through property and rent, and the Prosperity rules, under which every player benefits when someone acquires wealth.
Magie elaborated on her intentions in a 1903 article in the journal Single Tax Review. The Landlord’s Game, she wrote, is “a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences. It might well have been called the ‘Game of Life,’ as it contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world.”
Game Becomes a Sensation
When her 1904 patent was granted, Magie, at 37, became one of the few American women with multiple patents during the pre-suffragist era. (She had previously patented a “type-writing device,” which improved the way paper was run through typewriters in 1893). While she and two colleagues produced and sold “The Landlord’s Game” through the Economic Game Company, which they co-owned and co-founded, the game quickly developed a life of its own.
Georgist Single Tax clubs, prestigious East Coast economics departments like at Harvard, Wharton and Williams, and Quaker communities embraced The Landlord’s Game as a means to discuss economic issues and inequality. Soon, players began creating their own versions of the game, and grassroots popularity of the game soared in the early 1900s.
How The Landlord’s Game Became Monopoly
Years after Magie filed her patent, game developer Charles Brace Darrow was introduced to The Landlord’s Game at a party. Darrow’s name may be familiar since, for generations, it was his name that appeared on Monopoly game sets with an explanation of the game’s Great Depression origins.
“That was the story that was tucked into my and millions of others’ family’s game box,” Pilon recalls. “But when I started looking around, dates weren’t lining up and people were being weird about telling me the full origin story.”
In the early 1930s, Darrow, then unemployed and struggling financially, adapted and marketed his own version of the game that he had played frequently with friends. After an unsuccessful attempt to sell the game—now called Monopoly—to Parker Brothers in 1934, he began producing and selling his own game boards. After boasting of selling 5,000 copies independently, he succeeded in selling the game rights to Parker Brothers in 1935.
Monopoly quickly became a blockbuster for Parker Brothers, but the company soon realized they had a potential scandal on their hands. Darrow “starts waffling” when asked to provide an official account of how he got the idea for the game, says Pilon. “People also began writing in, saying ‘I was playing this game long before 1934.’”
Parker Brothers founder George Parker, concerned about protecting his company’s bestseller, decided to step out of retirement in 1935 to address the issue. “He goes to visit Lizzie and strikes a deal,” Pilon explains. Parker offered Magie $500 to buy the rights to The Landlord’s Game, produce her version of the game, and credit her role in Monopoly. “At first, she was very excited because this was, as she called it, her brainchild.” However, Pilon says, there’s no evidence that the games were ever produced or that any effort was made to credit Magie.
In fact, Magie’s critical role in Monopoly’s history was not fully revealed to the public until a 1973 lawsuit by Ralph Anspach, a college professor who created and tried to copyright a game called “Anti-Monopoly.” Amidst the high profile legal battle, the story of Elizabeth Magie emerged.
Magie Battles for Her Patent
While her central role in the creation of Monopoly came to light decades later, Magie spent years trying to get recognition. In 1936, just a few years after Darrow patented his version of Monopoly, Magie contacted both the Washington Post and the Washington Evening Star to share her story. Comparing the two games, the Evening Star noted that “you might notice little difference in the 1904 version and the one you tried to buy this week.”
In her interview, Magie explained how she diligently renewed her patent for The Landlord’s Game each time it approached expiration and how the original rules were influenced by her dedication to Henry George’s single tax principles.
Pilon notes that many readers of her book—particularly women—are struck by how Magie’s work was almost lost to history. But, Pilon points out, “think about what the cultural headwinds were at that time—there was a lot she was up against.”
