As a child there are many games I can remember playing with the rest of the family, especially at Christmas. One that stands out for me is Monopoly. You know the one, places to buy, like Park Lane and Mayfair, and ‘Please pass Go’, and ‘Go directly to Jail’!! Here are some other details regarding this traditional game:
The original game of Monopoly was dreamed up by Lizzie Magie around 1905. She was opposed to capitalism and designed a game to highlight the misery of buying and selling properties. She called it The Landlord’s Game. Then some thirty years later Charles Darrow adapted the game and named it Capitalism.
There have been over 5,120,000,000 little green houses ‘constructed’ since the Monopoly game was first introduced in 1935. Trafalgar Square, Fenchurch Street Station and ‘Go’ are the three most landed on properties. The Character locked behind the bars in jail is called Jake the Jailbird and Officer Edgar Mallory sent him there.
A game was once held in an elevator and lasted 10 days, and another was played for 36 hours with the participants hanging upside down. In 1964, a 95 pound board was sold for an underwater game and in 1983, 350 members of the Buffalo Dive Club played Monopoly underwatre non-stop for 1,080 hours!!
During World War II, escape maps, compasses and files were inserted into the board and smuggled into POW camps inside Germany. Real money for escapees was slipped into the packs of Monopoly money.
These days there are many versions of Monopoly, from electronic cash machines, to localised place names. Whatever you choose, you are sure to have fun, frustration and for your children, education! As they are learning about money in a fun way without even realising it, which is always a plus with kids.