👀 #TIL Monopoly wasn't invented by the Parker Brothers, nor the man they gave it credit for. In 1904, Monopoly was originally called The Landlord's Game, and was invented by a radical woman. Elizabeth Magie's original game had not one, but two sets of rules to choose from.
One was called "Prosperity", where every player won money anytime another gained a property. And the game was won by everyone playing only when the person with the least doubled their resources. A game of collaboration and social good.
The second set of rules was called "Monopoly", where players succeeded by taking properties and rent from those with less luck rolling the dice. The winner was the person who used their power to eliminate everyone else.
Magie's mission was to teach us how different we feel when playing Prosperity vs Monopoly, hoping that it would one day change national policies.
When the Parker Bros adopted the game, they erased the "Prosperity" rules and celebrated "Monopoly".
#ElizabethMagie #Monopoly #Landlord
HT Tumblr.com/soberscientistlife

@Heliograph

Fun fact: There is nothing in the current rules preventing players cooperating with one another. Sharing properties and letting one another off mortgages etc.

Its a really fun way to annoy people who say they know how to win by being hyper-capitalist. You can win in short order and they are furious.

@robcornelius @Heliograph This is called a cartel and is in fact still hyper-capitalist

@ostrich @Heliograph

I would consider it a free association of like minded people who recognise that pooling resources and working together towards a common goal benefits everyone. Then again I am an anarchist.

Anyway its just a game.

@robcornelius @Heliograph Benefits everyone in the association and hurts everyone not in it.
So a Cartel.

@ostrich @Heliograph People outside of the group are free to join should they change their mind about how to play the game.

Its not a game of "us vs. them" Its a game of cooperation. If people choose not to cooperate with their fellow players there are consequences to them but not their fellow players.

@robcornelius @Heliograph Making it voluntary collusion doesn't make it any less collusion.

@ostrich @Heliograph

"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of motives, will somehow work together for the benefit of all."

—John Maynard Keynes