Mastodawn

Mark Holtom (aka Kingbeard)May 10

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".

@MarkHoltom Oh! That's why Monopoly is sooooooooo boring. Have to try Prosperity rules!

@gdvieira @MarkHoltom Monopoly was expressly designed so that wealth creates wealth - a player who gets an advantage by luck in the early game will become so entrenched that their victory is practically assured. From a game design perspective that's a terrible idea. It's a relic of the original intention of the landlord's game: It's intended to show players just how unfair the game is, just like the real property market.

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Mark Holtom (aka Kingbeard)May 10

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".

Beep Boop May 10

@MarkHoltom that board is so pretty!

Wonder if the the rules are readily available? Would love to play Prosperity on Monopoly board. Flipping the course in a game that causes so much offence between players when played.

Wim Koolhoven May 10

@salakala @MarkHoltom https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29316/the-landlords-game BGG has the rules and lots of images

The Landlord's Game

Origins of monopoly, play with collective or competitive goals.

BoardGameGeek

Melvin Gundlach May 10

@salakala @MarkHoltom It is pretty, but it’s not the original. It’s from the 1939 Parker Brother's edition.

Curious Lily 🇪🇺 ✌🏼 👩🏽‍💻May 10

@MarkHoltom Facinating! Thank you for posting this, I found this gem after reading your toot, https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-landlords-game/
What an incredible woman 🤩

The Landlord's Game: Lizzie Magie and Monopoly's Anti-Capitalist Origins (1903)

The story of how a homemade, anti-capitalist game created by a woman becomes a mass-produced uber-capitalist game that profited a man.

The Public Domain Review

Johnny Than May 10

@MarkHoltom Can we make the prosperity part into its own game and become even more popular than the monopoly one?

@johnnythan @MarkHoltom all the IP should be back in the public domain, so why not?

groff 🇺🇦May 10

@johnnythan Only if the rights have expired. Elizabeth Magie cashed out and sold the rights to Parker Brothers. After that it was up to them what they did with it, and as far as I can tell the collaborative rules made for an even more dull game than monopoly is now.

Evelyn Estelle May 10

@johnnythan @MarkHoltom
Well, it's not hard to make a better game than Monopoly. Sadly, Monopoly is so common, that it is likely to be picked up by anyone who wants to get into board games and then walk away with the impression that board games are boring.

Also, I'm not a lawyer, but rules can't be copyrighted or patented (and any would have expired anyway), so as long as you use your own artwork you should be okay. So, good luck! 👍

Wilfried Klaebe May 10

@MarkHoltom Well of course, Parker Bros couldn't challenge their own monopoly on their wares!

Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐May 10

@wonka @MarkHoltom It should be noted that Parker Brothers did eventually purchase Magie's rights to the game, and the illustrated version above is, in fact, the Parker Brothers edition of the game. Magie based her game on the economic theories of Henry George, most prominently known for his 1879 treatise, "Progress and Poverty", with the central thesis that land should be made common property via reclamation of its community generated value.

Alida Antonia May 10

@gcvsa @wonka @MarkHoltom If you see people fight in HOAs about things, land being held in common would be a disaster, lol, except for public lands that are being used for private gain today, which is unacceptable.

@gcvsa @wonka @MarkHoltom Sort of true. Parker Brothers had no interest in the Landlord's Game, but Magie wouldn't sell them Monopoly without it: A condition of the sale of the patent and copyright on Monopoly was that Parker Brothers must also publish and sell at least one production run of the Landlord's Game.

It was a commercial flop though. Mostly because PB didn't do anything to promote it, though perhaps also because it just wasn't as fun a game.

Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐May 11

@Qybat @wonka @MarkHoltom It's a bit difficult to cover every point in such a small space. Yes, PB agreeing to actually print a run of TLG was mostly for show, and the competitive rules create tycoons while the cooperative rules create equality. People who want to "win" at the game of life will prefer the former.

Toni Aittoniemi May 10

@MarkHoltom The real power is controlling the narrative.
The peak of power is not being able to tell others what to do.
It is making them want to do the things you want without you even telling them so.
#postmodern #narrative #theory

Em & future cats 🇺🇦🐈🏳️‍🌈May 10

@MarkHoltom
Ohh my goodness gracious !!! Seriously!? I want to play prosperity ! But I guess the guys prefer the money grabbing monopoly instead of working with each other… figures 🙄
Thank you for sharing!!! I’m gonna go share this with my family. (I never really played monopoly and it never seemed to appeal to me, I guess I know why now! 😹)

@MarkHoltom damn, talk about victors writing history!

Toadofsky May 10

@MarkHoltom Now I'm imagining a tariffs expansion to explain basic economic principles for the capitalists out there.

Mike Gifford, CPWA May 10

@MarkHoltom she was a Quaker too I believe.

Alida Antonia May 10

@mgifford @MarkHoltom being a Quaker would explain her views.

Sharon McCarthy May 10

@MarkHoltom More rot created by the patriarchy and their lust for capitalism

robloblaw May 10

@MarkHoltom
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-landlords-game/

The Landlord’s Game - 99% Invisible

From rock-paper-scissors, to tennis, to Mario Kart, every game is a designed system and all games are grounded in the same design principles. One popular game in particular has a mixed reputation with game players and designers alike: Monopoly. Participants circle the board, buy property, build houses, collect money, draw cards and pay money when

99% Invisible

Peter van Broekhoven May 10

@robloblaw @MarkHoltom See also https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/cautionary-tales/do-not-pass-go

Do NOT Pass GO! | Cautionary Tales

Discrimination has marred the careers of many inventors and shut others out from the innovation economy entirely. Could crediting forgotten figures help address continuing disparities in the patenting of new inventions?

Pushkin Industries

@MarkHoltom And thus, one of the least interesting board games to play was born...

Sweet Home Alaberta 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇲🇽May 10

@MarkHoltom
I believe there's an opportunity to clone Monopoly into a new oilgarch game called Tariffs.

Ghost 🇺🇦May 10

@MarkHoltom Probably the most prominent georgist since henry george himself

Raphael Lullis May 10

seems like *both* sets of rules are flawed? Both of them make it seem that it is a zero-sum game and wealth can not be generated, only moved around.

JoeJoeTom (aka Eerie Tom)May 10

@MarkHoltom Looked her up on Wikipedia. She was also an advocate for the rights of women and black people.

Ferdi Groenewald

@MarkHoltom great post, thank you!
So the Parker brothers monopolized monopoly? Haha

@MarkHoltom here is some more on the topic: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-landlords-game/

The Landlord's Game: Lizzie Magie and Monopoly's Anti-Capitalist Origins (1903)

The story of how a homemade, anti-capitalist game created by a woman becomes a mass-produced uber-capitalist game that profited a man.

The Public Domain Review

Juan A. Zamarripa [E.]May 10

Here's an oldish post regarding this topic:

https://mastodon.social/@jaze/110140642020708134

!

If you play Monopoly and you are not the winner, you feel out of luck, unfairly treated and sometimes cheated. Apart from the winner, everyone feels worse after playing.

Just like in capitalism in the real world.

@MarkHoltom Oh! That's why Monopoly is sooooooooo boring. Have to try Prosperity rules!

@gdvieira @MarkHoltom Monopoly was expressly designed so that wealth creates wealth - a player who gets an advantage by luck in the early game will become so entrenched that their victory is practically assured. From a game design perspective that's a terrible idea. It's a relic of the original intention of the landlord's game: It's intended to show players just how unfair the game is, just like the real property market.

Ari "Two Naps" Jackson May 10

@MarkHoltom Many decades ago I had a New Year's Eve babysitting job for my neighbors and our tradition was to play the board game called "Life" but play it backwards.

You started out with all of the things/cars/kids/money and whoever lost them all first won the game.

I didn't realize until a few years later what a little nihilist existentialist I actually was as a kid. 🤣

@arisummerland
Okay that actually sounds genuinely fun! Can you share the rules you used?

Ari "Two Naps" Jackson May 10

@Kavus Apologies, it has been almost 40 years since, so I don't know? I would just go ahead and make up your own after reading the actual rules. (If you own that board game, that is.) That's what I would do. I am somebody who made up nonsense scrabble rules and love them much more than regular Scrabble rules.

@arisummerland
Oh I didn't realize it had been that long ago. I do own it, so I'll try to do that, thanks!

Ari "Two Naps" Jackson May 10

@Kavus you have carte blanche to do anything you want with the rules to make the game more fun! I hope you do have fun.

Snooze Button Connoisseur May 10

@MarkHoltom
Oh my lord, why hasn't anyone published the Prosperity version?
We should do so as open source...🤔

Souvlaki Space Station May 10

@MarkHoltom I started reading this and had to start over because I somehow initially assumed this was about the concept of a monopoly

@anarchiv @MarkHoltom
Same

Alice Dubiel 🔬💉🦠😷🌬☮️May 10

@MarkHoltom My father usually incorporated some what we would now call “hacks”into playing Monopoly with us as children. One was a periodic issue of “bonuses” of $500 bills when someone playing was losing and would be forced out. He had others less dramatic. For him the object was to keep playing the game.

@MarkHoltom I wonder if in her original version of 'Monopoly' the game board ended up getting trashed quite as much as games played on the current board do.

DoomsdaysCW May 10

@MarkHoltom More about #TheLandlordsGame in this thread!
https://kolektiva.social/@DoomsdaysCW/109900440610815052

DoomsdaysCW (@DoomsdaysCW@kolektiva.social)

Attached: 1 image ‘The Landlord’s Game’ and Monopoly’s Origins "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." #Capitalism #Monopoly #Feminist #Socialist #ElizabethMagie #LizMagie #LizzieMagie #TheLandlordsGame https://www.truthorfiction.com/the-landlords-game-and-monopolys-origins/

kolektiva.social

Oriol Piera May 10

@MarkHoltom do you know if there's availability of this table game nowadays?

@MarkHoltom for those interested in the story, this is a great book on the topic

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b0cb0db1-562b-4dc3-a052-23f1d6416306

BjoernAusGE May 10

@MarkHoltom so you also watch Heretic recently.

The Sleight Doctor 🃏May 10

@MarkHoltom Yep. 👇

https://mastodon.world/@ApostateEnglishman/113706543086075261

The Sleight Doctor 🃏 (@ApostateEnglishman@mastodon.world)

@Lana@beige.party It's worth noting in this context that Monopoly was based on The Landlord's Game, patented in 1904 by fiction writer and poet, engineer, stage actress and outspoken activist for the feminist movement, Elizabeth Magie. Magie was a fierce abolitionist and proponent of social justice for African-Americans, and her game - based on the teachings of progressive era economist Henry George - was meant to illustrate the negative effects of land monopolies. The original rules were anti-capitalist.

Mastodon

Matthew Johnson May 10

@MarkHoltom her birthday is a holiday in Macomb, Illinois.
https://www.visitforgottonia.com/lizzie-magie-inventor-of-monopoly/

Petra 🍋May 10

@MarkHoltom There was an interesting documentary about this on German tv channel Arte a few months ago. https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/RC-026283/gestohlener-ruhm-frauen-im-schatten-des-erfolgs/

Gestohlener Ruhm - Frauen im Schatten des Erfolgs - Geschichte | ARTE

Charles Darrow gilt als Erfinder von „Monopoly“, dem berühmtesten Brettspiel der Welt. Doch nicht er, sondern Elizabeth Magie Philipps hatte die Idee – als spielerische Kritik am Kapitalismus, dessen Opfer sie schließlich wurde. Auch die Entdeckung der DNA-Struktur basiert maßgeblich auf der Forschung der brillanten Rosalind Franklin. Die Geschichte zweier lang vergessener Pionierinnen und ihrer gestohlenen Erfolge.

ARTE

groff 🇺🇦May 10

@MarkHoltom So under the Prosperity rules landlords profited more by forming a cartel. That seem worse.

Robin Barton May 10

@MarkHoltom Maybe they no longer have the copyright for the prosperity game and it should be brought back

Yet another Josh

Would it be possible to write rules from prosperity to be bolted onto Monopoly?

Has anybody tried?

Mike Spooner May 10

@MarkHoltom The word "adopted" is doing a heck of lot of work, there.

Carlos Solís May 11

@MarkHoltom Turning Monopoly into a coop game sounds interesting - knowing that the mode was excised from the original game is painful however

Charlse the Glider May 11

@MarkHoltom And now I want one.

tikistitch⁷ has moved May 11

Wait, so Hugh Grant's dotty rant in Heretic was actually true?? Amazing!

Low Rank Jack May 11

@MarkHoltom
For information, this story is also described in this interesting episode of The Cautionary Tales by Tim Harford https://timharford.com/2021/05/cautionary-tales-do-not-pass-go/

Cautionary Tales – Do NOT pass GO!

(Self promotion: the paperback of How To Make the World Add Up is now out worldwide (except North America). Please consider an early order, which is disproportionately helpful in winning …

Tim Harford

@MarkHoltom @kupfers Oooh I like that map. A secret rule gets you to a hammock on the island.