So, Yeah, This Is Happening ...

I do everything I can on these pages to prevent just this kind of thing. I feel like I've failed you all. I'm so sorry.

Here's the whole story (after the jump), told in in PRSpeak, which is like 1337speak, only 38% more disingenuous:

Monopoly is for Commies

Henry George

This post about Monopoly from The Straight Dope (via Kathy Shaidle) made me realize that not everyone is aware of the bizarre origins of Monopoly. The game was, in fact, created to teach the evils of property ownership and promote Georgism, a kind of red-headed stepchild of socialism and capitalism. Georgism opposed private ownership of land and sought to replace all taxes and tariffs with a single tax on land use. George's beliefs have stirred a faint bit of interest lately thanks to Matthew Bellamy, lead singer/guitarist of Muse and an ardent Georgist.

The designer of the game, Lizzie Magie, was a passionate follower of Henry George, and created The Landlord's Game to illustrate (rather poorly) George's ideas. Lizzie was obviously a little light on the rhetorical skills, since the person who owned the most monopolies and properties actually was the winner in her design, thus proving that being a slumlord and robber baron is pretty cool and you should get started on that right away.

Henry George and Karl Marx hated each other, and George's definition of "socialism" would have made Marx see red. (Wait a second...) George had no problems with free trade and didn't hate capitalism all that much (although he really hated the Chinese). Monopolies and landowners, however, made him hoppin' mad. George was no crank, and some of his suggestions align fairly well with Distributism. He didn't believe the State should own land (he didn't trust them either): he thought no one should own land. In contrast to the sweaty lunatic ravings of Marx and Engels, he comes across as kind of sensible and moderate, even though his ideas are completely unworkable.

Lizzie's game did a pretty rotten job as socio-political propaganda, but it did help teach generations of aspiring capitalists the allure of easy money. As you can see from her original designs, that was probably not part of her plan. (That little circle in the upper right-hand corner shows the Earth encircled by the phrase“Labor Upon Mother Earth Produces Wages.” It would later wind up with a more catchy name: "Go.")

Patents show the evolution of Magie's game. This is her first filing for The Landlord's Game in 1904:

And here's an original version:

This is the 1924 patent revision (filed under her married name of Elizabeth M. Phillips) which adds the concept of a monopoly for the first time.

This is a modern rendering of the 1924 revision.

In 1932, Dan Layman created Finance (published by Knapp Electric) which was one of the final stages in the evolution of Monopoly.

Finally, Charles Darrow ripped off all these elements and created Monopoly:

This is one of Darrow's early versions of Monopoly from 1933, printed on oilcloth and ... holy smokes, it's round!

And it all began with Lizzie Magie, shown below in a photo that captures her in mid-transformation into Groucho Marx.

PS: Monopoly has come full circle, so to speak. Monopoly Revolution, released last year, uses a round board like that found in Charles Darrow's original printing:

VARIANTS: Powers Monopoly

Powers Monopoly is a variant that uses any basic Monopoly set and rules, but adds special rules to mimic the "powers" concepts of Cosmic Encounter.

The rules for Powers Monopoly were floating around the internet for a while, but seem to have disappeared. My copy of the rules credits Scott Weiss and Rick Rubenstein, but if that's an error please correct me. I think the only other place hosting it is Game Central Station.

All of the rules are the same as in regular Monopoly with the following exceptions:

1. Each player is given two powers assigned at random from the list below. Write each on an index card, or simply print the list and cut them into individual slips of paper, one per power. Then and have each player draw two from the pile. The powers give players unique abilities that allow them to subvert the normal rules in some way. Some powers require a marker to denote when they can be used (for example, once per trip around the board.) Use whatever you have handy.

2. A player may not use his powers while in Jail.

3. When a player lands on Free Parking, he or she receives a Zap (use whatever markers are convenient; just make sure they're different from power-specific markers.) The Zap may be played on any player attempting to use a power, thereby cancelling the power's effect. The Zapped player may not attempt to reuse any of his or her powers until the next player's turn.

As an optional rule, you can allow players to trade powers as part of a deal.

You can find the individual powers after the jump.

App O' The Mornin': Monoply Review

I wasn’t sure about reviewing the Monopoly app, since Monopoly itself is pretty much review-proof. You either love or hate the original board game. Perhaps you merely tolerate it. But everyone has some history with it.

I’d managed to avoid playing actual Monopoly for years. Let’s face it: most game hobbyists faced with choice of playing Monopoly or nothing will usually choose nothing. A vigorous session of sock matching is usually higher on my list of things to do of an evening.

So imagine my surprise when I sat down with the app and found myself unable to put it down until I’d completed a full game, about an hour later: four hours less than an average Monopoly session.

It’s a remarkably sprightly adaptation, with unobtrusive animations that actually add to the flavor of the experience rather than just taking up time. All of those niggling little banking bits that usually drag on Monopoly like an anchor caught in the mud are handily automated for your convenience and protection. This has the pleasant side effect of speeding play and keeping the focus on the interesting bits.

The problem with Monopoly is not the game, per se, but the way most people play it (ie: all wrong). They keep finding new ways to flush money into the system by placing fines on Free Parking, and almost always forget to play the bidding element that gives the game a large jolt of energy.

Did you realize that when someone lands on an unowned property and declines the purchase, that property goes up for auction? Well, for years I didn’t. Like most people, I’d never read the rules: I’d just kind of absorbed them osmotically. (Please note: this is a metaphor: no osmosis actually took place.)

The Monopoly app models all these rules handily. Or not: it’s your choice. There are plenty of house rule options, which serve to either slow down a session, or speed it up. So, if you want to play the game all wrong, you can.

The game can handle up to four players, via AI (with three levels of difficulty) or pass-and-play. There are even four five different backgrounds, including a nerd-tastic faux-Enterprise bridge.

Look, this is Monopoly. If you already like the game, you should know that the app is an excellent version. If you don’t like the game, you should try it anyway. As with Life and Yahtzee, I found myself enjoying the app version more than the original game. Maybe I just needed to see it from a free perspective.