[ad_1]
A new version of Monopoly is coming, a version that celebrates women by paying more for players than men.
The game, Ms. Monopoly, is the first to feature a new character – an advocate for investment in women entrepreneurs – on the cover, according to a press release issued this week by Hasbro, the entertainment giant who owns the game.
Mrs. Monopoly celebrates women inventors, but one of them has been noticed: Elizabeth Magie, a progressive and feminist whose role in the development of Monopoly itself has long been diminished.
"I think if Hasbro really wanted to empower women, they could start by admitting that a woman invented the game," said Mary Pilon, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and New York Times reporter. , and the author of "The Monopolists ", a story of the board game dating from 2015.
The invention of the monopoly is often attributed to Charles Darrow, who sold the game to Parker Brothers in 1935, but Mrs. Pilon and other people claim that he owes everything, as well as Hasbro, to Magic, who is briefly recognized at the # Inside the box of the new Ms. Monopoly.
In 1904, Magic, also known as Lizzie, obtained a patent, The game of the owner. As in modern Monopoly, players in the game roll dice to advance on a path consisting of 40 spaces around a square board, according to the patent. They buy a property along the way and find utilities, railways and a bank. A corner encourages players to "go to jail", and one round of the table pays each hundred dollars.
The goal was to amass wealth. The goal of the game, however, was political. The views of Magic were shaped by Henry George, a popular progressive who advocated for a single property tax to prevent the wealthy from monopolizing resources, according to the book. The game was designed to advocate for a reform.
"It's a practical demonstration of the current system of land grabbing with all its usual results and consequences," wrote Magie in The Single Tax Review, a newspaper dedicated to the idea.
According to the book, Magie was a feminist and progressive pioneer. In the early 1900s, she owned a home in Washington, DC, worked as a stenographer, and played theater and wrote in her spare time. In addition to inventing several games, Magie was also an amateur engineer and had a patent on a tool to make it easier to pass the paper through the typewriter rolls.
In 1906, she made headlines around the world when she went on sale as a "young American slave woman" with the aim of raising public awareness of gender inequality. The stunt allowed Magie to meet writer Upton Sinclair and work in a newspaper. And as Magic became famous, so was his game.
"It's a bit viral like in 1904, that is to say, more slowly and everywhere, but it's becoming a favorite game for left-wing intellectuals," said Pilon. There is evidence of versions played at Columbia, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, she said.
Ms. Pilon traced the slow path of the game to a Quaker community in Atlantic City, where home-made copies were created with property names replaced by local landmarks, such as Pennsylvania Avenue, Virginia Avenue, Ventnor Avenue, and Boardwalk. Finally, Darrow was introduced to the game by a man who attended a Quaker school with his wife.
Darrow developed Monopoly, making modifications and adjustments, and began marketing it locally and introduced it to Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers. The two initially rejected it, but as the game gained popularity, Parker Brothers changed its mind and bought it in 1935.
The company then proceeded to neutralize any threat to its new game. It obtained a patent on Monopoly, bought similar board games or sued their manufacturers. George Parker, the company's founder, visited Magie and persuaded her to sell The Landlord's Game in exchange for $ 500 and the promise to publish it, along with two other games of her design.
None of the games took off and, by the time of Magie's death in 1948, his obituary did not mention his role in the development of Monopoly, according to the book.
In a statement and in Ms. Monopoly's box, Hasbro recognizes Magic, but does not fail to give him credit for the match.
"The Monopoly game, as we know it, was invented by Charles Darrow, who sold his idea to Parker Brothers in 1935," the company said in a statement. "However, there have been a number of popular property trading games throughout history. In fact, Elizabeth Magie – a writer, inventor, and feminist – was one of the pioneers of land grabbing games. "
Since 1935, nearly 1000 different Versions of Monopoly – including limited editions based on movies such as "Star Wars" – have been created, according to Hasbro, which now owns Parker Brothers. Monopoly and six other franchises, including Magic: The Gathering and Nerf, generated $ 2.45 billion in sales for Hasbro last year, the best ever record for Monopoly, the company said in its 2018 annual report.
[ad_2]
Source link