Charles Darrow
Encyclopedia
Charles Brace Darrow was born in Philadelphia; he is best known as the purported inventor of the Monopoly
board game
. Darrow was a domestic heater
salesman from Germantown
, a neighborhood in Philadelphia (the part of Germantown he lived in is now called Mount Airy) during the Great Depression
. The house he lived in still stands at 40 Westview Street. While Darrow eventually sold his version of Monopoly to Parker Brothers, claiming it to be his own invention, modern historians credit Darrow as just one of the game's final developers.
In truth, Darrow was just one of many people in the American Midwest and East Coast
who had been playing a game of buying and trading property. The game's direct ancestor was "The Landlord's Game
", created by Elizabeth Magie
. The game was used by college professors and their students, and another variant, called "The Fascinating Game of Finance
", was published in the Midwest in the late 1920s and early 1930s. From there the game traveled back east, where it had remained popular in Pennsylvania, and became popular with a group of Quakers in Atlantic City, New Jersey
. Darrow was taught to play the game by Charles Todd, who had played it in Atlantic City, where it had been customized with that city's street and property names. Darrow's version of the game, as published, was virtually identical to the version he learned from Todd.
In 2004 the PBS
program History Detectives
investigated a game board owned by Ron Jarrell of Arden, Delaware
, which had elements of both "The Landlord's Game" and "Monopoly". The investigators concluded that this game board "[had] key elements in it that link the Landlord’s Game and the Monopoly Game together".
. Charles drew the designs of the properties with drafting pens, and his son and wife filled in the spaces with colors and made the title deed cards and Chance and Community Chest cards. On these first round boards, Darrow included some of the icons (actually designed for him by a hired graphic artist) that the later Monopoly
made famous, such as the large red arrow for "Go", the black locomotives on the railroad spaces, the faucet on "Water Works" and light bulb on "Electric Company" and the question marks on the "Chance" spaces. Darrow then secured a copyright for the game in 1933. The next known versions he produced had printed 'boards' on oilcloth squares with hand colored details.
in Philadelphia. Later that year, Darrow showed his game first to Milton Bradley
and later to Parker Brothers
. The later company rejected the game for three (not 52 as is popularly believed) "fundamental errors", which included the game's length and complexity.
Darrow reinvested money from the sales into smaller sets, sold in black cardboard boxes, with boards sold separately from the sets. After Darrow started to take orders from other Philadelphia department stores, Parker Brothers reconsidered.
Parker Brothers negotiated the rights from Darrow to produce the game in large scale. Darrow sought and received on the game in 1935, which Parker Brothers acquired. Within a year, 20,000 sets of the game were being produced every week. Monopoly ended up being the best-selling board game in America that year, and it made Darrow the first millionaire
game designer in history.
Darrow was later promoted as the sole inventor of the game, though later research has shown that Magie, Jesse Raiford, Ruth Hoskins, Louis and Ferdinand Thun, and Daniel Layman, among others, were collectively responsible for virtually all of game's significant elements. Despite this, current owners Hasbro list only Charles Darrow by name on their official website.
A posed photograph of Charles B. Darrow and a credit to him appear on the Parker Brothers
Stock Exchange
game "Bulls and Bears" copyrighted in 1936.
In 1957, Darrow appeared as a mystery challenger on the TV panel show "To Tell The Truth"; he died a decade later—19 days after his 78th birthday.
in his honor on the boardwalk
, near the corner of Park Place.
In 1973 Ralph Anspach
, an economics professor at San Francisco State University
, produced Anti-Monopoly
, a game similar to Monopoly, and for this was sued by Parker Brothers
. During the ten year suit, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Darrow had copied down the rules directly (even the misspelling of Marven Gardens as "Marvin Gardens") from the game produced by Charles Todd.
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
. Darrow was a domestic heater
Heater
A heater is an object that emits heat or causes another body to achieve a higher temperature. In a household or domestic setting, heaters are usually appliances whose purpose is to generate heating...
salesman from Germantown
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
, a neighborhood in Philadelphia (the part of Germantown he lived in is now called Mount Airy) during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The house he lived in still stands at 40 Westview Street. While Darrow eventually sold his version of Monopoly to Parker Brothers, claiming it to be his own invention, modern historians credit Darrow as just one of the game's final developers.
The Evolution of Monopoly
After losing his job at a sales company following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Darrow worked at various odd jobs. Seeing his neighbors and acquaintances play a home-made board game in which the object was to buy and sell property, he decided to publish his own version of the game, with the help of his first son, William, and his wife Ester. Darrow marketed his version of the game under the name Monopoly.In truth, Darrow was just one of many people in the American Midwest and East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
who had been playing a game of buying and trading property. The game's direct ancestor was "The Landlord's Game
The Landlord's Game
The Landlord's Game is a board game patented in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie as . It is a realty and taxation game, which is considered to be a direct inspiration for the board game Monopoly...
", created by Elizabeth Magie
Elizabeth Magie
Elizabeth "Lizzie" J. Phillips née Magie was an American game designer. She invented The Landlord's Game, the precursor to Monopoly.-Early life:...
. The game was used by college professors and their students, and another variant, called "The Fascinating Game of Finance
Finance (game)
Finance is a board game originally released in 1932 by Knapp Electric and later reissued by Parker Brothers. The game, similar to Monopoly, is based on The Landlord's Game in the movement of pieces around the board, the use of "Chance" cards , properties that can be purchased, and houses that can...
", was published in the Midwest in the late 1920s and early 1930s. From there the game traveled back east, where it had remained popular in Pennsylvania, and became popular with a group of Quakers in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
. Darrow was taught to play the game by Charles Todd, who had played it in Atlantic City, where it had been customized with that city's street and property names. Darrow's version of the game, as published, was virtually identical to the version he learned from Todd.
In 2004 the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
program History Detectives
History Detectives
History Detectives is a documentary television series on PBS. A group of researchers help people to seek answers to various historical questions they have, usually centering around a family heirloom, an old house or other historic object or structure...
investigated a game board owned by Ron Jarrell of Arden, Delaware
Arden, Delaware
Arden is a village and art colony in New Castle County, Delaware, in the United States, founded in 1900 as a radical Georgist single-tax community by sculptor Frank Stephens and architect Will Price. The village occupies about 160 acres, with half kept as open land. According to the 2010 Census,...
, which had elements of both "The Landlord's Game" and "Monopoly". The investigators concluded that this game board "[had] key elements in it that link the Landlord’s Game and the Monopoly Game together".
Original Game
The Darrow family initially made their game sets on flexible, round pieces of oilcloth instead of rigid, square cartonCarton
Carton is the name of certain types of containers typically made from paperboard which is also sometimes known as cardboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box.-Folding cartons:...
. Charles drew the designs of the properties with drafting pens, and his son and wife filled in the spaces with colors and made the title deed cards and Chance and Community Chest cards. On these first round boards, Darrow included some of the icons (actually designed for him by a hired graphic artist) that the later Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
made famous, such as the large red arrow for "Go", the black locomotives on the railroad spaces, the faucet on "Water Works" and light bulb on "Electric Company" and the question marks on the "Chance" spaces. Darrow then secured a copyright for the game in 1933. The next known versions he produced had printed 'boards' on oilcloth squares with hand colored details.
Commercial sales
By 1934, Darrow started having the game printed on cardboard, and sold copies in long white boxes to Wanamaker's Department StoreWanamaker's
Wanamaker's department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the first department stores in the United States. At its zenith in the early 20th century, there were two major Wanamaker department stores, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City at Broadway...
in Philadelphia. Later that year, Darrow showed his game first to Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley Company
The Milton Bradley Company is an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States, and in 1987, it purchased Selchow and Righter,...
and later to Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
. The later company rejected the game for three (not 52 as is popularly believed) "fundamental errors", which included the game's length and complexity.
Darrow reinvested money from the sales into smaller sets, sold in black cardboard boxes, with boards sold separately from the sets. After Darrow started to take orders from other Philadelphia department stores, Parker Brothers reconsidered.
Parker Brothers negotiated the rights from Darrow to produce the game in large scale. Darrow sought and received on the game in 1935, which Parker Brothers acquired. Within a year, 20,000 sets of the game were being produced every week. Monopoly ended up being the best-selling board game in America that year, and it made Darrow the first millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
game designer in history.
Darrow was later promoted as the sole inventor of the game, though later research has shown that Magie, Jesse Raiford, Ruth Hoskins, Louis and Ferdinand Thun, and Daniel Layman, among others, were collectively responsible for virtually all of game's significant elements. Despite this, current owners Hasbro list only Charles Darrow by name on their official website.
A posed photograph of Charles B. Darrow and a credit to him appear on the Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
Stock Exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
game "Bulls and Bears" copyrighted in 1936.
In 1957, Darrow appeared as a mystery challenger on the TV panel show "To Tell The Truth"; he died a decade later—19 days after his 78th birthday.
After death
In 1970, three years after Darrow's death, Atlantic City placed a commemorative plaqueCommemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
in his honor on the boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
, near the corner of Park Place.
In 1973 Ralph Anspach
Ralph Anspach
Ralph Anspach is a retired American economics professor from San Francisco State University. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and fought with the Machal in 1948 in support of the independence of Israel. He is best known, though, for creating the game Anti-Monopoly, which resulted in...
, an economics professor at San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, produced Anti-Monopoly
Anti-Monopoly
Anti-Monopoly is a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor Ralph Anspach, in response to Monopoly. The game was originally to be produced in 1973 as Bust the Trust but the title was changed to Anti-Monopoly.-Gameplay:...
, a game similar to Monopoly, and for this was sued by Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers
Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...
. During the ten year suit, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Darrow had copied down the rules directly (even the misspelling of Marven Gardens as "Marvin Gardens") from the game produced by Charles Todd.
External links
- Article covering court battle over Monopoly
- Early history of Monopoly
- "From Berks to Boardwalk" – A look at the influence that residents of Berks County, PennsylvaniaBerks County, Pennsylvania-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 373,638 people, 141,570 households, and 98,532 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 150,222 housing units at an average density of 175 per square mile...
had on the early development of the game that became Monopoly.