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Sheril Kirshenbaum

Did you know Monopoly was invented by a woman named Elizabeth Magie in 1903?

Originally ‘The Landlord’s Game,’ it was designed as a protest against the big monopolists like Carnegie & Rockefeller.

But it was Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman, who eventually sold it to Parker Brothers after playing a version.

Parker Brothers credited Monopoly with saving their company. Magie died in 1948 without recognition. Darrow became very wealthy & his legend lives on.

@Sheril Stop it! I'm now Wikipediaing instead of working😂

Here's Lizzie's board.

@jontromans She led a fascinating life, especially for a woman in that time period.

This is an excellent read amazon.com/Monopolists-Obsessi

@jontromans @Sheril

I just added the "Equivalent to current year value" to the page regarding her 1935 sale of the game to Parker Brothers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land

en.wikipedia.orgThe Landlord's Game - Wikipedia

@sysop408 @Sheril Came here to say exactly this for the auditory learners out there!

@blackflaglibrary I seem to remember that there was also one other podcast that covered the story from a slightly different angle that came earlier in the year or even last year. Does that ring a bell?

@Sheril . Interesting Sheril ! 👍🙂. Thanks for sharing!🌹😇🙏

@Sheril same old story. Anyone that tries to do something good for the world gets their idea stolen and used for evil.
Do you know if the original can be found anywhere?

@Sheril extreem kapitalistisch model. Ook stations en energiebedrijven geprivatiseerd. Extreme verschillen rijk en arm en geen sociaal vangnet, zeker als je voor “af” tenonder gaat. Spel zou verboden moeten worden vanwege verderfelijke invloed.

@Sheril I did not know that no but I love Monopoly

@Sheril Women's and POC's contributions to our society are certainly not taught. No buildings, streets, schools, airports named after them. One would assume white men have invented, built and discovered everything.

@Cakesniffer @Sheril

Women are definitely under represented in displays of recognition. However, so are the right men. The majority of those on display for greatness (men) have achieved their success by 'borrowing' ideas from others. Both women and men. If you look at most success stories in depth, you will find this to be the case. They have taken the idea, as in Monopoly, and made huge successes from the ideas of others.

@Sheril Calling it Magie: The Gathering from now on

@Sheril well we all have seen that story play out thought history up to today.

@Sheril Good lord. Elizabeth Magie had no recompense?

@njc @Sheril she patented the game and received $500 from Parker Brothers, but very little recognition for it.

@Sheril

Thank you for this. I did not know it. I'm still angry about Pamela Colman Smith who is finally getting recognized.

@Sheril she definitely deserves credit, but it's also worth pointing out that the progressive version she designed didn't draw a huge audience and didn't incorporate most of the elements we now associate with #Monopoly -- the alignment of the board with streets and utilities of an actual city, for instance.

It is true Darrow ripped her off. It's also true, though, that Parker Bros. discovered this and bought her patent.

@Sheril This may be a contrarian view , but I trust Mastodon not to let that fact keep us from starting what could be an interesting and respectful conversation.

The Landlord's Game's purpose -- to prove that monopolists are evil -- simply didn't resonate with the public in the way that #Monopoly's did. People wanted to pretend they were real estate tycoons. There was a market for that.

Darrow was a thief, but that didn't make the resulting game, or capitalism, inherently evil. IMHO.

@YusufToropov @Sheril

I see another example where creative invention involves borrowing ideas, mixing them, evolving them, and refining them.

Our model of intellectual property is modelled on a creator, rather than the social process it often is.

Our system seems better at giving rewards to lawyers than creators.

@Sheril and it wasn't meant to be any fun. The Landlord's game was supposed to show that capitalism was only fun for the few winners while everyone else struggled and was miserable.

@SebastianCSeithel @Sheril which, let's be honest, kind of misses the point of a board game...

@YusufToropov @Sheril but not the point of capitalism. And let's be real, even in it's altered form, if you actually follow the cardinal rules of monopoly instead of house rules like most people do, there are much more fun board games, haha.

@SebastianCSeithel @Sheril it's bizarre how popular this game is despite the complexity of the setup, the blizzard of rules, and the unilikeliness of actually finishing a game

@Sheril A $500,- buyout sounds pretty much like what most creatives nowadays get, too. Although it's often much less than 500 bucks today and even less than what 500 dollars were worth in 1903. web.archive.org/web/2013120223

web.archive.orgMonopoly - The $500 Buyout

@Sheril I find this completely unsurprising and fascinating. Of course the dudes just kept the version of the game where inequality wins.

@Sheril Magie invented Monopoly to demonstrate how in a pure capitalist system wealth inevitably concentrates in a few hands that own property. This was Marx’ fundamental insight, recently expounded at (enormous) length by Thomas Piketty. Monopoly still gets that point across admirably. Nobody would agree to keep playing the game after one player owned all the property - and yet that is precisely what we are all doing now.

@Sheril Its really a fantastic funny board game indeed. Never ending episodes and lots of fun. Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

@Sheril No, but not surprised that she was white.🤔

@Sheril
How ironic that a game made to criticize our profit driven economy was later acquired by a company to make profit for its own. This reminds me of a video made by @tio - videos.trom.tf/w/tVV1uZFkYPYJG

@Sheril Corporate America, ripping off inventors even back then!
I

@Sheril I knew, well.

Bourgeois gonna be bourgeoising!

I feel like the real American Dream is to gank someone else's dream, put your name on it and foist it off as your own to get rich.

Some version of this story happens way too often.

@Sheril She also authored several other games, at least one of which was fairly popular (a parlour style game rather than a board game). Despite there being copies out there of these other games, there’s scant information on the internet about them or how they are played. Really shocking for being other games by arguably the most popular game designer of al time.

@Sheril I’m glad to say that I was aware of this.

@Sheril I did not know this and I thank you for your post. So much and so many silenced yet someone always knows.

@Sheril Calling for #reparations for women #inventors whose #IP was stolen by men. If she has progeny I hope they sue the Darrow clan to bits. This should not be time-barred.