In the game of Monopoly, as the title implies, the object is to get as much money as possible, ideally bankrupting all the other players until you are the only player left. The game, then, socializes children into a particular version of economic interaction, one quite compatible with capitalism as we know it.
The idea that Monopoly is a socializing agent is brought into stark relief by The Landlord’s Game (from which, it is believed, Monopoly was derived).
Patented by Elizabeth Magie in 1904, the object of this game was to illustrate the economic inequality inherent in the renter/owner relationship. From Wikipedia:
Magie based the game on the economic principles of Georgism, a system proposed by Henry George, with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants. She knew that some people could find it hard to understand why this happened and what might be done about it, and she thought that if Georgist ideas were put into the concrete form of a game, they might be easier to demonstrate.
The game was manufactured beginning in 1910. In 1935 the patent was ultimately purchased, ironically, by Parker Brothers; they wanted to buy the patents of all competing economy-based board games so as to have a monopoly on the genre.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 26
Hannah — August 16, 2010
That looks really interesting, but it is incredibly hard to read the spaces on that photo. And do you have a copy of the game instructions or anything, so we can actually see how the game is played and what makes it different from Monopoly?
Cute Bruiser — August 16, 2010
There's a bigger version of the image over at Wikipedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Landlords_Game_board_based_on_1924_patent.png
I would also like to see the instructions!
Katie — August 16, 2010
NPR's Planet Money podcast just did a show about how the game Monopoly reflects (and fails to reflect) a capitalist economy. It was interesting to hear some ideas about how players could modify the game to make it both more realistic and less reinforcing of the rich/poor gap (e.g., adding progressive taxation).
MissPrism — August 16, 2010
Here's an example of an economics game used as deliberate marketing ploy. "Grade Up To Elite Cow" was, as I understand it, produced in partnership with the British Friesian Cattle Society, and given out to dairy farmers to advertise the potential benefits of artificial insemination. The board had squares on which you could buy semen, cows, or insurance, and each player had a small pegboard with pieces representing your cows, which you could "breed" as the game progressed. Here's some pictures:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/images/boardgame/3797/grade-up-to-elite-cow
I played it once after a friend picked up a copy at a car boot sale. It was actually a far better game than Monopoly, because there wasn't that long dull phase at the end where it's obvious who's going to win. Plus you could make sperm jokes and cow puns.
observer — August 16, 2010
Another game that I think is worth looking at is "Risk." It is basically a meaningless game of world domination. There is no room for negotiation, trade, etc. It's all about competition between armies and aggregating the armies to win.
A — August 16, 2010
For a second I thought the name read "Eizabeth Magic." Which would be awesome. Oh well.
The Observer — August 16, 2010
The rules are in the patent:
http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=01509312&SectionNum=1&IDKey=923A5468BF48
I particularly like the rule at line 19 on the last page. There's a chance die that you roll after getting a double, with various actions to be taken. For a value of 10 "Caught robbing the public -- take $200 from the board. [i.e. the bank] The players will now call you Senator."
The Observer — August 16, 2010
The patent referred to in my previous comment is the one for the 1924 version of the game shown here. The wikipedia article has this board, but the discussion refers to the earlier version under the 1904 patent, with somewhat different rules.
http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00748626&SectionNum=1&IDKey=673B8D23C46F
nomadologist — August 16, 2010
As left-wing as my politics are in real life, I'm a pretty ruthless Monopoly player. But what's interesting is how often players tend to cooperate outside of the rules, like giving each other money so they can stay in the game, offering discounted rent to a player low on cash, or buying houses for other players. I don't know how many other board games have such homebrewed rules.
Calvin — August 16, 2010
Do kids really play Monopoly? When I tried to play it with friends as a kid, we were completely baffled and made up our own rules. All in all, we thought it was an 'adult' game.
AR — August 16, 2010
Monopoly is compatible with capitalism? I don't even know where to start. Well, I could link to this post on the subject, which points out some of the problems with that idea, and which is also great because it mentions another, better game that actually does teach lessons compatible with capitalism, The Settlers of Catan.
claire — August 17, 2010
Has anyone played Class Struggle?
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1510/class-struggle
Jenna — August 17, 2010
In one of my high school classes, we played Monopoly with a different set of rules. Each of us (divided into teams) started off with a certain amount of money and property (there were still some properties up for sale, and some people started out in debt). The point of the game overall was how hard it is to gain wealth when you start out with very little, and how easy it is to stay on top when you start out with a ton of money and property.