Monopoly has been one of the most popular board games in the world for a long time. As time passed, different versions of the game came out one after the other. The game was first published by the Parker Brothers. In this game, 4-6 players compete against each other by buying, selling and renting properties. The game is virtually never ending and hence players set a time limit of one to two hours at the end of which the player with the highest amount of cash wins. The name is derived from the economy term monopoly which means to dominate the market.

The first traces of Monopoly can be found in the early 1900s. In 1904, a woman by the name of Elizabeth created a game that could help explain the system of taxation at that time. The name of the game was Landlord’s Game and it was commercially published after a few years. There were some other interested players as well at that time that customized the game further. In the early 1930s, Monopoly was commercially produced. There were many people along the US coast who contributed to the further development of the game.

An interesting fact about Monopoly was that the British Secret Service had customized the game during World War 2. Inside the games there were hidden maps, codes, real money, compasses and even objects that could be used for escaping. The Red Cross Association distributed these games to the prisoners. The game became widely available in a standard, commercial version in the 1970s. There was also a very famous book by the name of Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World's Most Popular Game which was published by Maxine Brady.

The legal status of owning the game by the Parker Brothers was not established until the 1980s because of the lengthy court process. The name of the game is a registered trademark of the Parker Brothers.

In the year 2005, a different version of monopoly called Monopoly Here and Now was introduced in the UK. The tokens, properties and game scenarios were updated in this game over the previous versions of the game. Similar boards were then introduced in countries such as France and Germany. Variants of these games were introduced in the US. These variants were so successful that Hasbro US (the present Monopoly game company) allowed online voting for 26 landmark properties in the US to take their place in the game board. The online voting became so popular that there were similar websites created where people from France, Germany, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland could also take part.
Hasbro then developed a new website in January 2008 so that people could vote online for the Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition. The cities world wide will be depicted by different colored pieces and they will go by the same vote popularity that was established for several editions. Monopoly has been criticized by many people as the game could go on as long as you like. Also there is no definite end in monopoly. Unlike this article.
March 11, 2008, 1:56 pm

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