DevLog 14- Landlord's L

The earliest games shown in this chapter reflect the state of that time period and were a fun way to pass the time, and The Landlord’s Game was no exception. In the early 20th century, Elizabeth Magie created a game to reflect the poverty and class system that had been experienced in America’s history and present. She drew inspiration from a San Francisco journalist named Henry George who wrote and published Progress and Poverty in 1879 (Flanagan, pg. 85). He stated that the “fundamental cause of poverty to be land [monopolies]” and he proposed a “Single Tax” that “would discourage speculation, decrease land prices, and provide revenue for the state,” (Flanagan, pg 85 & 87). This would inspire Magie to create a board game called The Landlord’s Game and it was the first game to receive a U.S. patent in 1904. This game focused on the monopolization of land and was made to be a fun, educational game to teach others about the issues with monopolies. In 1924, Magie pitched her game to the Parkers Brothers, who were (and are still today) a large commercial publisher, and she was rejected. They said the game was too focused on education and wasn’t fun. Even with this rejection, she continued promoting her game further. The game became very popular and started to become customized based on where players would live. Professors also started using the game in class to teach their students about monopolies. A man named Charles Darrow played a version of the game and created a similar game very similar to it, naming it Monopoly. This game was sold to the Parker Brothers and sold half a million copies by 1935, just two years after it was published (Flanagan pg. 87). Today, Monopoly is still a very popular game and different versions are still being published and sold. Not only do they have different variations based on locations, sports teams, and movies, they also have different editions of the game, like Cheaters edition and Electronic edition. The game has also moved to different platforms like the Wii, Nintendo Switch, and online through mobile devices and the Steam store for PC. Since the original The Landlord’s Game was never published, most amateur game lovers today haven’t heard of the game and don’t know the significance of it’s accomplishments. Many more games like Anti-Monopoly and Class Struggle wouldn’t have been possible if it hadn’t been for The Landlord’s Game.