Games Monopoly

Games Monopoly Game
Games Monopoly Play Online

EARLY MONOPOLY
GAME BOX DESIGNS
1935 - 1954

CLICK ON A GAME BOX

In 1935, Parker Brothers (PB) bought the rights to Monopoly from the 'inventor', Charles Darrow. This included Darrow's inventory of game parts. PB immediately began selling Monopoly games using the Darrow game parts.
The first games Parker Brothers made were marked TRADE MARK. About 24,000 - 25,000 of these were maunfactured. This included a small number of the No 9 long box, very rare today.
Parker Brothers applied for their own patent and the next group of their games stated PATENT PENDING or PATENT APPLIED FOR. Over 100,000 games were produced with this label.
This statement was used for a while in 1935, but they discovered that there were other games very much like Monopoly already with patents. To protect their investment in Darrow's Monoply game, they decided to purchase the 1924 patent to the Landlords game and added that patent to their Monopoly games. This is patent 1,509,312.
In the meantime, PB applied for their own patent on Monopoly. Their patent was issued on Dec 31, 1935, patent number 2,026,082.
The new patent was added to the labels and games produced from 1936 - 1941 included both patents printed on the labels. When the 1924 patent expired in 1941, they dropped that number from the labels and used only the later patent issued to them.
The phrase A PARKER TRADING GAME was added to the box tops in 1937.
Parker Brothers had an office in London and included this city on the labels of their Monopoly games. That office closed in 1940 and London was replaced by Chicago.
Dating early Monopoly games is done by the patent numbers and cities listed on the labels. Most early games can be dated within a few years using these label elements.
Canadian Monopoly games were introduced in 1936 and closely resembled the U.S. games with the different varieties. The earliest known Canadian game is the No 9 White Box with legals stating CANADIAN (Trademark) REGISTRATION APPLIED FOR and CANADIAN PATENT APPLIED FOR, described below. These seem to be extremely rare.
The game boxes pictured below show different label designs and kind of a chronology of manufacture. I'm always adding new box varieties so check back once in a while for updates.
Please feel free to email me with corrections, questions, or comments. Also, check out the online Vintage Monopoly Game Collectors group here. Lots of good stuff there about early Monopoly games.

~~Black and Blue Number 7 and Number 5 Boxes~~

This style box was a Darrow design and Parker Brothers just continued production using his design. Once Parker Brothers figured out Monopoly was taking off, they decided to offer a variety of different game options. One of the first things changed was the color of the box from black to blue. By the end of 1936, all the boxes with this label design were switched to the blue color.
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

BLACK BOX Number 7 GAME 1935-1936
TRADE MARK BLACK BOX	The 'Trade Mark' game is the ultimate Parker Brothers Monopoly game for a collector. It is the first to be wholly manufactured by Parker Brothers and is very similar to the Darrow version, except for the addition of player pieces and a redesign of Darrow's black box. It was produced in limited numbers for only a few months in mid-1935. Estimates are that about 24,000 games might have been produced. The 'Trade Mark' version was also produced in the long box No 9 version. Sorry, no pictures of that one available (yet).
1935 PATENT PENDING BLACK BOX	The 'Patent Pending' game was Parker Brothers next version of Monopoly, made after the 'Trade Mark' games. Parker Brothers applied for a patent and added this to the games. By this time, Parker Brothers realised the game was going to be a hit so production was ramped up considerably. It is estimated that over 100,000 'Patent Pending' games could have been made. No Number 9 White Box games are known with the PATENT PENDING statement on the box.
1935 EARLY SINGLE PATENT BLACK BOX	This is the next version. After purchasing rights for Monopoly from Charles Darrow, research discovered another game very similar to Monopoly had been patented in 1924 by Elizabeth Magie. Parker Brothers quickly purchased that patent from Magie and put it on their Monopoly games just to cover their claim to the rights to the game. That patent number 1,509,312 replaced the Patent Pending labels. This group includes a very few No. 9 white box games where games already printed 'Trade Mark' had this patent added as an overprint. As far as I know, less than a dozen of these game boxes exist today. (VIEW HERE)
1936 DUAL PATENT BLACK BOX	On Dec 31, 1935, Parker Brothers was issued a patent for Monopoly, patent 2,026,082. Almost immediately, very early in 1936, this new patent was added to the Magie patent on all Monopoly games, replacing the single Magie patent. These patents also appeared on the several new varieties introduced by Parker Brothers throughout 1936. These patents remained on all Monopoly games until 1941 when the Magie patent expired and was removed.
BLUE BOX Number 5 & 7 GAME 1936 - 1952
1936 DUAL PATENT COPYRIGHT 1935	1936 was a busy year for Parker Brothers and their Monopoly game. They produced 1.8 million copies of the game and introduced several different new versions of the game. The Number 7 game box was changed from black to blue. Also, Parker Brothers was issued their own patent for Monopoly on Dec 31, 1935 and they wanted the world to know about it, so they printed that on these game boxes.
1936 DUAL PATENT COPYRIGHT 1935 A PARKER TRADING GAME MADE IN USA	Late in 1936, Parker Brothers realized that Monopoly was going to be their best seller and drafted a marketing plan to promote the game. Someone came up with the phrase 'A PARKER TRADING GAME' and added that to game boxes late 1936. By early 1937, all Monopoly games included this wording. The words 'MADE IN USA' were added at the bottom of the box.
1936 Number 5 DUAL PATENT REG GREAT BRITAIN & CANADA Number 5 (For 3 to 8 Players)	Another promotional idea was to introduce the Number 5 game, pretty much the same as the Number 7 game, except there were 8 player pieces instead of 7 AND it cost 50c more. They printed these changes on the first Number 5 game boxes. Also, Parker Brothers sold licenses to sell Monopoly to a Canadian and a British company in 1936. They added that bit of information to the legals statement.
1936 Number 5 DUAL PATENT REG GREAT BRITAIN & CANADA	Didn't take long for Parker Brothers to realize raising the price of their game in the middle of the Great Depression was a bad idea, so the game went back to $2.00 and the promotional printing was removed, though Monopoly was still their best selling game.
1937-1939 DUAL PATENT LONDON	By 1937, the bit about being reg in Great Britain and Canada had been removed and 'A PARKER TRADING GAME' took a prominent position in the legals line and was printed in bold text. This is about the most common variety of 1930s Monopoly.
1940 DUAL PATENT CHICAGO	In 1940, Parker Brothers closed their office in London and removed the city from the box. This was replaced by Chicago. This is a very hard to find variety, with Chicago AND the dual patent because the Magie patent (1,509,312) expired in 1941 and had to be removed, so this version was only printed in 1940.
1941-1946 LATE PATENT REG.	In 1941, the Magie patent expired and was removed from the game boxes.
1946-1951 LATE PATENT REGISTERED	In 1946, the text 'REG. U.S. PATENT OFFICE' was expanded, thus: 'REGISTERED IN U.S. PATENT OFFICE'.
1951-1952 LATE PATENT 'A PARKER TRADING GAME' removed 'PARKER BROTHERS TRADE-MARK NAME FOR IT'S REAL ESTATE TRADING GAME' added	In 1951, 'A PARKER TRADING GAME' was replaced with 'PARKER BROTHERS TRADE-MARK NAME FOR IT'S REAL ESTATE TRADING GAME'. As far as I can tell, this was the last version of the Number 7 game. It was discontinued in 1952 and was wholly replaced by the Number 8 Popular Edition as the only small box game being made.

~~Canadian~~

~~Diamond $ Boxes~~

The NEW EDITION game was Parker Brothers first new label design. There are 2 versions of this game, the brown box and black box versions. The brown box version was first, but didn't last very long before Parker Brothers chose to go with the black box version. I believe Parker Brothers found the brown boxes were too hard to come by.
The New Edition games are very hard to find. On Ebay, only 1 in 20 New Edition games are the brown box version, and the matching brown boards are even harder to find. Also, only about 1 in 20 of the games offered with this label say New Edition, the rest say A PARKER TRADING GAME. Conclusion - the black box and board is scarce, the brown box version is very scarce, and the brown New Edition board is rare.

NEW EDITION (1936)
BROWN BOX

NEW EDITION (1936 - 1937)
BLACK BOX

In 1937, Parker Brothers added A PARKER TRADING GAME and the NEW EDITION title was gone.

No 6 DUAL PATENT (1937 - 1940)
LONDON

No 6 DUAL PATENT (1940 - 1941)
CHICAGO

No 6 LATE PATENT (1941 - 1946?)
WOODEN PLAY PIECES

Some believe production of this game with the metal player pieces was suspended during WWII and this box, with the metal player pieces removed from the label and wooden play pieces added to the game, was a concession to the shortage of strategic materials/metals. When production of games with metal play pieces resumed after the war, it included a different style cannon than the one pictured on the label, and also a different version of the car.

No 6 - LATE PATENT (1946)
'REG.'

After the war, metal for game tokens was available and the old token pictures were once again added to the box tops. Problem was, the molds used to make the cannons were not available and it was replaced with a more modern howitzer style cannon and the shoe was replaced with a cowboy on a rearing horse. The older style car now has a driver, too.

LATE SINGLE PATENT
(1946 - ??)
'REGISTERED'

No 6 LATE PATENT (1946 - ??)
MARKED No 6
'REGISTERED'

~~POPULAR EDITION~~

Parker Brothers chose to make yet another version of Monopoly, the POPULAR EDITION, game designation Number 8. This was offered along with the Diamond $ boxes and the first Blue Boxes. This version originated with the same small sized boxes as the other 2 types. A lot of thought went into the design of this box. It was made from 1936-1954. The first of these had a green border. In the early 1950s, Parker Brothers added a red border box, as well.
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

SMALL SIZED POPULAR EDITION GREEN & RED BOX 1936-1954
1936-1939 Dual Patent, London	This was the first version of the Popular Edition. It had both the Magie (1,509,312) and the Parker Brothers (2,026,082) patents and included London in the list of cities. In addition, it had 'NUMBER 8' game designation was printed on the box, letting folks know this was a different version of Monopoly. This configuration was used until 1940.
1940 Dual Patent, Chicago	In 1940, Parker Brothers dropped London from the list of cities and added Chicago. Not much else was changed.
1951-1952 Single patent, Chicago	In 1941, the early Magie patent expired and it was removed from the legal description. Also, the game designation 'NUMBER 8' was removed. In 1949, the REG U.S. PATENT OFFICE statement was changed to REGISTERED IN U.S. PATENT OFFICE. In 1951, 'PARKER BROTHER'S TRADE MARK NAME FOR ITS REAL ESTATE TRADING GAME'. These modifications are present on this box. Also, in 1951, Parker Brothers introduced a new version of the Popular Edition with a red trimmed box. They were sold along side the green box versions.
1953 (1) Patent obscured with 'moustache'.	The Parker Brothers patent (2,026,082) expired on Dec 31, 1952 and they were no longer allowed to use that number on their games, but there was still a significant inventory of box labels already printed up with that number. They decided to reprint a 'moustache' over the expired patent and use them anyway. These are a bit hard to find, though not impossible. The first batch made in 1953 used these labels until they could get the revised labels printed up.
1953 (2) No patent, MADE IN USA on right	The second variety for 1953 shows the first printing without the patent and MADE IN USA is still off to the right.
1953 (3) MADE IN USA centered.	The third variety for 1953 has MADE IN USA centered, where the patent used to be.
1954 No patent San Francisco added.	In 1954, San Francisco was added to the list of cities.

~~Popular Edition~~

No 8 GREEN BOX
CANADIAN

No 8 LONG GREEN BOX (1946) ALLIGATOR TEXTURE BOX RARE!	No 8 LONG GREEN BOX (1951) PEBBLE GREEN TEXTURE BOX RARE!
No 8 LONGER GREEN BOX COPYRIGHT DATE 1954

As early as 1936, Parker Brothers had sold licenses to sell Monopoly in other countries. The first were in Great Britain to John Waddington Printing and Canada to the Copp-Clark Company. Then John Waddington sold a license to John Sands in Australia and others. Monopoly became very popular world wide.
Canadian Monopoly games pretty much followed the Parker Brothers game designs, using the same box and board designs, and Atlantic City street names for properties. The British games had completely different game designs and used London street names for properties. Australia used the British game designs and properties.
Below are some early Canadian, British, and Australian game boxes.
Great Britain

GREAT BRITAIN PRE WWII	GREAT BRITAIN WARTIME GAME
MONOPOLY NOTE HOLDER c.1936-1940

Australia

AUSTRALIA
DELUXE GOLD EDITION
1936
Here is a Deluxe Gold Edition Monopoly game from 1936 made in Australia by John Sands Co. This version of Monopoly was also made by Parker Brothers in the U.S., John Waddington in the U.K., Copp-Clark in Canada, and in other countries. Each follows the same general pattern, but each has it's own character, as well. They are all very hard to find.

AUSTRALIA
PRE WWII

AUSTRALIA WWII GAME
BROWN PAPER SMALL BOX

AUSTRALIA PRE WWII GAME
WHITE SMALL BOX

AUSTRALIA 1950's POPULAR EDITION
SMALL GREEN BOX

AUSTRALIA WWII LONG BOX
PLAIN CARDBOARD BOX

AUSTRALIA LONG BOX (1950s?)
PLAIN CARDBOARD BOX

No 9 WHITE BOX
TRADE MARK with MAGIE PATENT - 1935
RARE!

No 9 WHITE BOX
DUAL PATENT - CHICAGO (1940 - 1941)

CANADIAN WHITE BOX MONOPOLY GAME
PATENT APPLIED FOR
c. 1936

Parker Brothers sold a license to manufacture and sell Monopoly games in Canada to Copp-Clark in late February, 1936. Copp-Clark immediately applied for a Canadian patent for the game. In November, 1936, the Canadian patent for Monopoly was approved. After that time, games were labeled with the Canadian patent 362,124.
However, described here is an even earlier Canadian form of Monopoly in the white box. Shows CANADIAN PATENT APPLIED FOR and CANADIAN (Trademark) REGISTRATION APPLIED FOR on the game box, instructions, and game board, with reference to the early Parker Brothers dual American patents. This game with these legals is highly collectible!
PLEASE NOTE: I saw another White Box Canadian Monopoly game offered on Ebay recently with Patent Applied For on the game board. The rest of the game parts had the usual Canadian patent and registration numbers.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Monopoly
Created by	Merv Griffin
Written by	Sharon Safianoff-Jones
Directed by	Kevin McCarthy
Presented by	Mike Reilly with Kathy Davis Kathy Karges Michelle Nicholas
Narrated by	Charlie O'Donnell
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12 (+1 pilot)
Production
Producer	Burt Wheeler
Production locations	Hollywood Center Studios Hollywood, California
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Merv Griffin Enterprises King World Productions
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	June 16 – September 1, 1990

Monopoly is an American television game show based on the board game of the same name. The format was created by Merv Griffin and produced by his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises.

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Monopoly aired as a summer replacement series on ABC along with Super Jeopardy!, a special tournament edition of Griffin's quiz show. Monopoly premiered on June 16, 1990, and aired following Super Jeopardy! for twelve consecutive Saturday nights until September 1, 1990.

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Former Jeopardy! contestant Mike Reilly was chosen to host the series, with Charlie O'Donnell as announcer. Three separate women, Kathy Davis, Kathy Karges, and Michelle Nicholas, served as the co-host/dice roller.

Gameplay[edit]

First round[edit]

Three contestants played, each represented by a color (red, gold, and green).

In the first round, the players attempted to take control of the eight groups of colored properties on a giant Monopoly board. To do so, they had to solve crossword-style clues. The first letter of each answer was given to the players, and each side of the four-sided board, referred to as 'blocks' (with the block containing the five properties between the Go to Jail corner and 'GO' referred to as the 'high rent district'), had a different starting letter for clues. Each clue was a toss-up, and answering correctly won money equal to the value of the property, from $60 for Mediterranean Avenue to $400 for Boardwalk. Answering incorrectly deducted that value from a player's score. In the event that all three players failed to answer a clue, the property value was cut in half and another clue was read.

Each color group, referred to as a monopoly, had to be controlled by one of the players before play moved on to another. Once a player controlled a monopoly, the total monetary value of its properties was added to his/her score. The lowest monopoly value was $120, which was for Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues. The highest was $920, for the three-property monopoly consisting of Pacific, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania Avenues.

If the properties in a monopoly ended up under the control of multiple players, a series of toss-up clues were played between them to determine ownership. A player who owned two properties in a group of three had to give one correct answer in order to take full control, while the player who owned the third had to give two. If all three players each owned one property, the first to give a correct answer challenged one opponent and took over the property of the other, and the remainder of the showdown followed the two-player format. An incorrect answer on the initial toss-up forfeited that player's property, which was then awarded to one of the others through a second toss-up. In the case of the Mediterranean/Baltic and Park Place/Boardwalk monopolies being split between two players, the first to answer a clue correctly took control.

Big Money Round[edit]

During the commercial break following the completion of the first round, the players used the money they had earned to build houses and hotels on their properties. These cost $50 and $250 respectively, regardless of the properties' position on the board, and players had to build evenly within a color group. The number of houses/hotels on a property determined the amount of its rent, which was used as the value of its clues.

Once the players' construction purchases had been revealed and the corresponding cost deducted from their scores, the Big Money Round began. An indicator light started at 'GO' and moved clockwise around the board, according to the total of two oversized dice rolled by the show's hostess. Every player received a $200 bonus whenever the indicator light passed or landed on 'GO.'

If a property was landed on, O'Donnell called out its rent value and Reilly read a clue to the player who owned it. A correct response added the rent value to his/her score. A miss incurred no penalty but allowed either of the opponents to buzz in under the same rules as the first round, with an incorrect answer deducting from that player's score.

Squares other than properties affected the gameplay as follows:

Utilities (Electric Company and Water Works): a tossup clue was asked, worth $100 times the total on the dice.
Railroads: if the indicator light landed on one of the four railroads, players got the chance to 'ride' the particular railroad to a monopoly and initiate a 'hostile takeover'. A tossup was asked, and the first player to answer the clue correctly chose one of his/her opponents' monopolies to take over.^[1] The indicator light then moved to the first property in the chosen monopoly, and the player trying to take it over had to answer a series of clues unopposed, one for each property. Every correct answer advanced the indicator light to the next property in line. If the player answered all the clues correctly, he/she won control of the monopoly; its combined value was added to his/her score, and any houses or hotels built on it became his/her property. A wrong answer ended the takeover attempt and the player had to pay the corresponding rent to the owner of the monopoly, based on where the indicator was when the wrong answer was given.
Chance and Community Chest: a card was drawn from the appropriate deck and its instructions (bonuses, fines, movement) were followed.
Tax Spaces: landing on Income Tax deducted 10% from every player's score, while Luxury Tax deducted $75.
Free Parking: a tossup was asked and the first player to answer correctly won $500, plus all money collected in taxes/fines since the last correct Free Parking response.
Go To Jail: if the indicator landed on this space, it moved to the 'In Jail' space and each player lost $250.

The second round was played until time was called. At this point, all houses and hotels were sold back to the bank at their original purchase price and the money was credited to the players who owned the properties, regardless of who had originally built them. The player with the highest total won the game, kept his/her money, and advanced to the bonus round.

Games Monopoly Game

Bonus Round ('Once Around the Board')[edit]

The champion tried to complete one full clockwise circuit of the board within five rolls while staying out of jail. The contestant first chose four spaces – one each on the maroon/orange and red/yellow sides, and two on the green/blue side – to become Go to Jail spaces. The original Go to Jail space remained on the board, for a total of five Go to Jail spaces.

The champion started at 'GO' and rolled the dice to move around the board. The contestant could quit and take $100 per space passed after each successful roll. Rolling doubles awarded an extra roll. The champion won $25,000 for passing 'GO' without running out of rolls, or $50,000 for landing on 'GO' exactly. If the champion landed on a Go to Jail space at any time, the round ended and he/she forfeited the money. The contestant still won $100 for each space passed if all rolls were exhausted and the contestant failed to pass 'GO' without landing on a 'Go to Jail' space.

Production information[edit]

Merv Griffin created the series and served as executive producer. Monopoly was paired with Super Jeopardy! for its 12-week run on ABC.

Coincidentally, host Mike Reilly competed on the television game show Jeopardy! in 1989.^[2] Reilly later worked as a waiter before being selected a year later by producer Merv Griffin to perform as a contestant on the pilot for Monopoly.^[3] After the pilot with Peter Tomarken as host was taped, Reilly was selected as host.^[4] The pilot was produced for syndication, but could not gain clearances - likely due to the use of a female dwarf to play 'Rich Uncle Pennybags'. Tomarken clashed with producers about the use of 'Rich Uncle Pennybags', calling it tasteless and comparing it to slavery.^[5]

International version[edit]

A Welsh version of the show, hosted by Derec Brown aired on S4C for a brief period in 1992.

References[edit]

^'Monopoly'. Monopoly. 11 August 1990. American Broadcasting Company.
^McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television. Penguin Books. p. 565. ISBN9780140249163.
^Lipton, Lauren (1990-06-16). 'Reilly's Monopoly on Cockiness'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
^'He's passed go and collected much more than $200'. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1990-07-08. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
^Baber, David (2015-06-14). Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars. McFarland. ISBN9781476604800.

External links[edit]

Monopoly at IMDb

Games Monopoly Play Online

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