A Woman to Know: Elizabeth Magie
Some day, I hope, you will publish other games of mine, but I don't think any one of them will be as much trouble to you or as important to me as this one. — Elizabeth Magie
(image via Anspach Archives)
Long story short: Parker Brothers stole Elizabeth's board game idea and warped its anti-capitalist origins into something that has instead plagued our childhoods for decades and coated millions of living rooms in lost orange "money."
Chew on that next time you pass "Go."
Add to your Reading List:
Read more:
The progressive who didn't pass "Go" (The New York Times)
The woman inventor behind "Monopoly" (Smithsonian)
How a secretary designed the board game more than 100 years ago (Daily Mail)
When "go" used to say "labour upon Mother Earth produces wages" (Washington City Paper)
The capitalist board game's leftwing origins (The Guardian)
Retrobituaries: Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie (Mental Floss)
The woman behind Monopoly (Obvious Mag)
Listen more:
The Landlord's Game (99 Percent Invisible)
Monopoly: A Dangerous Game? (Planet Money)
Monopoly: The original version was made to condemn monopolies (Open Culture)
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