Three decades before [Charles] Darrow’s patent, in 1903, a Maryland actress named Lizzie Magie created a proto-Monopoly as a tool for teaching the philosophy of Henry George, a nineteenth-century writer who had popularized the notion that no single person could claim to “own” land. In his book Progress and Poverty (1879), George called private land ownership an “erroneous and destructive principle” and argued that land should be held in common, with members of society acting collectively as “the general landlord.”
Magie called her invention The Landlord’s Game, and when it was released in 1906 it looked remarkably similar to what we know today as Monopoly.
While you plow through this fascinating piece on the popular board game, remember that to get the most satisfying experience playing it, you must play with the max number of participants: eight. That way, the fighting and negotiating for every edge takes on a certain animal quality, and the eventual mergers of “real estate companies” take on added heft.