Monopoly's secret history canonized the wrong version of The Landlord's Game

Between 1902 and 1903 Elizabeth Magie designed and playtested The Landlord’s Game in Arden, Delaware to teach Georgism — the idea that land ownership should benefit everyone rather than a few. She offered two rule sets: a cooperative version that shared wealth and an alternative competitive one that rewarded monopoly and accumulation, a contrast meant to show how capitalism can disenfranchise the many.

By the 1920s and early 1930s various versions of The Landlord’s Game were circulating in the northeastern United States. In 1932 Charles B. Darrow encountered a handmade, modified copy that referenced Atlantic City properties (including the Marvin Gardens typo) and, by 1933, had rebranded it as Monopoly focused on the cutthroat rules.

United States, Arden, Delaware

elizabeth magie, landlord's game, georgism, arden delaware, cooperative rules, competitive rules, charles darrow, monopoly, atlantic city, marvin gardens