#the landlord's game

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Monopoly

The game of Monopoly has its roots in 1903 when Elizabeth J. Magie Phillips (1866-1948), aka Lizzie Magie, an American, created a game named "The Landlord's Game."

Magie was inspired by the economic theories of Henry George (1839-1897), particularly his views on land monopolies and how they could negatively impact society.

She aimed to use her game as an educational tool to demonstrate these principles.

Magie patented her game in 1904 and began self-publishing it in 1906.

The game had two sets of rules:

1) One where players benefited collectively from the wealth generated, reflecting anti-monopolistic ideals;

2) Another where the goal was to dominate the market, mimicking real-world monopolistic tendencies.

Over the years, various versions of the game evolved, incorporating elements like buying and developing land, and increasing rents with more development (like adding houses).

Despite these changes, the core concept remained the same.

Magie re-patented her game in 1923, indicating the ongoing development and popularity of the concept.

This history shows that Monopoly was initially designed not just for fun but to teach players about economic theories and the impacts of monopolies, reflecting the social and political concerns of its time.

Lizzie Magie's 1904 board design, The Landlord's Game, was a predecessor of Monopoly.

[spewagepipe]

The Evolution of RPGs: The Landlord's Game

The Landlord's Game was invented in 1902 by Georgist activist Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie, in an effort to educate the public about how the seemingly-obtuse Georgist land-tax would cure the problems of capitalism. Magie, despite having no noteworthy background in gaming, turned out to be a game design prodigy. She single-handedly innovated multiple long-standing design elements and created the single most influential commercial board game of all time.

The Landlord’s Game appears, at first, to be structured like a simple race game in the vein of Pachisi or Goose, but one of Magie's most influential innovations was the idea of a looping circuit: Upon reaching the end of the track, players simply start a new lap. Victory is decided on the basis of the play-money that is lost and gained as the players land on the various spaces. The original rules prescribe five laps, but the game can be shortened or lengthened to taste.

Race games are already tedious, so repeatedly looping the track might have been downright Sisyphean – except that Magie's board is highly dynamic. Another influential element of her design was a space where players draw a random event card from a deck, such that the space’s effect is always unique. But almost all of the track spaces in The Landlord's Game are subject to some change: players can buy a "title deed" for most spaces that then forces any subsequent players who land there to pay "rent" to the owner.

Players earn a modest "wage" for each lap they complete – but not enough to keep pace with the escalating taxes, fees, and rents. When you can't pay, you start losing turns locked in the "Poor House", which can see you functionally eliminated from the game. To win, you must charge more rent than your opponents, so that they end up in poverty instead. As the rulebook notes, this system (modelled after real-life capitalism) will eventually drive all but one player to ruin.

But players can vote at any time to adopt the Georgist "Single Tax" policy, which means that rents are paid to a new “Public Treasury” instead of to the owners of title deeds. At the same time, all of the spaces that charge taxes or fees become free of charge (either immediately or gradually as the public treasury grows). Portions of the public treasury are used to increase the players’ wages, and whenever a player would otherwise be sent to the “Poor House”, they instead move to the nearest public sector workplace (where they earn additional wages).

The overall effect of the Single Tax mode is that poverty is eliminated, and it is no longer possible to brutally extort one’s opponents. The game shifts into a much friendlier – and tighter – race to see who can make the most wealth, rather than who can cause the most harm. Unfortunately, the Single Tax mode has not survived into the modern era: as if to prove the inherent cruelty of real-life capitalism, the Parker Brothers company first refused to publish The Landlord's Game, and then later stole the design. They stripped Magie of her inventor's credit, erased all traces of Georgism from the game, and published it under the now much-more-widely known brand Monopoly.

Click here for the index of my Evolution of RPGs posts.

[dinnickhowellslikes]

The board design by Elizabeth Magie for The Landlord's Game, first introduced in 1904, 30 years before Monopoly arrived in 1935

[leafundertree]

Ms Monopoly. That's it, that's the ad. They took a boardgame invented by a woman and slapped a bow on it because 🌟 feminism 🌟

[x]

[melorasmushrooms]

See, being an audience member there is NO WAY the Landlord ISN’T Jess Ross after her presentation on wrestlers and drag queens but I’m not in this situation so I can only use what I know as an outside observer!!!!

[moonlarking]

I’d like to thank A Bug With A Big Ass, graNma sWeetie, and Adjustable Side Table, Walnut for making me laugh the hardest I’ve ever laughed at a gamechanger episode

[uniquecrash5]

I hadn't heard known this aspect of the original game. What I'm hearing is that there should be a way to play "Monopoly" the board game with co-op rules.

Hmmm...

Original rules for "Landlord's Game" with "Prosperity" rules right here.

Monopoly wasn't invented by the Parker Brothers, nor the man they gave it credit for. In 1904, Monopoly was originally called The Landlord's Game, and was invented by a radical woman. Elizabeth Magie's original game had not one, but two sets of rules to choose from. One was called "Prosperity", where every player won money anytime another gained a property. And the game was won by everyone playing only when the person with the least doubled their resources. A game of collaboration and social good. The second set of rules was called "Monopoly", where players succeeded by taking properties and rent from those with less luck rolling the dice. The winner was the person who used their power to eliminate everyone else. Magie's mission was to teach us how different we feel when playing Prosperity vs Monopoly, hoping that it would one day change national policies. When the Parker Bros adopted the game, they erased Magie, they erased the "Prosperity" rules and celebrated "Monopoly". This is why very few games of Monopoly end in better friendships! Some even end friendships! What they couldn't erase was Magie's lesson.

[mondaybear21]

Oh hey last night I wanted to see how the Steam Deck would work on my CRT and the results were interesting

[solaria5]

Oh no... They are fighting for Y/N

I LOVE both of them

[fuckyeah-bears]

I woke up to find a squirrel in my apartment this morning

[snakehasfaith]

I made more Faith characters as tweets/other!

[servegrilledcheese]

marasigan sisters, in-game. the extent of gameplay i had with this pack is cooking mango sticky rice on the pressure cooker.

[pink-anonymous-person]

based off this meme ⬇️

[probablybadrpgideas]

In an attempt to deal with their reputation, the orc horde is reverse raiding, where they show up at your town to build new houses and give everyone gold.

[quiione]

[quantum27]

sorry I can't join the bowerstone revolution yet I'm busy being a landlord