[fight_truth_decay]

On the lighter side if you ever get this far:

Did you know a woman invented Monopoly and never got credit for it?

That it was stolen from the Quakers and the public domain with a fraudulent patent and a vanished copyright ? Did in fact, Parker Brothers know that Darrow had completely copied the game from some Atlantic City Quakers but still paid him to get a fraudulent patent which allowed the company to monopolize Monopoly?

Parker Brothers concocted a bogus Monopoly history which became an American legend ?

And Monopolygate was covered up with a host of tricks including laundering deals, perjury, and subornation of perjury And how all this produced a billion dollars of monopoly profits and not in Monopoly money either? -from The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle by Ralph Anspach (to become a movie).

[supercat]

Next thing you know, someone is going to tell me that Risk/Global War is not a realistic simulation of military conquest.

[APFel]

I learned economics from a boardgame, my morals from the television and my politics from the radio.

Quick! Someone feed me fast and easy Readin', writin' and 'rithmatic so I can have a well rouned edjacation!

APf

[luvbach1]

It's just a game...a good one...and a lot of fun to play when I was a boy. Its longevity speaks for itself.

[Triple Word Score]

Does anybody outside tournaments play by the rules that come with the game?

If economists do, no wonder they aren't having fun.

The best Monopoly games strongly resemble a more sedentary Calvinball.

"Nope, I get free rent on Boardwalk for three times because I gave you Park Place for the railroads, and let you have the puppy dog."

"But that was before I gave you Marvin Gardens and my next five Gos."

"And then you landed on Free Parking and offered to buy me out of all my mortgages if..."

[Young Rhino]

1. Some people have WAY too much time on their hands. It is a game. Laissez-faire-opoly just doesn't have the same ring to it as Monopoly. Wouldn't fit on the box cover either.

2. As for the theft, it reminds me of Eddie Murphy's "Black History" skit on Saturday Night Live where he accuses two white men, Mr. Skip and Mr. Jiffy, of stealing the idea for peanut butter from George Washington Carver. :-)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

This is either an article from the Onion, or a prime example of why I refuse to call myself a Libertarian. It's too late and I'm too tired to decide which.

[LiteKeeper]

Finally, a thread we can get our teeth into!

[supercat]

In addition all mortgages are price controlled to a 10 percent interest rate.

I thought it was a zero percent interest rate but 100 point closing cost independent of duration.

Also, Monopoly mortgages are rather unusual in that they are always entered into after a property has been bought with cash, any developed property must be undeveloped before it is mortgaged, and borrowers are forbidden from collecting rent on mortgaged properties.

My first exposure to the term "mortgage" was from the game Monopoly and I must say I was rather taken aback when I discovered how totally unlike Monopoly "mortgages" real ones are.

[Prodigal Son]

Good read. I enjoyed it. Thanks for posting.