Prior to the commercial version, Darrow, an unemployed heating engineer, produced sets entirely by hand, first for family and friendsand then, for saledrawing and coloring the playing surface on oilcloth. The game initially circulated by word of mouth and was informally named Monopoly. People made their own boards, cards, and pieces to facilitate their play. Players soon discovered that a few changes made the game a lot more fun as they greedily collected huge piles of money and property, and delighted in opponents financial troubles. Elizabeth Magie devised the game to point out the social pitfalls of unequal wealth among people. Monopoly, the most popular board game in history, began life as The Landlords Game in 1904. While some controversy swirls around the creation of Monopoly, there is no doubt that Darrow popularized the game and played a pivotal role in making it the cultural icon it is today. This artifact represents a singular creative event in game and play history, and it belongs here, where it can be preserved and exhibited for future generations within the context of the worlds largest and most comprehensive collection of dolls, toys, and other games. Rollie Adams said of the game, We are extremely excited and pleased to add this highly important, unique set to the National Museum of Plays premier collection of other Monopoly sets and predecessor games. This Darrow Monopoly game was acquired from the Forbes Toy Collection auction at Sothebys in New York City on December 17. The handmade set contains more than 200 pieces, including a rules sheet, playing cards, and playing pieces such as draw-cards, hotels and houses, banknotes, and tokens. This Monopoly set, created with pen-and-ink and gouache on a circular piece of oilcloth, was handmade by Darrow in Philadelphia and rumored to be the size and shape of Darrows dining room table. ROCHESTER,NY.- One of the most significant and rare artifacts in toy historythe oldest known version of Monopoly, handmade by Charles Darrow around 1933has been acquired by the National Museum of Play at the Strong in Rochester, New York.
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