The Anti-Capitalist Woman Who Created Monopoly—Before Others Cashed In
The Beloved Board Game’s Long-Hidden Origin Story Debunks the Myth of Male Lone Genius
For decades, the story of Monopoly’s invention was a warm, inspiring, Horatio Alger narrative. A version of it, tucked into countless game boxes, told the tale of an unemployed man, Charles Darrow, who went to his Great Depression-era basement desperate for money to support his family. Tinkering around, he created a board game to remind them of better times, and finding modest success selling it near his home in Philadelphia, Darrow eventually sold it to the American toy and game manufacturer Parker Brothers. The game, Monopoly, became a smash …
