The reality of the game's evolution is one of humble beginnings worlds away from the myth: first in the hands of stenographer and poet
Lizzie Magie, who around 1900 devised The Landlord's Game, based on the theories of 19th-century economist Henry George and his "single tax"; then to a Williams College professor, who taught the game to Quaker friends, who eventually introduced it to their friends in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the game took on its distinct street and place names.
It's a fascinating history, with featured roles for a group of Quakers and a turn-of-the-century feminist named
Lizzie Magie, and side trips to a Delaware utopian community, Parker Brothers' headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, and, of course, Atlantic City.
Rather, it was simply a repackaging of a game called the Landlord's Game, invented in 1903 by a fervent feminist named
Lizzie Magie.
Its origin traces to "The Landlord's Game," invented by
Lizzie Magie and patented in 1904.
Early versions included a game by American George Parker called Banking in 1883 and The Landlord's Game by
Lizzie Magie in 1904.
