University Games Anti-Monopoly [German Version]

> Anspach played Monopoly in Czechoslovakia as a child, Pilon wrote. Later, in Berkeley in the early 1970s, he played with his wife and sons. But with an oil crisis developing and consumer suffering on the rise, the game's message seemed less fun. "The board game rewarded something in play that hurt people in reality," Anspach thought, according to Pilon's account.

A somewhat well-known fact is that the creator of Monopoly created it in 1903 as anti-monopoly social commentary:

> American anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie created a game that she hoped would explain the single-tax theory of Henry George. It was intended as an educational tool, to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies.[0]

The creator of the original game was relatively radical for her time:

> Taking out a newspaper advertisement, she offered herself as a ‘young woman American slave’ for sale to the highest bidder. Her aim, she told shocked readers, was to highlight the subordinate position of women in society. ‘We are not machines,’ she said. ‘Girls have minds, desires, hopes and ambition.’[1]

Anyways, it seems this "Anti-Monopoly" was, in fact, more of an "extension" than a rebuttal. It appears that the creator (Ralph Anspach) was aware of that and actually crusaded to bring public awareness to the origins of Monopoly, partially to weaken the intellectual property rights of Parker Brothers.[2]

Also of note, these games were destroyed after Anspach lost the first court case but he ended up winning on appeal, despite federal congress passing a statutory law specifically to address Monopoly vs. Anti-Monopoly! To prove the historical connection, you can read a report[3] to the Committee on the Judiciary which talks about the justification for the law, in context of these board games. Due to this law, Parker Brothers and its parent company, Hasbro, continue to hold valid trademarks for the game Monopoly. (And OpenAI can trademark "Generative Pre-Training").

Anti-Monopoly was, however, exempted from the new law; after winning appeals, Anspach later reached a settlement with Hasbro and markets his game under license from them. It is still published by San Francisco University Games to this day[4] and can be purchased on Amazon[5].

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game)

1: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20170728-monopoly-was-i...

2: https://archive.ph/C2FDO

3: https://www.ipmall.info/sites/default/files/hosted_resources...

4: https://www.universitygames.com/games/family/antimonopoly

5: https://www.amazon.com/8509-Anti-Monopoly-Spiel/dp/B000LPA9F...