There are many kinds of inventions with many kinds of uses. Some may be games and fun to play with, while others can save lives. The following stories will show how some inventors got their ideas.

I. The Invention of Monopoly By 1930, the American economy had collapsed. Millions of people were out of work. One of them was Charles Darrow. The times were hard and he had a wife and son to support. It was hard to make ends meet.

Darrow and his wife often remembered the times when he had a job. In those days, they had money and could go on vacation to Atlantic City, their favorite town.

“If only we could go there again,” sighed Darrow’s wife. “If I were rich,” said Darrow, “I’d take you to the best hotel in Atlantic City, and I’d buy it for you. I’d buy all the hotels, and all the houses and streets, and even the railroad. In fact I’d buy the whole place.”

An idea began to grow in Darrow’s mind. One evening he sat down in the kitchen and wrote down some of the street names of Atlantic City. He included the railway stations and also the water and electricity companies.

“I’ve invented a game,” he told his wife. “If we can’t be rich in real life, we can be rich when playing it.” He cut houses and hotels for his little city from wood. He made cards with names of places on them.

Then he found some colored buttons for tokens, a pair of dice and lots of play money. He called the game Monopoly.

II. The Invention of Cat’s-eye Reflectors Percy Shaw was driving his car along a winding road in Yorkshire one night in The road ran along the side of a steep hill. Shaw knew the road well.

But suddenly, just before a turn, he ran into thick fog. He could not see the road and he could not tell how far he was from the edge.

At that very moment, two small points of light shone through the fog. The car lights had been reflected in the eyes of a cat. Shaw then knew where the side of the road was.

“What I need is hundreds of cats sitting along the road,” thought Shaw as he drove slowly on through the fog.

When finally he reached the main road, his lights shone on some streetcar rails that ran along the center of the road. Shaw remembered the cat’s eyes as he looked at the long lines.

He began to think “Why not invent reflectors that shine like cats’ eyes? And why not set them in the middle of the road?”

His invention—the “cat’s- eye” reflector—has made roads and highways safer and easier to drive along after dark. So be creative. Maybe you can be the next Darrow or Shaw.