1. History of Monopoly The history of Monopoly is a long one, dating back to the 1930s. In 1933, Charles Darrow, a domestic heater salesman from Germantown, Pennsylvania developed and began to sell the game Monopoly. A year later, in 1934, Darrow set up copyrights for Monopoly and attempted to sell the game to Parker Brothers. Surprisingly, Parker Brothers did not accept the game because it contained “fifty-two fundamental errors.” However, Darrow did not give up. With the help of a friend, he produced 5,000 game sets. He sold those sets locally. Local Philadelphia department stores caught wind of the game and began ordering mass quantities from Darrow. Poor Darrow could barely keep up with the demand. By 1935, word had gotten back to Parker Brothers. They knew the game was a hit and correctly surmised that its popularity would only continue to grow. Parker Brothers purchased the game from Darrow, who would receive royalties. In the contract, Parker Brothers insisted that the game rules would also include a shorter version of Monopoly to avoid the chance that the game could continue on indefinitely. Since then, hundreds of millions of people have played Monopoly and will continue to do so for many years to come. With any history there is often a scandalous twist, usually filled with speculation and fired on by personal interests. Monopoly is no stranger to such conjecture. In the primary dispute, some people have claimed that Charles Darrow was not the true inventor of Monopoly. Many of these individuals claim that Monopoly was actually the invention of Elizabeth Magie, from Virginia. She was a proponent of Henry George’s single tax theory. Her version of Monopoly, called The Landlord’s Game, only offered property to rent. Its purpose was to exemplify the benefits for George’s economic theories by showing that the landlord always has an advantage and a single tax system could help dissuade any economic discrepancies. Magie did patent the game; Parker Brothers bought it for $500, but no royalties were to be paid out. Throughout time, other individuals also claimed to be first inventor of Monopoly. Additional disputes have surfaced and then faded away, and disputes will probably arise again. As history stand now, Parker Brothers holds Charles Darrow to be the only true inventor.

2. Day 1 Read the selection and complete the following: What is this passage about? What type of passage is this ? And how do you know? (narrative, expository, persuasive, or descriptive??)

3. Day 2 Reread the selection and complete the following: Find & highlight the word “royalties” in the passage (used more than once). What does that word mean in this selection (use a dictionary if you need to)? Define “patent”: How does getting a patent benefit the inventor?

4. Day 3 Reread the selection and complete the following: *Find & highlight the word “conjecture” in the passage. Conjecture means: 1. Judgment based on inconclusive or incomplete evidence; guesswork. 2. A statement, opinion, or conclusion based on guesswork *Based on the definitions above, what other recently discussed word (in both SS & science) could be a SYNONYM of “conjecture”? *What is the main idea of the 2 nd paragraph?

5. Day 4 Reread the selection and complete the following: According to the passage, why did Parker Brothers originally reject the game? The passage mentions two good reasons that Parker Brothers finally accepted the game Monopoly. What are they?

6. Day 5 Reread the selection and complete the following: List 3-5 similarities in the game Elizabeth Magie created and the Monopoly game we have today. There is still a dispute over who should get the credit for creating/inventing the game. Write a 2-3 sentence statement, written from Elizabeth Magie’s point of view, persuading the class that SHE should receive the credit for creating the idea of Monopoly. (Make sure to include some facts based on what you have read and pictures of both game boards.) In YOUR opinion, who deserves the credit?