by Mary Pilon
The New York Times is a truly incredible newsroom, and I’m humbled and grateful to work there every day. Jason Stallman and Joe Sexton hired and inspire me and are two of the best editors and all-around human beings in the business. Thanks are also due to Jill Abramson, Dean Baquet, and my colleagues on the sports desk who show me every day what teamwork is. Many other Times people deserve note: Steve Eder, Jenna Wortham, Sam Dolnick, Susanne Craig, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Peter Lattman, David Carr, Sarah Maslin Nir, Maya Lau, Willie Rashbaum, Emily Steel, and the benevolent DealBookers and Biz Day reporters across the birches. Fern Turkowitz runs the place, and the world. High five to ladies of the O.G.C. And the Times pop-up book club is always in my heart.
Thanks are also owed to the staff of the Wall Street Journal, with shout-outs to Ken Brown, Neal Templin, Mike Allen, Rob Hunter, Jason Zweig, Laura Saunders, Bob Sabat, the Money & Investing section, the Page One staff who published my original Monopoly story back in 2009, and the fellow reporters and editors I worked with there who made the Journal a special place to be.
Maureen Thompson was a fantastic accomplice in research. Lauren Leto, Pip Ngo, Jeremy Greenfield, Rolfe Winkler, Sue Sataline, Seth Porges, and Blake Eskin are friends who also offered insight on early drafts. Matt Wasowski of Nerd Nite allowed me to lecture to hundreds of drunk geeks in Brooklyn, who emboldened me to pursue this project. Thank-yous are also due to producer and friend Diane Nabatoff and screenwriter Ted Braun.
Danny Strong provided incredible insight and enthusiasm. Great thanks are also due to Aviva Slesin, Anna Karingal, Christina “Lopez” Lipinski, Irma Akansu (Esq.), Jon Levy, William D. Cohan, Gay Talese, Simon Winchester, Erik Larson, Michael Malice, Susanna Chon, Seth Porges (yes, again!), Francine Dauw, Samantha Oliver Wolf, Dexter Filkins, Jan Messerschmidt, Alexander Baxter, Andrew Adam Newman, Wendy Frink, Caroline Waxler, Bob Sullivan, Mika, Eli and Sawyer Gonda, Brad Tytel, Kari Ferrell, Jeremy Redleaf, Adam Spiegel, Chuck Schaeffer, Matthew Williams, Charlie Lyons, Jim Miller, Barry Newman, Lindsay Kaplan, Richard Blakeley, Erin “Thrills” McGill, Jennifer Wright, Randi Newton, Vanessa Livingston, Peter Gaffney, Hamilton Pug, Rachel Weiss, Fred Armisen, Scott Kidder, Danielle Lurie, Jenny Li, my dear book and article club members, Rachel Fershleiser, Nick Douglas, Clarissa Williams, Mister Ooh-La-La, Annie He, Jeff Bercovici, Taylor Katai, Pantea Ilbeigi, Tess Soroka, Pip Ngo, Halley Theodore, Alex Amend, Philip Green, Salman Somjee, Peter Feld, Rana June, Carey Alexander, Troy Pospisil, Andrew Cedotal, Lauren Giudice, Tommy DeLillo, Dara Rosenberg, Sophia Muthuraj, the members of the Invisible Institute, and miscellaneous colleagues from the Gawker Brat Pack.
Those folks provided an array of support—couches, phone calls, food, pep talks, beers, Monopoly games—and I’m grateful.
Early believers include Ron Lieber, Nick Denton, Alex Balk, Choire Sicha, Chris Mohney, Lockhart Steele, Mitchell Stephens, Yvonne Latty, my teachers at New York University and Winston Churchill High School in Eugene, Oregon (go, Lancers!), and the staff of the Register-Guard.
COFFEE SHOPS
New York City: Soy Luck Club (R.I.P.!), Café Pick Me Up, the Bean (Broadway, First Avenue, and Second Avenue locations), Ost Cafe, Oren’s (Times Square and Waverly locations), B Cup Cafe, Grounded, Think Coffee (Fourth Avenue, Eighth Avenue, and Mercer Street locations), Culture Espresso, the Tea Spot, Caffe Reggio, McNally Jackson, Table 12, Stumptown (both locations), the Ace Hotel, S’Nice (gold star: Eighth Avenue (RIP), Sullivan Street, and Park Slope locations), the New York Times cafeteria, Soho House, Atlas, Veselka, The Uncommons, the coffee shop at Housing Work in Soho, Konditori (Park Slope), Venticinque Café, and Kos Kaffe.
Chicago: Espresso Thy Art and Intelligentsia.
Portland: Stumptown (SW 3rd) and Powell’s Books (Burnside).
Eugene: Allann Bros. (both locations), Wandering Goat Coffee, Morning Glory Café, Espresso Roma Cafe, Eugene Coffee Company (RIP—formerly known as Jamocha’s), and Perk.
Salt Lake City: Coffee Garden.
Los Angeles: Mr. Tea, Graffiti, and Urth Caffé.
Miami: The Café at Books & Books and Panther Coffee.
An assortment of Starbucks, Pret a Manger, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Le Pain Quotidien locations were in the mix as well. Zipcar and Airbnb made this project infinitely simpler. Seamless fed me. Pandora and iTunes filled me with music streams. Mostly David Bowie.
And to everyone I didn’t mention: Please accept my deep sense of guilt and know that I adore you.
Thank you.
A NOTE ON SOURCES
This is a journalist’s attempt to tell the true story of Monopoly. It is a work of nonfiction. To ensure the accuracy of the narrative, I spent hundreds of hours conducting in-person and telephone interviews and reviewing court opinions, letters, board games, radio and television clips, newspaper articles, catalogs, advertisements, patents, websites, forums, court transcripts, in- and out-of-print books, academic papers, public records, and other primary-source documents spanning over 150 years of U.S. history. In some places, particularly where court transcripts are quoted, I have condensed the conversations but tried to paraphrase when possible to ensure their overall integrity.
It’s easy to assume in this age of research that if information doesn’t surface via Google search, then it must not exist at all. My profession is among those being disrupted by technology, perhaps in a way that is ultimately for the better, but the reporting of this book was a humbling reminder of the infinite amount of knowledge still tucked away on dusty bookshelves, in attics, or in brains, yet to be documented and only woven together through sweat, obsession, and love of story, even regarding something as seemingly simple as board games. The Internet has yet to do its best work.
For years, rumors have swirled among a small set of game historians of the lost diaries of Lizzie Magie. In a 1906 interview with the Washington Post, Lizzie’s mother mentioned “stacks of manuscripts” Lizzie had written that awaited publication, and Lizzie herself mentioned a year later in the pages of the same paper that she was working on a book. Her work could be in private hands, incomplete, or lost. I spent years trying to track such documents and any distant relatives to Lizzie down and never saw any diaries firsthand, nor can I confirm their existence. While some members of the Magie family agreed to be interviewed for this book, others declined. One game collector reportedly has a cache of documents, games, and other archival material related to Lizzie Magie, but I never gained access to this material and, as far as I know, others have not either. Ralph Anspach has said that this was the same person who read him passages from Lizzie’s diary in which she expressed disappointment over the deal with Parker Brothers. Given the circumstances, I did the best I could to tell Lizzie’s story, and I hope that through the years more comes to light about this astonishing woman and her long-overlooked life.
Since I first began reporting on Monopoly’s history in 2009, I’ve questioned my purpose in pursuing this story. When you tell people that you’re writing a book about board games, many chuckle, somewhat justifiably dismissing it as a silly pursuit. In many ways, it is. But Monopoly’s history is a complicated and controversial one. In that spirit, I’ve tried to be as detailed as possible in listing my sources in the hopes that this book will be a jumping-off point rather than an entombment in the conversation about the ownership of ideas, the evolution of innovation in this country, and a brand that millions of people have treasured for generations.
But, after all, it is just a game.
NOTES
1. The Professor and the Trust-Busting Game
“The courtiers were shown the board” Charles Robert Bell. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations (London: Oxford University Press, 1969). Bell’s compendium is a trove of board game geekery.
Ralph Anspach, professor of economics Ralph Anspach, author interviews, fall 2009 and March 2010. Anspach Federal Bureau of Investigation files: On April 17, 1988, Ralph made a written Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI and the U.S. Army. In let
ters from the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice dated April 13, 1989, he received responses with “sanitized” information. Two earlier responses dated May 13, 1988, and June 21, 1988, included public records (requested by Ralph) that he included in his archives related to the Anti-Monopoly case (to be referred to hereafter as “Anspach archives”). They place him in the army from May 10, 1944, through May 14, 1946, when he was honorably discharged as a technician, fourth grade. Ralph Anspach, author phone interview, February 12, 2012. One memorable memo dated May 8, 1952, that chronicles Ralph’s visit with his brother in France reads, “Gerald Anspach was reported to have told friends in Paris that his brother was ‘of an adventurous turn of mind and something of a crackpot.’ This, of course, could mean almost anything.” William Anspach, author interview, October 18, 2013. Corroborated several times by Ruth, Mark, and William Anspach.
At San Francisco State Calvin Trillin, “Monopoly and History,” U.S. Journal: Berkeley, CA, New Yorker, February 13, 1978. Trillin gets credit for the fork line, but this author has experienced Ralph’s handwriting firsthand.
The seventies were in full throttle Ruthe Stein, “A Liberated Dragperson,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 17, 1973.
It was into this kaleidoscope Ralph Anspach, author correspondence, September 8, 2012. Ralph Anspach, author interview, February 18, 2013.
With the help of his sons Robert Duffy, “Game to Bust the Trusts,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 8, 1974. The 1975 Anti-Monopoly patent can be found here: https://www.google.com/patents/US3961795?dq=anti-mono.
At first, Ralph called his creation Ralph Anspach, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., June 12, 1975.
Rejection after rejection Ibid.
Throughout the summer and fall Gene Donner, author phone interview, February 12, 2012. Monopolygate (later renamed The Monopoly Detective). Ralph Anspach, author interviews from 2009 to 2014. Donner was also kind enough to provide me with some written materials tied to his time with Anti-Monopoly. Review of San Francisco Chronicle coverage of 1973: Thanks to the New York Public Library.
Finally, in the fall of 1973 Anspach, Monopolygate.
Anti-Monopoly hit the market Ibid. Mark and William Anspach, author interview, New York City, November 2, 2011. Magazine advertisements, magazine unknown: Anspach archives.
In October Regular Shareholders Meeting notes, Anti-Monopoly Inc., minutes for December 3, 1973, Anspach archives. Letter from Slippery Rock: Anspach archives.
Ralph, Ruth, and the rest Ruth Anspach, author interviews, November 4 and 10, 2011. Mark and William Anspach, author interview, November 2, 2011. Ralph Anspach, e-mail to author, September 8, 2012.
A negative story about the game Ibid.
Ralph also applied for a patent Ralph Anspach, deposition, Anti-Monopoly Inc. vs. General Mills Fun Group Inc., March 22, 1974. The date of the trademark application is December 21, 1973, and the application states that the Anti-Monopoly trademark was first used in interstate commerce on October 23, 1973. Application: Anspach archives. Ralph Anspach to Mssrs. McGurk and Biddle, November 24, 1973, Anspach archives. U.S. Department of Commerce Patent Office to Melvin R. Stidham, June 25, 1974, Anspach archives.
Trademarks—which protect words The definition of a trademark can get very wonky, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office offers some relatively clean language: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/definitions.jsp.
In February of that year Oliver Howes Jr. to Ralph Anspach, February 13, 1974. Anspach archives.
Ralph viewed the Howes letter John Marshall, “Little Guy Who Beat a Monopoly Is at It Again,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 8, 1988.
Howes wrote on behalf Ellen Wojahn. The General Mills/Parker Brothers Merger: Playing by Different Rules (Washington, D.C.: Beard Books, 2003).
2. A Woman Invents
“I’m thankful” “Would Be Slave Girl Is Glad She Is Alive,” Kalamazoo Gazette, October 17, 1909.
George’s message had resonated deeply “Mr. George on Ireland: A Pamphlet by the Author of ‘Progress and Poverty.’” New York Times, March 23, 1881.
During the 1880s Carol Easton, “No Intermissions: The Life of Agnes de Mille,” Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/no_inter.htm. We’re going to get back to board games, and this is all related to Monopoly, I promise!
George was an ardent anti-monopolist “Henry George on Free Trade,” New York Times, February 15, 1883. No byline.
The anti-monopoly parties also served Matilda Joslyn Gage, Woman, Church and State (Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, 2002). “Talking Toilers: Trying to Establish an Anti-Monopoly Branch,” Chicago Daily Tribune, February 12, 1882.
In the early 1900s U.S. Census, June 14, 1900, available on Ancestry.com.
Lizzie’s political views Megan McKinney, The Magnificent Medills: America’s Royal Family of Journalism During a Century of Turbulent Splendor (New York: Harper, 2011).
In earlier years (Davenport, IA: Andreas, Lyter, 1871). Magie is referred to here as a major, in reference to the lectures he gave about Lincoln: http://ia600308.us.archive.org/22/items/historicalpoliti00magi/historicalpoliti00magi.pdf.
James enlisted James K. Magie to Mary Ritchie, January 1, 1863, New York Historical Society. File folders GLC 5241 #1–10, GLC 5241 #11–20, GLC 5241 #21–30, GLC 5241 #31–40 and GLC 5241—#41–51. Magie’s letters are also filled with commentary about the logistics of their long-distance relationship and plenty of reminders that even in a pre-cell-phone era, there was ire about the annals of communication.
The steam age gave way J. K. Magie, “Ignorant Officials and Careless Voters,” Chicago Daily Tribune, January 30, 1885.
When Lizzie was thirteen This detail is from a letter Lizzie Magie wrote that was enclosed in a copy of her poetry collection, My Betrothed. That book and this letter were accessed at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, but have since gone missing. I know of no other publicly accessible copies of My Betrothed. David Sadowski deserves credit for photographing the book.
At the time, stenography was Leah Price, “Diary,” London Review of Books, December 4, 2008. David Sadowski, author phone interview, May 5, 2012. Darren Sean Wershler-Henry, The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005).
“I have often been called” “Rivals Mary M’Lane” Washington Post, October 13, 1906.
The Dead Letter clerks Lynn Heidelbaugh, “Dead Letter Office,” National Postal Museum, May 1, 2006, available at http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2032238. Marshall Cushing, The Story of Our Postal Office (Boston: A. M. Thayer, 1893). James H. Bruns, “Remembering the Dead,” EnRoute, July–September 1992, available at http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/research/articles-from-enroute/remembering-the-dead.html. Thank you to Evan Kalish for providing further context.
USPS Historian Office. “A Brief History of Women at Postal Service Headquarters.” July 23, 2008. The Washington Post reported that Lizzie left the Dead Letter Office around 1903 because she “could not be a party to the government’s manner of doing business.” Her motives beyond that are unclear, but it is the same year she filed her Landlord’s patent, so perhaps she wanted to pursue game design more thoroughly.
An 1869 article “The Chances for Women to Work,” New York Times, February 18, 1869. Hat tip to the USPS historians for pointing out the clip and the context of women in the Dead Letter Office.
In the evening after work “Miss Lizzie Magie’s Benefit,” Washington Post, April 5, 1893. “Rivals Mary M’Lane,” Washington Post. “Husbands and Wives Battle to Save ‘Property’ and ‘Money’ as the ‘Mortgages’ Eat Away Bankrolls and ‘Fortunes’ Dwindle,” Boston Sunday Post, December 16, 1936. “Coming Events,” Washington Post, December 10, 1905.
On January 3, 1893 Lizzie Magie 1893 patent, US425893A.
Two years after the death Lizzie Magie, “For the Benefit of the Poor,” Frank L
eslie’s Popular Monthly, January 1895. An archive of Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly is available online, thanks to the generosity of a few university libraries: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=flpmonth. The biblical passage is from Matthew 25:29, King James version. The term the “Matthew effect” is generally attributed to sociologist Robert Merton. Merton offered the example of how eminent researchers may get more credit than their lesser-known counterparts, even if their work mirrors each other’s. For more, see Robert K. Merton, “The Matthew Effect in Science,” Science, January 5, 1968, available at http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/merton/matthew1.pdf.
About two years later Lizzie Magie, “The Theft of a Brain: The Story of a Hypnotized Novelist and a Cruel Deed,” Godey’s, May 1897.
She began speaking in public Many thanks to game historian Thomas Forsyth for pointing this out. And kudos to the Henry George Birthplace Archives and Museum for keeping it around. Single Tax Review, Autumn 1902.
Most women didn’t do such things James Glen Stovall, Seeing Suffrage: The Washington Suffrage Parade of 1913, Its Pictures, and Its Effects on the American Political Landscape (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2013).