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Monopoly

Well this has got to be one of the all time great board games of all times. Monopoly is a very popular board game played all over the world. Its one that I and my family played for hours on end. Even though I might have played the banker every time :)-

It was 1934, when this game first started, first shown to the  Parker Brothers but they rejected it !. But its inventor a Mr Darrow went on to make hand made sets of the game and sold 5000 copies. Here in the UK the international licensing rights were given to Waddington Games, both of which are now part of Hasbro. Waddington's version had locations from London and was first produced in 1936.

Park lane, being one of the most expensive places on the board you could buy, along with Piccadilly, The Mall, Regent Street, Mayfair, Pall Mall, Old Kent Road (Cheap) and stations like Waterloo

Before putting the Monopoly game into production, Waddingtons decided that the game would have more appeal in the UK. Victor Watson asked his secretary, Marjory Phillips, to make a final list of place names. The only pub on the board, The Angel, Islington, is reputedly where Marjory had lunch on the day of her Monopoly game tour.

Apart from a brief halt in commercial production during World War II. But the Monopoly game played its part then also, when the war office commissioned Waddingtons to produce games which, 'if properly used", would help prisoners of war. Waddingtons soon realised the significance of the phrase "if properly used". A secret department was set up at the company's headquarters, manned by a few of their most trusted staff. The job was to make Monopoly game sets with silk maps inserted into the boards showing escape routes from the prison to which each game was to be sent.

Equipment
Each player is represented by a small pewter token which moves around the edge of the board according to the roll of two dice. The ten playing pieces currently used in the classic edition are as follows:

• Top hat

• Iron

• Scottie dog

• Battleship

• Car

• Wheelbarrow

• Thimble

• Cannon

• Horse and rider

• Old boot.
   

In 1999, a token representing a bag of money was added following an online vote. The other two were a biplane and a piggy bank. Unlike the tokens in special editions, this token was added to the base set.
Deed
A deed is given to a player to signify ownership, and specifies purchase price, mortgage value, the cost of building houses or hotels on that property, and the rents depending on how developed the property is.
Properties include
22 streets, divided into 8 colour groups, a player must own all of a colour group (have a monopoly) in order to build houses or hotels.
4 railways, players collect higher rent if they own more than one railway. Hotels and houses cannot be built on railways.
2 utilities (Gas, Electric), players collect higher rent if they own both utilities. Hotels and houses cannot be built on utilities properties.
Supply of money is theoretically unlimited, if the bank runs out the players must make do with paper.
Thirtytwo wooden or plastic houses and twelve wooden or plastic hotels. The current 'base set' uses plastic buildings) Unlike money, houses and hotels have a finite supply. If no more are available, no substitute is allowed.
Cards
A deck of "Chance" cards and a deck of "Community Chest" cards. Players draw these cards when they land on the corresponding squares of the track, and follow the instructions printed on them.

Do not pass go, do not collect '200, go directly to jail :)

Throw the dice and move around the board, buying property and avoid landing on other peoples property, the game is easy to play, but will last several hours. Your local city might have a special edition, with the street names around you.