As
actual early Monopoly items become older and older, more scarce and
valuable, they take on the status of "holy relics" that you probably
should treat with kid gloves. Naturally, some of the experience of
using them to actually play Monopoly is thereby lost.
Also
lost, over the years, is what I call the "shock of the new." Long gone
is the experience of opening up one of these classic game sets and
using it for the first time.
That's part of what I hope to bring back with these reproduction sets. I want anyone who gets one of these to have the same sort of elation that buyers had in 1906, when this was all a brand new thing.
I have received many questions about whether this game has a "second set of rules." It does- they are in the section titled "For Advanced and Scientific Players." The rules included here are the same exact ones Elizabeth Magie included in her 1906 version of The Landlord's Game.
1 Game Board (18" x 18" - same size as the original)
1 Utensils box
1 Rules sheet
Quotations from Henry George (8 pages)
2 Small dice w/Dice Cup
4 Colored Tokens (the game is for 1-4 players, as in the original)
29 Property cards (the usual 28 as in later Monopoly games, plus "Speculation")
16 Chance and 27 Luxury Cards ("Luxury" eventually morphed into Community Chest in these games)
100 paper houses (25 of each in four different colors)
16 "Education" cards
2 "Free College" cards
1 "Professor" card
1 Certificate of Authenticity
Scrip money as follows:
54x $1
54x $5
81x $10
54x $50
81x $100
A total of $11,934.
Now you can experience the "shock of the new" again, just as early Monopoly players did in 1906. We are not going to be making very many of these sets, since they are made completely by hand, and a lot of work is involved.
From a 1906 advertisement:
The Landlord's Game*, invented by Lizzie J. Magie of Washington, D. C. will be manufactured and ready for the market about June 1st.
DESCRIPTION
The Landlord's Game* is played on a board about 18 inches square, divided into 44 spaces representing all the various institutions of modern commercial life. The names of some of these spaces are "Soakum Lighting System," "Slambang Trolley," "Gee Whiz Railroad," "Lord Blueblood's Estate," "Wayback," "Boomtown," "Easy Street," "Broadway," "Timberlands," "Oil Fields," "Jail," "Poor House," etc.
The play on the board is started by the throw of dice which indicates the moves of the players and from that time on the transactions between individuals, corporations and the government are entered into with vim and interest. At the start the players are equally equipped but as the moves continue the majority of the players are apt to be forced into poverty, some even arriving at the Poor House, while one player generally becomes the millionaire.
THE SINGLE TAX
This condition prevails until the adoption of the single tax on land values, when the land rents, instead of being appropriated by individual players, are turned into the public treasury and used for public improvements. The game as then continued equalizes opportunities and raises wages, while it is impossible for one player to get any great advantage over the others.
The game brings out with great cleverness the exact position in the commercial world of money, transportation and land monopoly. Unlike most game preserves all the principal features of the popular chance and skill games, at the same time demonstrating the problems with clearness and simplicity. It is easily learned and is played with great enthusiasm by children as well as adults.
The game will be furnished in a neat box with lithographed board in colors, will include a pack of cards representing title deeds, railroad charters, etc., besides checkers, dice, money and all other implements necessary to the playing of the game.
Address MISS LIZZIE J. MAGIE, Secretary, ECONOMIC GAME COMPANY, 58 WEST 68TH ST., NEW YORK, N. Y.
*Please note that The Landlord's Game is a registered trademark owned by Thomas Forsyth. Folkopoly Press is not affiliated with Thomas Forsyth.