Lizzie Magie

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Elizabeth Magie
Lizzie Magie - My Betrothed, and Other Poems.jpg
Born
Elizabeth J. Magie

(1866-05-09)May 9, 1866
DiedMarch 2, 1948(1948-03-02) (aged 81)
Resting place Columbia Gardens Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Other namesElizabeth J. Magie Phillips
Occupations
Spouse
Albert Phillips
(m. 1910;died 1937)

Elizabeth J. Magie Phillips (néeMagie; May 9, 1866 [1] – March 2, 1948) was an American game designer, writer, feminist, and Georgist. She invented The Landlord's Game , the precursor to Monopoly , to illustrate teachings of the progressive era economist Henry George. [2]

Contents

Life and occupations

Elizabeth J. Magie was born in Macomb, Illinois, in 1866 to Mary Jane (née Ritchie) and James K. Magie, a newspaper publisher and an abolitionist who accompanied Abraham Lincoln as he traveled around Illinois in the late 1850s debating politics with Stephen Douglas.

After moving to the D.C. and Maryland area in the early 1880s, she worked as a stenographer and typist at the Dead Letter Office. [3] She was also a short story and poetry writer, comedian, stage actress, feminist, and engineer.

At the age of 26, Magie received a patent for her invention that made the typewriting process easier by allowing paper to go through the rollers more easily. At the time, women were credited with less than one percent of all patents. She also worked as a news reporter for a brief time in the early 1900s. In 1910, at age 44, she married Albert Wallace Phillips. They had no children. [2]

Political activism

Magie was an outspoken activist for the feminist movement, and Georgism, which reflected her father's political beliefs when she was young. [2] Georgism refers to the economic perspective that instead of taxing income or other sources, the government should create a universal land tax based on the usefulness, size, and location of the land (Single tax). Then, after funding the government, the left over money would be distributed to the people. Many progressive political leaders at the time supported this economic perspective as it motivated people to cultivate land, redistributed wealth to people of low socioeconomic standing, eradicated the idea that landowners or landlords held the power and monetary value of the land that citizens used, and let people own all of the value and benefits of their creations. [4] This belief became the basis for her game known as The Landlord's Game. [2]

Furthermore, she believed that women were as capable as men in inventing, business, and other professional areas. In the 1800s, this belief was considered both novel and radical.[ citation needed ] When she worked as a stenographer, she was making around $10 a week which was not enough to support herself without the help of a husband[ citation needed ]. In order to bring the struggles of women in the United States to the public's attention, she bought an advertisement and tried to auction herself off as a "young woman American slave" looking for a husband to own her.

This advertisement was meant to show the position of women and black people in the country, emphasizing the fact that the only people that were truly free were white men. The ad that Magie published became the talk of the town. It spread rapidly through the news and gossip columns around the country. Magie made a name for herself as an outspoken and proud [feminist]]. [5]

The Landlord's Game

Magie first made her game, known as The Landlord's Game, popular among friends while living in Brentwood, Maryland. In 1903, Magie applied to the US Patent Office for a patent on her board game. She was granted U.S. Patent 748,626 on January 5, 1904. Magie received her patent before women were legally allowed to vote. [6]

The Landlord's Game board, published in 1906 Landlords Game 1906 image courtesy of T Forsyth owner of the registered trademark 20151119.jpg
The Landlord's Game board, published in 1906

The Landlord's Game was designed to demonstrate the economic ill effects of land monopolism and the use of land value tax as a remedy for it. Originally, the goal of the game was to simply obtain wealth. In the following patents, the game developed to eventually have two different settings: one being the monopolist set up (known as Monopoly) where the goal was to own industries, create monopolies, and win by forcing others out of their industries and the other being the anti-monopolist setup (known as Prosperity) where the goal was to create products and interact with opponents[ citation needed ]. The game would later go on to be the inspiration for the game Monopoly .

In 1906, she moved to Chicago. That year, she and fellow Georgists formed the Economic Game Co. to self-publish her original edition of The Landlord's Game. In 1910, the Parker Brothers published her humorous card game Mock Trial. Then, the Newbie Game Co. in Scotland patented The Landlord's Game as "Bre'r Fox and Bre'r Rabbit;" however, there was no proof that the game was actually protected by the British patent.

She and her husband moved back to the east coast of the U.S. and patented a revised version of the game in 1924. As her original patent had expired in 1921, this is seen as her attempt to reassert control over her game, which was now being played at some colleges where students made their own copies. In 1932, her second edition of The Landlord's Game was published by the Adgame Company of Washington, D.C. This version included both Monopoly and Prosperity. [7]

Magie also developed other games including Bargain Day and King's Men in 1937 and a third version of The Landlord's Game in 1939. In Bargain Day, shoppers compete with each other in a department store; [8] King's Men is an abstract strategy game. [9]

Death

Grave of Magie and her husband at Columbia Gardens Cemetery Grave of Elizabeth Magie Phillips (1866-1948).jpg
Grave of Magie and her husband at Columbia Gardens Cemetery

Magie died at the age of 81 in 1948. She was buried with her husband Albert Wallace Phillips, who had died in 1937, in Columbia Gardens Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. [10] Magie died without having any children. [11] At her death, she was not credited for the impact that she had on the board game community and American culture. [12]

Monopoly

The Monopoly board game, which Lizzie Magie claimed was similar to her patent, The Landlord's Game Monopoly board game patent (US2026082).pdf
The Monopoly board game, which Lizzie Magie claimed was similar to her patent, The Landlord's Game

Magie's game was becoming increasingly popular around the Northeastern United States. College students attending Harvard, Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania, left-leaning middle class families, and Quakers were all playing her board game. Three decades after TheLandlord's Game was invented in 1904, Parker Brothers published a modified version, known as Monopoly. Charles Darrow claimed the idea as his own, stating that he invented the game in his basement. Magie later spoke out against them and reported that she had made a mere $500 from her invention and received none of the credit for Monopoly. [7]

In January 1936, an interview with Magie appeared in a Washington, D.C. newspaper, in which she was critical of Parker Brothers. Magie spoke to reporters about the similarities between Monopoly and The Landlord's Game. The article published spoke to the fact that Magie spent more money making her game than she received in earnings, especially with the lack of credit she received after Monopoly was created. After the interviews, Parker Brothers agreed to publish two more of her games but continued to give Darrow the credit for inventing the game itself. [12]

Darrow was known as the inventor of Monopoly until Ralph Anspach, creator of the Anti-Monopoly game, discovered Magie's patents. Anspach had researched the history of Monopoly in relation to a legal struggle against Parker Brothers regarding his own game, and discovered Darrow's decision to take credit for its invention, despite his having learned about it through friends. Subsequently, Magie's invention of The Landlord's Game has been given more attention and research. Despite the fact that Darrow and Parker Brothers capitalized on and were credited with her idea, she has posthumously received credit for one of the most popular board games. [2]

Legacy

It was only after her death that the impact Magie had on many aspects of American culture and life began to be appreciated[ citation needed ]. First and foremost, she helped to popularize the circular board game. Most board games at the time were linear; a circular board game that concentrated on interacting both socially and competitively with the opponents was a novel idea. Her board game not only laid the foundation and inspiration for Monopoly, the most famous board game in the United States, [7] but also provided entertainment that taught about Georgist principles, the value in spreading wealth, and the harmfulness of monopolies (this aspect of her game was absent from the Darrow version of Monopoly). [7]

She also contributed to pressure for women's and black people's rights, through educating others about these concepts, inventing board games at a time when women held less than one percent of US patents, and publishing political material in newspapers to speak out against the oppression of women and black communities in the United States. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Monopoly</i> (game) Property trading board game

Monopoly is a multiplayer economics-themed board game. In the game, players roll two dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties and developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents and aim to drive them into bankruptcy. Money can also be gained or lost through Chance and Community Chest cards and tax squares. Players receive a salary every time they pass "Go" and can end up in jail, from which they cannot move until they have met one of three conditions. House rules, hundreds of different editions, many spin-offs, and related media exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invention</span> Novel device, material or technical process

An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an idea is unique enough either as a stand-alone invention or as a significant improvement over the work of others, it can be patented. A patent, if granted, gives the inventor a proprietary interest in the patent over a specific period of time, which can be licensed for financial gain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgism</span> Economic philosophy centred on common ownership of land

Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that people should own the value that they produce themselves, while the economic rent derived from land—including from all natural resources, the commons, and urban locations—should belong equally to all members of society. Developed from the writings of American economist and social reformer Henry George, the Georgist paradigm seeks solutions to social and ecological problems based on principles of land rights and public finance that attempt to integrate economic efficiency with social justice.

Anti-Monopoly is a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor Ralph Anspach in response to Monopoly. The idea of an anti-monopoly board game dates to 1903 when Lizzie Magie created The Landlord's Game, which later inspired Monopoly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Darrow</span> American board game designer (1889–1967)

Charles Brace Darrow was an American board game designer who is controversially credited as the inventor of the board game Monopoly by Parker Brothers, the game's publisher.

Erna Schneider Hoover is an American mathematician notable for inventing a computerized telephone switching method which "revolutionized modern communication". It prevented system overloads by monitoring call center traffic and prioritizing tasks on phone switching systems to enable more robust service during peak calling times. At Bell Laboratories where she worked for over 32 years, Hoover was described as an important pioneer for women in the field of computer technology.

Sarah "Tabitha" Babbitt was a Shaker credited as a tool maker and inventor. Inventions attributed to her by the Shakers include the circular saw, the spinning wheel head, and false teeth. She became a member of the Harvard Shaker community in 1793.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooperative board game</span> Type of board game

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<i>The Landlords Game</i> Board game, precursor to Monopoly

The Landlord's Game is a board game patented in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie as U.S. patent 748,626. It is a realty and taxation game intended to educate users about Georgism. It is the inspiration for the 1935 board game Monopoly.

Ralph Anspach was an American economics professor and games creator from San Francisco State University. Anspach was a graduate of the University of Chicago and fought with the Mahal in 1948 in support of the independence of Israel. He is best known for creating the game Anti-Monopoly and the legal battles that followed.

History of <i>Monopoly</i> History of the board game

The board game Monopoly has its origin in the early 20th century. The earliest known version, known as The Landlord's Game, was designed by Elizabeth Magie and first patented in 1904, but existed as early as 1902. Magie, a follower of Henry George, originally intended The Landlord's Game to illustrate the economic consequences of Ricardo's Law of economic rent and the Georgist concepts of economic privilege and land value taxation. A series of board games was developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of that land. By 1933, a board game already existed much like the modern version of Monopoly that has been sold by Parker Brothers and related companies through the rest of the 20th century, and into the 21st. Several people, mostly in the midwestern United States and near the East Coast of the United States, contributed to its design and evolution.

Egbert v. Lippmann, 104 U.S. 333 (1881), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that public use of an invention bars the patenting of it. The Court's ruling was colored by its view that the inventor had forfeited his right to patent the invention by "sleeping on his rights" while others commercialized the technology.

<i>Easy Money</i> (board game)

Easy Money or The Game of Easy Money was a board game introduced by Milton Bradley Company in 1935. Like Monopoly, the game is based on The Landlord's Game in the movement of pieces around the board, the use of cards, properties that can be purchased, and houses that can be established on them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Bradley</span> American publisher and game designer

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<i>Finance</i> (game)

Finance, or The Fascinating Game of Finance or Finance and Fortune, is a board game originally released in 1932. The game is based on The Landlord's Game in the movement of pieces around the board, the use of cards, properties that can be purchased, and houses that can be erected on them. The game also has railroads; however, these may not be purchased. The game is a predecessor to Monopoly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Pilon</span> American journalist

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The history of United States patent law started even before the U.S. Constitution was adopted, with some state-specific patent laws. The history spans over more than three centuries.

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<i>Ms. Monopoly</i> Board game

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References

  1. "Elizabeth Magie – Inventor of Monopoly" makeitmacomb.com Retrieved September 10, 2019
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pilon, Mary (February 13, 2015). "Monopoly's Inventor: The Progressive Who Didn't Pass 'Go'". New York Times . Retrieved February 14, 2015. Elizabeth Magie was born in Macomb, Ill., in 1866 ... Her father, James Magie, was a newspaper publisher and an abolitionist who accompanied ...
  3. Pilon, Mary (January 2015). "Monopoly Was Designed to Teach the 99% About Income Inequality". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  4. Blaug, Mark (June 2000). "Henry George: rebel with a cause". The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought. 7 (2): 270–288. doi:10.1080/096725600361816. ISSN   0967-2567. S2CID   154704324.
  5. "Monopoly's Lost Female Inventor". National Women's History Museum. September 1, 2018. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  6. "Ever cheat at Monopoly? So did creator -- he stole idea". MPR News. March 3, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Parlett, David (October 1, 2019). "Lizzie Magie: America's First Lady of Games". Board Game Studies Journal. 13 (1): 99–109. doi: 10.2478/bgs-2019-0005 . ISSN   2183-3311.
  8. "Bargain Day game instructions, by Elizabeth Magie Phillips, Parker Brothers, Inc., ©1937 | The Strong". archives.museumofplay.org. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  9. "King's Men game instructions, by Elizabeth Magie Phillips, Parker Brothers, Inc., © 1937 | The Strong". archives.museumofplay.org. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  10. Illinois, Brittany Schenk of GateHouse Media. "Inventor of Monopoly board game called Macomb home". Pekin Daily Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  11. Pilon |, Mary (March 27, 2017). "The Anti-Capitalist Woman Who Created Monopoly—Before Others Cashed In | Essay". Zócalo Public Square. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Center, Smithsonian Lemelson (March 26, 2015). "The Woman Inventor Behind "Monopoly"". Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Retrieved July 8, 2020.

Further reading