Monopoly's (TM) Fifty-Two (52) Fundamental Errors
"Subject: 52 mistakes"
Posted Nov 19, 2000 by Gaurav
Post: 1
"I've read that 'Monopoly™' was rejected initially because it had Fifty-Two (52) design flaws. Does anybody know what the flaws were?"
The Errors in Charles Darrow's Game, Monopoly (TM)
Many people have heard of the Fifty-Two (52) Fundmental Errors in the game of Monopoly™. Several books recount both the creation of Monopoly™ by Charles Darrow, and the buyout of rights to other existing games by Parker Brothers later on to ensure clear rights to the game.
Darrow had been making the Monopoly™ sets in his home in 1934. When a Philadelphia toy store began sending wholesale orders (for Christmas), it became clear to Darrow that he and his printer friend could not keep up with demand. It was at this time that Darrow submitted the idea for his game to Parker Brothers in Salem, Massachusetts, which by then had been making and distributing family games globally for more than fifty years.
The following bit of information is culled from "The Monopoly™ Book"1
"But the company had evolved a set of inviolable ground rules for "family games," which they held to be mandatory for any game that could be successfully marketed. According to the Parker precept, a family game should last approximately forty-five minutes. Monopoly™ could go on for hours and hours.2 Parker also felt that a game should have a specific end, a goal to be achieved....In Monopoly, the players just kept going round and round the board. The only goal was to bankrupt the other players and emerge still solvent yourself. Furthermore, Monopoly's™ rules seemed far too complex to the Parker staff; they thought the general game-playing public would be hopelessly confused trying to learn how to handle mortgage, rents, and interest.
"After testing the game for several weeks, Parker Brothers made the unanimous decision to reject it. The company wrote and informated Darrow of this decision, explaining that his game contained "fifty-two fundamental errors." It would never be accepted by the public."
Of course, Darrow was not deterred, and sunk his own meager fortune into producing the game himself. Within the next year Parker Brothers would offer to purchase the game and the rights to produce it from Darrow, unable to ignore the game's wild popularity. Thanks to the deal of making "royalties" for each set sold, Charles Darrow went on to become the first man ever made a millionaire by a game.
In addition to the publication of the game, Parker Brothers made Darrow approve an ammendment to his rules; the inclusion of "Short Game" rules, or the timed game we are now familiar with today. With a 90-minute version, Parker Brothers attempted to at least meet the 45 minute game rule.
- Unspecific timeframe of gameplay,
- complicated rules,
- with no clear ending point,
and others are the Fifty-Two (52) Fundamental Flaws commonly referred to in Monopoly.™3
Hope this helps,
Nullmuse(ø)
1 by Maxine Brady, printed in 1977 (available on ebay)
2 see Infinity (∞)
3 (Other errors, such as calculation of mortaging, proper procedure for rolling or paying to "Get Out of Jail", and especially the number of turns that can pass after you've landed on someone else's property without them asking for rent (2) before you can no longer be compelled to pay, etc. are NOT the same as the Fifty-Two (52) errors already in possession of Parker Brothers [Hasbro®]).
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