Charles Darrow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Darrow
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Charles Brace Darrow
August 10, 1889 |
| Died | August 28, 1967 (aged 78) |
Charles Brace Darrow (born August 10, 1889 – died August 28, 1967) was an American who became famous for his version of the Monopoly board game. This popular game was actually based on an earlier game called The Landlord's Game, created by Lizzie Magie. Darrow became the first millionaire game designer ever. Even though Lizzie Magie invented the original game and patented it, she only received $500 for her work. The company Parker Brothers later gave Darrow credit for inventing the game.
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Who Was Charles Darrow?
Charles Darrow worked as a salesman for home heaters in Germantown, a neighborhood in Philadelphia. This was during the time of the Great Depression, when many people lost their jobs. The house where he lived is still standing today. While Darrow sold his Monopoly game to Parker Brothers, claiming it was his own idea, historians now know that he was one of many people who helped develop the game.
How Did Monopoly Become Famous?
Monopoly is a board game where players buy and sell pretend properties. It also includes elements of chance, like drawing cards. After losing his job because of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Darrow took on many different small jobs. He saw his friends and neighbors playing a game where they bought and traded properties. This inspired him to create his own version of the game. He got help from his first son, William, and his wife, Esther. Darrow then started selling his game under the name Monopoly.
The Real Story Behind Monopoly's Creation
The truth is, Charles Darrow was not the only person playing or developing this type of game. Many people across the Midwest and East Coast of America were already playing games about buying and trading property. The game that came directly before Monopoly was The Landlord's Game. This game was invented by Elizabeth Magie.
College professors and their students used Magie's game. Another similar game, called The Fascinating Game of Finance, was published in the Midwest in 1932. From there, the game traveled back east. It became very popular with a group of Quakers in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Charles Todd taught Darrow how to play the game. Todd had played it in Atlantic City, where players had already changed the game to use the names of Atlantic City's streets and properties.
In 2004, a TV show called History Detectives looked into an old game board. This board belonged to Ron Jarrell of Arden, Delaware. It had parts of both The Landlord's Game and Monopoly. The investigators decided that this game board had "key elements" that connected the two games.
How Darrow Made His First Games
The Darrow family first made their game sets on flexible, round pieces of oilcloth. This was different from the stiff, square carton boards used later. Charles drew the designs for the properties using drafting pens. His son and wife then colored in the spaces. They also made the title deed cards and the Chance and Community Chest cards.
On these first round boards, Darrow included some of the famous pictures that are still on Monopoly boards today. A graphic artist helped him design these. They included the big red arrow for "Go," the black trains on the railroad spaces, the faucet on "Water Works," the light bulb on "Electric Company," and the question marks on the "Chance" spaces. Darrow then got a copyright for his game in 1933. The next games he made had printed boards on square oilcloth pieces with hand-colored details.
Selling Monopoly to the World
By 1934, Darrow started having the game printed on cardboard. He sold copies in long white boxes to Wanamaker's Department Store in Philadelphia. Later that year, Darrow showed his game to Milton Bradley, another game company, but they said no. Then he showed it to Parker Brothers.
Darrow used the money from his sales to make smaller game sets. These came in black cardboard boxes, with the boards sold separately. After Darrow started getting orders from other Philadelphia department stores, Parker Brothers changed their mind.
Parker Brothers then bought the rights from Darrow to make the game in large numbers. Darrow got a patent for the game in 1935, which Parker Brothers then bought. Within just one year, they were making 20,000 game sets every week! Monopoly became the best-selling board game in America that year. This made Darrow the first millionaire game designer in history.
Later, Parker Brothers promoted Darrow as the only inventor of the game. However, research has since shown that many people helped create the important parts of the game. These people included Magie, Jesse Raiford, Ruth Hoskins, Louis and Ferdinand Thun, and Daniel Layman. Darrow's main contribution was the way the game looked and the cartoon-like pictures on the corner spaces. He also set the number of houses and hotels (32 houses and 12 hotels).
Charles B. Darrow's picture and a credit to him appeared on the Parker Brothers stock exchange game Bulls and Bears in 1936. In this case, Darrow was used as a "celebrity endorser," meaning he was famous enough to help sell the game, but he didn't create it.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1957, Darrow appeared on a TV show called To Tell the Truth. On this show, people had to guess who the real person was among several imposters.
Charles Darrow passed away on August 28, 1967, at his home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Three years after Darrow's death, in 1970, Atlantic City placed a special commemorative plaque in his honor. It is on The Boardwalk, near Park Place. In 1973, Ralph Anspach, an economics professor, created a game called Anti-Monopoly. This game was similar to Monopoly. Parker Brothers sued him for it. During the ten-year legal battle, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Darrow had copied the rules directly from the game played by Charles Todd. This included even a misspelling of "Marven Gardens" as "Marvin Gardens."
