Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented by Tanya Lee Stone

Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented Reviews

• 
  Jon Nakapalau

  Wow - so Lizzie Magie creates the game we now call Monopoly but Charles Darrow monopolizes the fame - unbelievable!
• 
  Krista the Krazy Kataloguer

  I had always heard that Monopoly was invented by a man, Charles Darrow. Little did I know that Lizzie Magie thought of it first! She called it the Landlord's Game. How Charles Darrow discovered her game and changed it to the Monopoly we know today is an interesting story. Stone tells us how the streets got named, how the colors were added, and how the pieces were made and changed over the years. At the end of the book Stone provides us with more trivia about the game. After reading this, you'll never look at Monopoly the same way again! Recommended reading for all Monopoly fans!
• 
  Beth

  Hey kids, let’s learn about irony today. Here’s an example: a woman who invented a game to teach people the injustices of capitalism, only to be swindled out of millions of dollars for her own invention so a bunch of greedy men could make that money by asking her to sign off on her patent so they could sell her game.
  
  Oh wait. I better not teach THAT for fear of being accused of being a loser teacher who indoctrinates her students as socialists.
• 
  Erin

  Alternative subtitle: Boys' Club Steals Yet Another Woman's Idea
• 
  Luisa Knight

  Here's an interesting fact: the Monopoly game board has a spelling error! That's right; and the error has been around since the game took off.
  
  Before the game was manufactured, people made their own boards, often using landmarks and locations around their hometown ... and Marven Gardens got misspelled and was kept that way by the man who put the game into production. Oops.
  
  It's an interesting story and contains fun, cartoon illustrations. You'll enjoy learning how and why the game got started and how it evolved.
  
  Ages: 6 - 12
  
  
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• 
  Leah

  Sad how it's always a man's world. I feel so bad for Lizzie Magie. At least people recognize her now, though she will never know it :(
• 
  Alicia

  I think I enjoyed the author's note as much as the story itself since Tanya Lee Stone talks about how she always ends up writing about women in some fashion but at the outset, this picture book was going to be about the creation of Monopoly and this guy Darrow-- well lo and behold-- the original creator of what we now know as Monopoly was a woman named Lizzie Magie!
  
  It's a little about the patent process, intellectual property, and the idea that she wanted to create a board game that talked about the evils of money (and real estate) that becomes one of the most iconic games! And the process that a game goes through especially when it's word of mouth or sharing with friends.
• 
  Benji Martin

  A very interesting take on the history of Monopoly. I think I'm going to read it my 5th graders.
• 
  Linda

  Yes, my favorite piece was the trolley, and I still have it! Perhaps you loved the hat, or the ship, maybe the shoe? Whatever your favorite is, you probably also have lots of memories playing this most famous game, Monopoly. Yet you might not know the true story of its beginnings that Tanya Lee Stone has discovered and now told in this new book out last month, Pass Go and Collect $200 - The Real Story of How Monopoly was Invented.
  In her author's note, Tanya's editor asks her if she might be interested in telling the story of how Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman in the Great Depression, became a millionaire by inventing Monopoly. Although Tanya's favorites stories are about women, she was interested, so took the challenge. In her deep research, she found that it was a woman's story after all. The genesis of this famous game began with a woman's interest in rent and the way that landlords became richer and their renters gained little. Her name is Elizabeth Magie, Lizzie, who wasn't afraid to do things in different ways, thus her idea to create a game so that people could learn about the landlord-tenant relationship. It was called the Landlord's Game. Lizzie was smart enough and learned through another job she had how to obtain a patent, and she did. She also renewed it after revising the game and trying to sell it to Parker Brothers who said "no".
  In the next months and years, the story of Monopoly becomes complicated. People created their own copies, sometimes with local street names. One professor used it to teach students how the landlord-tenant relationship worked. Changes by a teacher in Atlantic City lasted. She and her friends renamed most of the properties after local streets and neighborhoods. Someone added color, etc. At this time, Charles Darrow, that unemployed salesman came into the picture. He learned the game by happenstance having dinner with friends one evening. And he began producing his own boards and typing the rules, selling each one. He was desperate for money!
  The story continues in its complexity, again including Parker Brothers and Charles Darrow, but Lizzie still held the patent! You'll have to read the rest of the story to find what happened to her, to Darrow, and to this game that the author writes has been played by over one billion people in 111 countries. Tanya Lee Stone has written a clear and fascinating history of competition and power, just the way Monopoly is played. Steven Salerno's illustrations are bright and bold, showing the main players in this dramatic story as well as lots of Monopoly parts. There is a trivia page, a game titled Monopoly Math, an author's note, and a source list. It's a terrific telling of this fascinating story.
• 
  Cara

  The text presents the story factually and leaves the ending open for the reader to decide who deserves credit for creating the game of Monopoly and who is right or wrong. Author Stone describes background information, people, and events in a straightforward manner that is easily understood while also making the narrative an enjoyable one to follow. Colorful illustrations created with crayon, ink, gauche and pastel were finished digitally; they evoke the eras described in the story while also appealing to today’s readers. Many elements from the game itself are scattered throughout the illustrations, lending familiarity for the game’s players. The back matter includes trivia, Monopoly Math, an author’s note, and bibliography. Readers looking for a story about an invention, a little-known piece of history, or a pop culture connection can take it to the bank that Pass Go and Collect $200 is a fascinating book.
• 
  Sheri

  I was spellbound by the history of this game and how the inventor was mostly forgotten when the current version came out. Lizzie Magie put together a game to show how unfair the landlord-tenant relationships were in 1903. Her game was improved on over the years but the current version is credited to another man and was sold by Parker Brothers. The trivia at the back and the math are for children 3rd grade and up to practice they knowledge of money. And the back matter is interesting, too. I felt for Lizzie when the copyright laws left her without credit or the $$$ given to Charles Darrow for his version.
• 
  Jana

  Monopoly was such important part of our play time at our house when I was growing up. It was the centerpiece of Game Night complete with popcorn and soda pop. I would imagine that people have a similar connection to this game all across the country. This awesome nonfiction picture books digs deep into the history of this game to tell us about the woman who invented the game and the man who made it popular. Fascinating and well-research with terrific illustrations, this would be a great nonfiction resource for any book shelf!
• 
  Shiloah

  A winner of a read aloud! We love this one!
• 
  Ann

  Absolutely LOVED this book. Fans of Monopoly will enjoy learning about the history of their favorite game. Don't skip the authors note, so important! Another great story about women in history and women who achieve and persevere. Can't wait to share this one and see what great ideas students come up with for creating their own version of Monopoly as has been done throughout history. Great for class debates as well. The possibilities are endless!
• 
  Jillian Anderson

  I will be buying this one for my library!! This book tells of the true inventor on the game Monopoly. Although most contribute the creation to Charles Darrow, a woman named Lizzie Magie was the first person to put a patent on the The Landlord’s Game. Great illustrations for this nonfiction book. Loved the Tremendous Trivia and Monopoly Math at the end. This book is sure to start a debate in any classroom about the true inventor of Monopoly!
• 
  Jason

  YET ANOTHER THING that a man stole from a woman... (though, to be fair, he didn't know that she invented it). Still, history is at fault for allowing her contribution to fade into the background.
• 
  Christiana

  Super interesting!
• 
  Sarah Middlestead

  Really interesting!
• 
  Susan Morris

  Interesting look at the origins of Monopoly- I had no idea the original idea was by a woman! (Library)
• 
  Julie

  Interesting children's book that discusses the beginnings of the Monopoly board game and the question of who invented the game.
• 
  Cindy Kleback

  Interesting history of a popular board game.
• 
  Shaye Miller

  The Miller family happens to be full of Monopoly lovers. I'm not even embarrassed to admit that hubby and I brought a game board on our honeymoon and played a 4+ hour game in our fancy-shmancy honeymoon suite to kickstart our life together (nearly 25 years ago!). So I was very interested to learn all about the invention of this game and how it eventually became the format we know, today. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Magie witnessed the dramatic shift in wealth distribution in the late 1800s and created the original game board to highlight the unjust landlord-tenant relationship. Many people had a hand in adding small changes and improvements over the years and when Lizzie took her game board to The Parker Brothers in 1909, they told her it was too challenging and educational. Fast forward to the 1930s when a man named Charles Darrow heard about the game through some friends. He took the idea, made a few updates, sold a number of hand made game sets, and took it back to Parker Brothers, claiming to be the inventor. But what about poor Lizzie?! Ah, you'll have to read this one to find out. While it's quite text heavy for a picture book, it was fascinating and quite fair to all sides in the battle for ownership. The artwork in this book was created with crayon, ink, gouache, and pastel on paper. After scanning the drawings, the artist layered them into the final compositions using Adobe Photoshop, with additional coloring applied.
  
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  The Miller Memo!
• 
  Cynthia Egbert

  I don't often give children's books four stars but this one is fabulous! I loved getting the entire backstory and Ms. Stone was the perfect author to present this one. I learned so much about a game that has been such a part of my life with some wonderful memories. I am a lover of irony and the irony in the story about how the true inventor of this game got the shaft was both frustrating and interesting.
• 
  Lauren Marshall

  Pass Go and Collect $200 by Tanya Lee Stone (2018) is the story about how the game Monopoly was invented. Lizzie Magie was thought of to be the game's first creator. In the late 1800s, people moved to the big cities for job opportunity. " A small number of wealthy people began to buy as much land as they could and build houses and apartment buildings." "They charged people fees or rent to live there." This gave Lizzie a great idea. "She created the game to show just how unjust the landlord-tenant relationship could be." Over time, people changed rules, names of streets and how competitive the game could be. Charles Darrow was the game's official inventor when Parker Brothers said yes to Darrow and no to Magie. Lizzie never gave up on her game and she did receive $500.00 from Parker Brothers to buy her patent. Darrow however made millions off of his version of the game. "The whole reason Lizzie Magie invented her game was to show how unfair money issues can become when someone take sole control over a property."
  
  The fiction twin text I decided to compare Pass Go and Collect $200.00 is The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashely Spires (2014). "I'm going to make the most magnificent thing!" The main character in the book is a little girl and she is determined to create something magnificent. "She makes it fuzzy, long, short, rough, smooth." Not any of the girl's inventions turn out the way she has in her mind. The girl gets mad. "If only the thing would just work!" the little girl declares. She contemplates quitting. She take a walk and cools down. She realizes, "some parts of the WRONG things that are really quite RIGHT. The bolts on one, the shape of another, the wheel-to-seat ration of the next. There are all sorts of parts that she likes." She now knows how to make the most magnificent thing. She never gave up!
  
  My rational for combining these two books is because both books are about inventors in their own right and how they never gave up. Lizzie Magie was the the original inventor of the game Monopoly. While the game was her brainchild, the finished product was created by another. Lizzie tweaked the game to bring attraction to a broader audience. She even pitched the game to Parker Brothers twice. While they turned her down, her persistence pushed the others to tweak the game as well. This is how the finished product came to be. The same goes for The Most Magnificent Thing. The little girl in the book has an idea in her head just like Lizzie. She works hard and creates many different inventions. All of these inventions however are never right, until she realizes that all the small inventions make the perfect invention when put together. This book also teaches kids about emotions and solving problems.
  
  The interactive strategy I would use to bridge the two texts would be webbing. The main word that both of these books focus on is the word, inventor. With inventor in the middle, what words should circle around it? The words that come to mind are some words from the books: Monopoly, patent, game, The Landlord's game, Parker Brothers, assistant, never give up, The Most Magnificent Thing.
  
  Citations:
  Spires, Ashley (2014) The Most Magnificent Thing. Toronto, Canada: Kids Can Press.
  Stone, Tanya (2018) Pass Go and Collect $200.00. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
• 
  Barbara

  Like many youngsters, I couldn't wait to have my very own Monopoly game, a Christmas present from my parents when they deemed me old enough to understand the game's intricacies. I loved the little game icons, playing pieces, and the property cards as well as collecting cash when someone landed on one of my properties. Clearly, the game is all about making and losing money, and sometimes there's even a little luck involved, as is the case in real life. I suppose that I assumed this game was invented in some sort of a think-tank for gamers. This fascinating book tells the story behind the game's invention. Elizabeth Magie was bothered by the exorbitant rent that landlords in the late 1800s began to charge for their properties, and this concern prompted her to create a board game. Her Landlord's Game was patented in 1904. Magie kept tweaking her game, making changes as the game gained popularity. Players also made changes to the game, one even naming the properties for places in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When Charles Darrow played the game with friends who had a game board, he was impressed so much that he decided to make his own version of the game, calling it Monopoly. Although Lizzie had tried to sell her game to Parker Brothers many years before, they hadn't been interested. Suddenly, as the game became even more popular, they were, but Lizzie still owned the patent for the game. The company gave her $500 for the rights to Monopoly but no credit for the game while Darrow and the game-making company would become quite wealthy. The book also contains additional trivia about Monopoly, math problems related to the game, an Author's Note, and a list of sources. Who knew that a game like Monopoly had such a complicated history? Like many others, I'll never be able to look at the game in quite the same way again. The illustrations are quite colorful, relying on crayon, ink, gouache, and pastels for their creation. They were then scanned, layered, and organized with Adobe Photoshop. As she does with all of her writing projects, Tanya Lee Stone serves up an intriguing story that fills in the gaps and gives rightful credit to the game's originator and those who added changes to it along the way. Ah, how I love reading stories about individuals whose contributions have been forgotten or never acknowledged. Gamers will enjoy this as will feminists or those who are concerned about economic disparity.
• 
  Katelyn Evert

  Holm, J. L. (2011). Turtle in paradise. New York, NY: Yearling Newbery.
  
  Stone, T. L. (2018). Pass go and collect $200: The real story of how Monopoly was invented. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
  
  The possible content-area crossover for Pass Go and Collect $200 is history or math. A teacher could use the book during history when talking about the history of board games or the history of the 1930s/Great Depression. A teacher could also use the book during math. During math class, the teacher could ask students the questions from the book on the page titled “Monopoly Math”. There are questions like “Tennessee Avenue costs $180. If a player has no $100 bills, name four ways he or she can pay the banker for this property.” I would choose Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (2011) as the twin text. I would choose this book because it talks about life in 1935, which is around the time that Monopoly was invented. Turtle in Paradise is about a girl named Turtle who moved to Key West in 1935 to be with relatives because her mom got a job as a housekeeper for someone who did not like kids.
  I would bridge the two texts by creating a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the life of Turtle (from Turtle in Paradise) with Charles Darrow (“inventor” of Monopoly). I would tell the students that we will be comparing the two characters before we read the books so they can take notes if they want. I would start by reading Pass Go and Collect $200 and then have students help me create a list of words describing Charles Darrow. I would then read Turtle in Paradise to the students, chapters at a time. We would then create a list of words to describe Turtle and her experiences in the book. After looking at both lists of words, the students would help me place the words in the correct areas of the Venn diagram. I would also ask if there are any words that we did not think of before that we could add to the chart.
  
• 
  Tasha

  Explore the story of how the popular board game Monopoly was invented in this nonfiction picture book. Lizzie Magie was a talented woman, someone who was very concerned with fairness in the late 1800s. During that time, wealthy people bought up property in cities and charged high rents for them. Maggie invented the Landlord’s Game, an early version of what would become Monopoly, with two ways to play. One was buying up and owning lots of land and the other was working together and demonstrating how fairness worked better. The game was complicated but popular with different versions being created across the country. When Charles Darrow, a man down on his luck during the Great Depression, was introduced to the game, he worked to improve it. Then he started selling it rather than sharing it the way it had been done. Soon Parker Brothers was interested in selling it. But what of Lizzie?
  
  Stone tells the poignant story of a woman with a real concern for society and the way it was headed. She created a complex game, shared it with others and was taken advantage of by the system that she was working against. Paid a nominal fee to give up her claim to the game, Darrow went on to become a millionaire in contrast. Make sure to read the author’s note at the end that shows how this book was originally about Darrow until Lizzie’s story emerged.
  
  The illustrations have a wonderful vintage quality to them, suiting the period of setting of the book. It is very interesting to see close ups of the different boards of the Landlord’s Game and eventually the very familiar Monopoly board. Even those who don’t enjoy Monopoly, like me, will be fascinated by the complex tale behind the game.
  
  A very intriguing tale that is a mix of women’s rights, ingenuity and economics. Appropriate for ages 8-12.
• 
  Alice

  4 stars
  Why do women always get the back burner, do all the work and get little to none of the credit?! (The inventor of DNA (female) and her male co-workers who took the credit comes to mind!)
  
  The author said -paraphrased- "My editor gave me this idea, but warned me it wasn't about a strong woman character like you like to write about" Well as she did her research. She found her strong female.
  Monopoly started out a game called Landlord created by Lizzie Magie to show how monopolies worked in the late 1880's.
  People took her idea modified it for their own purposes until it came to a unemployed man in the 1930's name Charles Darrow , He tweaked it and made it his own... and the rest is history. But what about Lizzie. Well read the book, but I think she got taken advantage of!
  
  A very interesting story, well researched, intersecting, well illustrated... and of course interesting! I hate that Lizzie got the short end of the deal and Parker Brothers... Rot in hell boys (or a really unpleasant portion of heaven) ! Even after a law suit they don't credit her on their web site as inventor...
  
  I am not much of a board game player. I can tell you the last time I played Monopoly. It was in high school, I was a senior and it was for Miss Carlile's Economics class. I liked this class SO much that as a Freshman in college I took Micro Economics (ugh not a good freshman course)
  
  So, when we played this game, we started out the first class period playing the rules.
  Then next day the teacher said "Okay, now we are going to change the rules and call it "Socialist"
  So people that had all the money had to share it, but still able to make a little bit of a profit.
  
  Then day 3... we played "Communism" Well you can see how that went. It is a lesson I have never forgotten and it was thanks to the Board game Monopoly.
  
  
• 
  Kyra Nay

  While I love board games, I confess that I don’t particularly enjoy playing Monopoly. But whether you’re Monopoly-averse or a Monopoly fanatic, Pass Go and Collect $200 is well-worth a read. Stone uncovers the complicated history of the board game, which traces its origins back to Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie, who created the Landlord’s Game as a social critique on the crowded tenements and wealthy landowners of the day. She was awarded a US patent for the game in 1904, the first US patent filed for board game (and when women were granted less than 1% of US patents). The game spread from among communities of players, who taught each other the game, created their own gameboards, and added their own rules. A business professor at University of Pennsylvania taught it to his students, who named the game Monopoly. A group of players in Atlantic City renamed the properties for local streets and neighborhoods (misspelling Marven Gardens as Marvin Gardens). In the 30s, Charles Darrow, unemployed during the Depression, made his own game board and started selling sets to his friends to make money. When his sets became popular at a department store, Parker Brothers suddenly took interest into his game, after more than 30 years of telling Lizzie Gaige that they weren’t interested. Darrow and Parker Bros. earned millions from Monopoly, while Lizzie Gaige got $500 and faded into obscurity, despite inventing a game over 1 billion people have played.
  
  With colorful illustrations that evoke the Monopoly boards over the years, this book will prompt good conversations about ownership, intellectual property, community norms, and more. Educators will especially appreciate two unique sections in the backmatter – a list of Monopoly trivia and a Monopoly Math, with themed word problems.