In 1933, Charles Darrow begins to seel the Monopoly game. One year later, in the height of the great Depression, he copyrights the game and submit it to the executives at Parker Brothers but they rejected the Monopoly game due to design errors. Luckily, Charles Darrow wasn't daunted and started the production on his own as he was too excited because the game promise you fame and fortune like the American dream.

Mr. Darrow got help from his friend, a printer, and they sold quickly 5000 handmade sets in store in Philadelphia because people loved it. The demand skyrockets and he couldn't keep up all the orders, so Charles Darrow went back to Parker Brothers and this time they accepted the board game.

In 1935, Monopoly already became America's best selling game and it stayed for many years like that. At its 65-year anniversary, over 500 million people have played the famous board game as 200 million copies have been sold worldwide.

The first set included 4 small wax wood pawns and in 1937, die-cast metal tokens were introduced. In 1943, due to the World War II, there was a shortage of metal and the tokes were made back out of wood.

In the 70', a braille edition was created for visually impaired players and Neiman Marcus offered an all chocolate Monopoly set for $600.

In 1998, the racecar token was added and one year later fans were able to vote for another new toke and choosed for 'Sack of Money'.

Today, Monopoly is still the best-selling board game in the world as it is sold in 80 countries and produced in 26 languages.

Fun Facts

Long Games

The longest Monopoly game ever played was about 70 straight days. The longest game in a bathtub was 99 hours and the longest game underwater took 45 days. People played even Monopoly upside-down for 36 hours.

Money

Every standard set of Monopoly contains $15,140. Parker Brothers prints about 50 billion dollars Monopoly money every year, so that's more than twice as much money as the U.S. Mint does actual money.

Inflation

In Monopoly, there is no inflation. Values on the Monopoly gameboard are the same today as they were in 1935.

Houses

Monopoly has to be the biggest builder. Who else manufactures over 5 billion green houses.

One Million Dollar

The most extravagant Monopoly board game set ever produced was the centerpiece of the 1988 Monopoly World Championship held in London. Made with diamonds, rubies and eighteen carat gold, the set was valued at over $1,000,000. There was also a set with gold houses and silver hotels which was sold for $25.000.

Insiders

The largest indoor game ever played used a gameboard 122 feet by 122 feet in size.

Fresh Air

The largest outdoor game ever played used a gameboard 938 feet wide by 765 feet long. The Monopoly contest required approximately a full city block.

Monopoly At War

Escape maps, compasses, and files were inserted into Monopoly game boards and smuggled into POW camps inside Germany during World War II. Real money for escapees was slipped into the packs of Monopoly money.

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