Photograph: United States Patent and Trademark Office Magie’s original board design for the Landlord’s Game, which she patented in 1903. Nor did it appear that written rules existed elsewhere. Todd was slightly perplexed, as he had never written them up. One day, despite all of his exposure to the game, Darrow – who was unemployed, and desperate for money to support his family – asked Charles Todd for a written copy of the rules. Together with other friends, they played many times.
But everybody called it ‘the monopoly game’. The game didn’t have an official name: it wasn’t sold in a box, but passed from friend to friend. In fact, they were so taken with it that Charles Todd made them a set of their own, and began teaching them some of the more advanced rules. As the two couples sat around the board, enthusiastically rolling the dice, buying up properties and moving their tokens around, the Todds were pleased to note that the Darrows liked the game. One night in late 1932, a Philadelphia businessman named Charles Todd and his wife, Olive, introduced their friends Charles and Esther Darrow to a real-estate board game they had recently learned.
