Anti-Monopoly
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Anti-Monopoly is a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor Ralph Anspach, in response to Monopoly. In the original 1974 version the board is "monopolized" at the beginning of the game, and players compete to return the state of the board to a free market system. In a more recent version individual players choose at the beginning of the game to play either by monopolistic or competitive rules.
Anspach's game was subject to challenges in the courts. In 1982, after nine years of legal battles, Anspach won a trademark lawsuit in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The lawsuit had been brought over the use of the word "Monopoly" in the game's title. A later act of Congress allowed Kenner Parker Toys to re-register the MONOPOLY trademark, which is currently held by Hasbro. Anspach uses the Anti-Monopoly name under a license from Hasbro (as is stated in his website's legal disclaimers).
A similar game (in that it inverts the objective of Monopoly, but with the aim of giving away money and property) was described/invented by science fiction author, Philip K. Dick. ([Manuscript "Diversion" 10-30-1958] "War Game" published in Galaxy, Dec 1959). In the same vein, Mad Magazine published a similar (albeit much more absurdist) game in 1979.
In Germany, where the original game was and is very popular, two more liberal versions of Anti-Monopoly were created and popular in the late 1970s and 1980s: 'Provopoli - Wem gehört die Stadt', where squatters take over parts of the town, and 'Ökopoli' where the objective is to take over the town from polluters.
External links
- [Anti-Monopoly Home Page]
- [Go to Court, Go Directly to Court - article from the Washington Free Press]
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