Week 14- Landlords and Ladies

The Landlord Game was the first U.S. patented game in 1904 invented by Quaker woman Elizabeth Magie. It was used to “promote the social ideas behind the Single Tax Movement”- Radical Game Design, page 85. The Single Tax Movement, now in modern times known as Georism, is an “economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including from all natural resources, the commons, and urban locations—should belong equally to all members of society”- “Georgism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism. The Landlord Game was seen as too complicated, educational, and boring by the Parker Brothers game company. Although in Ms. Magie’s defense Dungeons and Dragons is often seen as too complicated and mathematical to those who have never played.

The political aspects of the game also made it seem risky among the more public domains. However much success was found in higher education settings, mostly college professors and their students. The Landlord Game has “a single path of forty spaces… four railroads and two utilities, water and electric… offers rental properties whose values increase… includes a park space, a jail space, and a ‘go to jail’ space.”- Radical Game Design, page 87. If this game sounds like something you played before, it’s because it inspired a man named Charles Brace Darrow to invent the now beloved, and hated by me, game of Monopoly. It is obvious by this comparison that even though Monopoly was created after The Landlord Game, its new graphics and innovative tweaks made it far more enjoyable to a much larger audience.

My group and I are creating our final game of the semester, it’s called Basilisk and much like The Landlord Game our first design was too complicated for first-time boardgamers. Trying to be unique we decided it would be fun if we made our board game movable so the players could create their own versions. However, this design proved a little more challenging for a few weeks of work. With our second attempt, much like Charles Darrow, we took inspiration from games like Dungeons and Dragons, and although my fellow teammates did not know the game, there are many elements of Q*bert as well. Overall while a game doesn't have to be political, the social events and actions surrounding us can have a heavy influence on the design and play of our game.