MONOPOLY HISTORY FACTS SERIES
MONOPOLY HISTORY FACTS TV

(Nothing actually happened in Salem on Halloween during the Witch Trials – the Court of Oyer and Terminer, who arrested over 440 people, hanged nineteen, pressed one to death, and caused five others to die in jail, was ended and replaced by a new, forgiving court, by Governor Phipps, in September, when the Governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft.)

MONOPOLY HISTORY FACTS TV

Things changed when in the early 1970’s the Situation-Comedy “Bewitched” TV show filmed two season-hightlight episodes in Salem, weaving their characters into the story of the Salem Witch trials, and most importantly, Halloween. The Parker Brothers buildings were in rough shape and they didn’t allow tours, even though many wanted to visit…The closing of Parker Brothers happened when Salem had already lost it’s other major manufacturing companies. Parker Brothers image: By Edward –, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Monopoly shoe by William Warby via Flickr, CC BY 2.0. Ignore principles 1 to 11 at your peril!.If opportunity narrows, focus on your strengths.

Bet heavily when the odds are long in your favor.Seek help if the game threatens to overwhelm you.Never hesitate and give your opponents a second chance.When luck runs against you, hold emotion in check and set up for your next advance.When faced with a choice, make the move with the most potential benefit versus risk.Learn from failure build upon success.Play by the rules but capitalize on them.He developed 12 rules that he followed all his life. George Parker believed business was like a game, that if you followed the rules you could win.

MONOPOLY HISTORY FACTS SERIES

After a series of mergers, the Salem plant on Bridge Street closed in 1991. It would remain family-owned until 1968, when it was sold to General Mills. The company would go on to sell iconic games such as Clue, Sorry!, Risk, Trivial Pursuit and Ouija, and it would introduce the Nerf ball. George Parker retired from Parker Brothers’ day-to-day operations as Monopoly started to take off. The games had maps, compasses and real money to aid escapes. British intelligence had special versions made for prisoners of war held by Nazis. In 1936, Parker Brothers licensed Monopoly for sale outside the United States. Parker Brothers sorted it all out and began selling the game in 1935. The game, though, had already been patented in 1903 by a woman named Elizabeth Magie. Parker Brothers bought the rights to Monopoly in 1935 from a laid-off heater salesman named Charles Darrow. Then came the Great Depression, which nearly put Parker Brothers out of business. George continued to test the games with family and friends. There the company invented, produced, packaged and shipped toys and games.

Parker Brothers kept expanding, turning the old laundry building into an integrated manufacturing complex. The hits kept on coming: Tiddledy-winks, Rook, Pit, Flinch. George traveled to Europe, spotted ping-pong, and brought it back to the U.S., where it became a best seller. The company was the first to advertise games in newspapers. The company innovated and grew, adhering to its pledge to make games that “look well, play well and sell well.” Parker Brothers started publishing games with tie-ins to current events, such as Klondike, based on the Alaska gold rush, and War in Cuba, based on the Spanish-American War. The solution: Create a game called Office Boy, based on the popular Horatio Alger rags-to-riches books. They realized they needed to branch out with games that had national appeal. The company’s earliest games were designed to appeal to a regional audience, with names like Ye Yankee Peddler, Billy Bumps Goes to Boston and the Yale-Harvard Game. They leased an old laundry on Bridge Street and went to work. Another brother, Edward, would join them 10 years later.Ĭharles soon persuaded George to manufacture Parker Brothers games under their own roof. George in 1888 invited Charles to join him as a partner and Parker Brothers was born. He was not so good at production and finance, though his older brother Charles was. He realized he was good at selling and developing games. By 1887, George Parker had hired his first employee and rented a store in Salem for $12.50 a month (where the Hawthorne Hotel now stands).

Monopoly history facts