World of Monopoly.com

In 1985, 50 years after Parker Brothers obtained the Monopoly licence, the patent expired so everybody can makes copies of monopoly. That was immediately done by countries like Tunisia, Syria, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

On their turn Parker Brothers rapidly expanded their assortment with sets for former cummunist countries like Russia, Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, but also Turkey (all games manufactured in Ireland). Though the original Charles Darrow/Parker Bros. Patent has now expired, a lot of parts of Monopoly are copyrighted.

This is what you will see on the copyright notices on official versions and taking note of this will help collectors know whether it is an "official" version or not. (NB: Year can change)

MONOPOLY™, the distinctive design of the gameboard, the four corner squares, the Mr. Monopoly name and character, and each of the distinctive elements of the board, are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. for its property trading game and game equipment. ©1999 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Also, Hasbro has got a Trademark on the word "Monopoly" using the Monopoly typeface and is renewed every ten years. This can be seen here.

These are re-issues of earlier games. There are various ones available and new ones coming up quite often.

The photograph shows a square, wooden box with locomotive from the American 1957 edition, issued by Parker Brothers/Hasbro in 2001 and is available in a few countries in Europe as well as the USA.

These are of course the most frequent occuring sets, although the appearance contineously changes, depending on the period of issue. Especially in the early days many nearly equal but slightly different versions were issued per country. And since they bear no reference numbers it is very hard to distinguish and catalogue them.

Nowadays manufacturers are standardizing the dimensions and appearance of their boxes, like the European editions that are manufactured in Ireland from Ref. Nr. 14535 onwards.

January 2025 and Hasbro has done a full refresh of the "Classic" version from bottom up permanently going from the European size box to a Square box.

The change to a square box came to most versions including versions made by outside companies like Winning Moves and USAopoly.

Travel editions come in all sort of variations.

The magnetic pocket edition was an a awkward small, flat size. The tokens and houses "stick" on the board but the banknotes and cards however do not. It was published in many countries. Then they started to be more practical with the "red suitcase" design. This was a more practical game "to travel with". It is housed in a red plastic case, in such a way that the "gameboard" is on both inner sides. The tokens, hotels and houses can be put into the board, while a holder keeps the money and the cards.

Since that design, there are various new versions of travel editions and these varied from country to country.

This game is virtually the same all over the world except for the language for the country it is issued. The versions issued from 1991 to 1995 are square and look like the "normal" gameboard, but instead based on an amusement park. From 1996 the boards were rectangular in a square box.

Thesedays, there are many different Junior Editions based on lots of different ideas.

1985 was the "official" 50 years anniversary of the game Monopoly. Some countries, amongst which the USA and The Netherlands issued for that event the game in a square tin. Japan was the sole country which issued an exclusive suite case, whereas other countries restricted themselves to putting a sticker or a print on the cover of the standard box.

Ten years later there was a reason again for a special edition. This time it was a high Gold box, of which the American version is just a bit more luxury than the boxes of for example Holland and Germany. Also this edition was only issued in a restricted number of countries.

From the 1980s Waddingtons started to make the first worldwide official special editions starting with a version for a Planning Consultancy in London.

Then in the 1990s, USAopoly was given permission to make official editions of cities (eventually expanding to other areas) for the USA and Canada market only.

In 1998, Winning Moves (UK) then got permission for making official versions in the United Kingdom. Thesedays Winning Moves UK now make official versions for other parts of the word including countries like Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic.

Other companies which have permission to make official versions include (but not limited to), Winning Moves France, Germany, Poland, Australia and USA, Dico Games, Winning Solutions, Top Trumps USA, Identity Games and Eleven Force.

In 1991 Parker Brothers introduced the European Edition of Monopoly. In this game all 12 countries of the European Community of that time are represented by streets of one city (e.g. Berlin, Paris, London) or streets of various towns (e.g. The Netherlands). The currency is Ecu's.

In 1999 a new edition was launched extended to 15 (+ 7 potential) member states and with the correct currency, the Euro. Erroneously this issue shows Genève as the capital city of Switzerland, and for this reason, the same game was re-issued in 2001 with Bern as the correct capital.

These version are only issued per language (English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, etc.).

In the seventies and eighties, more and less advanced Monopoly programmes appeared for Atari, Commodore, MSX and P2000.

Then they started appearing for the PC when everyone was having a computer at home.

Now you can get Monopoly and other variations for your X-Box and Playstation and became more popular during Covid-19.

There are a few different official variations on the Monopoly name.

These include: Dice Games, Express Monopoly, Don't Go To Jail (as shown in image), Advance to Boardwalk, Free Parking, Water Works, Playmaster, A Train Set, Monopoly Deal, Stock Exchange and Jigsaws to name a few.

You can see more about these versions on the USA pages.

Anti-Monopoly: In America, The Netherlands, Germany and Finland, Ralph Anspach, a San Fransisco State University economist professor, in 1973 publishes his Anti-Monopoly game, an upgraded version of the Atlantic City Quaker's game.

Medical Monopoly (Copyright 1979, by James N.Vail) is based on the ins and outs of a hospital.

Late for The Sky Production Company made lots of versions for cities in the USA.

By this we mean those games who bear the name Monopol(y/i) but have nothing to do with Parker Brothers / Waddingtons / Hasbro.

Examples of these are the games of countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Poland and many Arab countries.

Of course the Landlord's Games have to be mentioned here in the first place. But these, mainly in the east part of America handmade games in the Lizzie Magie age (ca. 1900 - 1930) are so rare. Thesedays, it is seen that Lizzie Magie is the original inventor of Monopoly, it was just that Charles Darrow patented it first.

In 1936 Elmer Fisher during his stay in a hospital made an all wood Monopoly of Detroit city. About the beginning of WW II the Amsterdam inhabitant Mr.Horn made a Monopoly game with the streets of his own town. The Dutchman Theo Schermers, the monopolist under the avid collectors, lives in a town called Hardinxveld-Giessendam, so it is obvious there exsists a game of his home town.

A maxi-game of 1.36 x 1.36 m of the Dutch city Eindhoven was made in 1976 by the members of the Monopoly club "The Bankers&]. This game was shown for the first time at the Dutch Monopoly Championship in Eindhoven in june 1992. Jean François Dias got Metropoly for his 45th birthday which is a game made by 3 friends in honour of the Paris Metro 100th year anniversary.