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1943/1946

Mini box - With Separate Board (2) Patent No. 453689 - War Time Pack

Publisher: John Waddington Ltd.

Dimensions of the box: 16.1 x 19.2 x 2.6 cm / Dimensions of the board: 48.5 x 48.5 cm

The sets manufactured during the war were of simpler finish as the little pink paper (this paper also exist in white) excusingly explains:

WAR TIME PACK

We regret that it has been necessary to make alterations to the component parts used in "Monopoly". The "trinkets" have been replaced by wood pieces.

A Spinner is substituted for the dice and other alterations made.

We have, however, turned out the best possible game under restrictive conditions, and we hope that you will obtain from the game the amusement and pleasure you did from your peace time "Monopoly".

John Waddington Ltd.

Besides the banknotes were made of color printed poor quality white paper the tokens were composed of a cardboard figure and a base of black timber.

The Chance and Community Chest cards were made of different colored paper and in addition of various paper qualities. This was probably caused by the difficulty to obtain the desired material during the war.

Instead of two dice this set therefore contains a red spinner, whereupon the maker excuses with "Owing to the difficulty of obtaining dice it has been necessary to include this substitute".

Features of this edition are:
• The height of the box is 26 mm.
• The stations are of L.N.E.R.
• The Chance Cards are entirely green, the Community Chest Cards are white on the printed side and yellow or blue at the back.
• For an answer on questions to the works "Please enclose 2½d. stamp".
• In the circle on the banknotes is under the large number mentioned Patent Nr. 453689.
• The banknotes have different colors and are in the denominations of : 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 -100 and 500.
• The tokens are flat cardboard figures on a foot of black timber. The figures are: hat - iron - car - boat - shoe and rocking-horse.
• The houses and hotels are of dull wood.

Mini box - With Separate Board (5) Patent No. 453689 - War Time Pack

Publisher: John Waddington Ltd.

Dimensions of the box: 16.1 x 19.2 x 3.3 cm

This is another interesting War Time variant.

This edition does not have the excusing "pink paper" but instead the Rules have an overprint reading:

"NOTE: Owing to wartime restrictions we have found it necessary to use a different type of token."

With the last sentence on the orange (sometimes avocado colored) Rules paper the year of issue is confirmed at least to my opinion, because very often a "year-like" number at the end of a Rules paper has that meaning indeed.

However, Harold Lee - UK, researcher and printing specialist, has another opinion. From comparison of size of the Chance cards and the serrations of the deed cards in the period from august 1937 till 1948, his conclusion is the number "1946 J" may have no reference to the year date and his best guess is this set is produced in the period between 1942 and 1946, closer to 1943.

Features of this edition are:
• This set has a War Time spinner as well as 2 white dice with black pips (sometimes the dice are wooden).
• The stations are of L.N.E.R.
• The Chance cards are pale dull pink, the Community Chest cards are lemon yellow, both 90 mm long.
• For an answer on questions to the works "Please enclose 2½d. stamp".
• In the circle on the banknotes is under the large number mentioned pat. app. for 3796-36 (there are however also sets showing the patent number).
• The banknotes are black printed on colored paper as from the start. They are in the denominations of : 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 -100 and 500.
• The tokens are 6 strange, wood pawns of about 4 cm length.
• The houses and hotels are of dull wood. The color of the hotels vary from red to light brown.
• There is a light green square of paper "Rules for playing the short game" (sometimes in orange or white).
• The board has Patent No. 453689 on the outside label and Patent applied for No 3796/36 on the playside.

February 2009 Harold Lee reported another intereresting finding about this Monopoly edition:

These strange, wood tokens are also used in a Waddington game called 64 Milestones that was produced in 1939 (patent applied for May 16th 1938), it is about couples getting milestone in life such as graduating in University or getting married.

There are 5 slim tokens for him and 5 broader figures for the opposite sex. Also an odd one (the white one) for an uneven player. I suspect due to lack of regular supply of the standard cardboard tokens, Waddington decided to use these to supplement their standard issue tokens in there early War Time editions.

±1945

Mini Box - With Separate Board (3) Patent No. 453689 - War Time Pack

Publisher: John Waddington Ltd.

Dimensions of the box: 16.1 x 19.2 x 2.6 cm / Dimensions of the board: 48.5 x 48.5 cm

This is an interesting version: On the one hand it still contains the tokens with black feet and other typical War Time Pack marks, but on the other hand there are dice with this set instead of the spinner. There is also a leaflet introducing other Parker Brothers games as well.

This all makes suppose this to be an issue of just after the war.

At the end of the Rules is, except for the request to enclose a 2½d stamp in case of questions, also a codenummer, 4390H. (According to Harold Lee - UK, this indicates these Rules were printed in ±1943.)

Features of this edition are:
• The height of the box is 26 mm.
• The stations are of L.N.E.R.
• The Chance-cards are entirely green and have a grainy structure, the Community Chest cards are white on the printed side and cream at the back.
• For an answer on questions to the works "Please enclose 2½d. stamp".
• In the circle on the banknotes is under the large number mentioned patent no. 453689.
• The banknotes are color printed on white paper. They are in the denominations of : 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 -100 and 500.
• The tokens are flat cardboard figures on a foot of black timber. The figures are: hat - iron - car - boat - shoe and rocking-horse.
• The houses and hotels are of dull wood.
• Both dice are 15 mm, made of a creamy heavy plastic and have rings as pips.