Special Editions - 1961 to 1974 (USA)
1961
1961 saw the first of these special editions. It was a green boxed #12 Library edition with a heavy duty green bound board.
1964
In 1964 the #11 deluxe edition was introduced. It was housed in a larger red box and came with a gray Styrofoam insert (Title Deed holder) and had 10 tokens.
1965
Dimensions of the case: 28 x 53 cm
1965 was the 30th anniversary of Monopoly and was celebrated with the release of the #12 Anniversary Edition housed in a plastic case. The library edition had apparently ceased production by this time as its number was reused for the anniversary edition.
This is a "portable" version of the more than well known boardgame. The board, with white back, fits into the top part of this blue case. The other part contains a plastic insert with trays indented for as well the banknotes as the houses and hotels, the property deeds, the Chance and Community Chest cards, the dice and tokens. Besides a clear plastic tray covers each of the banknotes.
The board states as latest copyright date 1961, but presumably this special edition was issued not until 1965 and did serve as one of the 30 year anniversary editions. The 32 houses and 12 hotels are made of white wood with resp. a green and red roof! (This version of the houses and hotels was in this time also used in a.o. German and Dutch sets.)
There is no more mention of any copyright in the circle on the banknotes. There are 8 pewter tokens and 4 pairs of red & white dice. A remarkable quantity (presumably for each of 4 players their own pair) that is also applied in the "wooden case (1965)" and "leatherette case" (1975) issues.
Dimensions of the box: 27 x 52 cm
This is most probably also an issue by reason of the 30th anniversary of Parker Brothers, because the latest year of copyright mentioned on the board of this special edition is 1961.
The brass plaque on the lid of the wooden box says MONOPOLY - registered in the U.S. patent office - Parker Brothers trademark for its real estate game and equipment. It also has the signature of Parker Brothers Inc.
The back of the heavy duty gameboard is red with Monopoly gold leafed. The top slides off so the bottom can be used as a "banker's tray". There are 10 tokens of solid bronze. The houses and hotels are in this edition of white plastic with resp. green and red roofs. There is nothing written about a copyright in the circle of the banknotes. Now again 4 pairs of white & red dice are included.
1973
Monopoly - Braille Edition by Parker Brothers/Kenner Parker Toys Inc.
Dimensions of the box: 51.5 x 51.5 x 8 cm
Dimensions of the board: 51 x 51 cm
Code: 29957
It will not surprise you this American edition was the first braille one in the world. Next came the UK edition (1991+1996) and French version (1995).
Because of the fact the board is a special one-piece board with an attached hard plastic Braille cover, it has to be stored in an accordingly large, plain cardboard box. Of course this American Braille edition is bilingual: English and Braille.
In the middle of the game board stays Monopoly in closed black characters as well as in Braille, parallel to the first side. Below that is a coyright line showing the year 1935. The Braille Rules show 8 dates, ending with the year 1973.
Features of this edition are:
Besides the Braille text other provisions have been made on the board for the blinds to recognize details, like the edges around the properties and the card spaces.
The property deeds are very large (18 x 13 cm) in order to get the enlarged text for the partial-sighted printed on the cards as well as the Braille text. The colour bar however is less long then the card is broad.
The Chance and Community Chest cards with the well-known funny American illustrations are enlarged as well, to 10 x 15 cm.
The banknotes have the normal sizes (53x100 mm) but the paper is thicker and the denomination is embossed twice, in the upper left and lower right. All 7 denominations have been printed on white paper.
The houses, hotels and 9 (is 1 missing?) metal tokens are the same as in the standard version.
The large white dice (2 x 2 x 2 cm) have black dots. However I've seen a set having the same dice but in black plastic. Besides the set also contains a regular set of small dice.
The Rules are in a large (27 x 28 cm), 17 pages booklet of brown paper.
Dimensions of the box: 27 x 52 cm
In 1973 the #11 deluxe edition was revamped. It was still housed in a larger red box but instead of the gray Styrofoam insert (Title Deed holder) a brown wood effect plastic insert was used. This seems more robust than the earlier styrofoam version in 1964. Otherwise it was just the same as the 1964 version and still had 10 tokens.
This game remained in production until it was replaced in 1974 with the 40th anniversary edition.