Trailer | Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
Preview: Season 35 Episode 3 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
Discover the unexpected history behind Monopoly, America’s favorite board game.
Monopoly is America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Support provided by:
Trailer | Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
Preview: Season 35 Episode 3 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
Monopoly is America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch American Experience
American Experience is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Buy Now
When is a photo an act of resistance?
For families that just decades earlier were torn apart by chattel slavery, being photographed together was proof of their resilience.Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipHow much money do we give out?
Everybody gets two 500'’’s.
And six 20'’’s.
This is a lot of money.
I know.
It's America's game.
It's the game of our childhood.
It's the biggest success the board game industry has ever seen.
It was supposed to be a critique of capitalism that turned out to be a celebration of it.
The story about Monopoly is filled with ironies.
When you look at Lizzie Magie'’’s Landlord's game, you see the origins of Monopoly in it.
In 1904, Lizzie Magie receives the patents, the first patent by a woman for a board game in U.S. history.
So how Charles Darrow was able to go in at 1935 and get a patent for Monopoly with his name on it is mysterious.
And ultimately, Parker Brothers comes in and monopolizes Monopoly.
They erase her from the history of the game for good.
It is a zero sum game.
And so, the kind of rhetoric there is that there can be only one victor.
Chapter 1 | Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
Video has Closed Captions
Watch a preview of Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History. (10m 43s)
Monopoly might be America's favorite board game, but it has a surprising secret. (4m 44s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.