The Anti-Monopolistic Monopoly Game

[Ralph Anspach <antimonopoly@juno.com>]

         List member Ralph Anspach is preparing to market the Atlantic
City folkgame which was stolen from its inventors and the public domain
by a certain Charles Darrow and which was then licensed to Parker
Brothers.  This company, being a rent seeker like everybody else, 
monopolized the game under the name Monopoly through a fraudulent
invention patent.  Thus the power of government was brought into play to
protect a monopoly even though the purpose for such protection,
encouragement of the spirit of invention, was perverted. (Unfortunately, 
intellectual property rights are much more vulnerable to such abuse than
tangible property rights.)  
         The monopoly folkgame was meant to be an entertainment which
poked fun at monopolists.  The idea was that monopoly was a robber barons
game in which the most successful robber wins.  This core principle of
the game  was expurgated from the game by its commercial producer not for
ideological reasons but for trademark reasons.            Descriptive
trademarks like "monopoly" are weak but arbitrary trademarks, like
monopoly supposedly having nothing to do with the game, are strong.
Unfortunately, the downplaying of the fact that Monopoly is about
monopoly turned the game into a bully pulpit for influencing people to
think that monopoly is great for capitalism.  Undoubtedly,  many of the
judges who are gutting the antitrust laws were influenced by happy days
playing Monopoly. 
          Anti-Monopoly will be producing the folkgame monopoly in a
format which keeps the fun of the game but makes very clear that it is a
robber baron game.  The rules will highlight that every move in the game
involves raising prices on the basis of market power against land
tenants, housing tenants, railroad passengers, water users and
electricity users. As such,  people will learn that monopoly incomes are
fun for the monopolists (and Wall Street) but they are not fun for the
people who land on the properties and that therefore, we need vigorous
antitrust enforcement.
           Anyway,  you can read about this on www.antimonopoly.com.
          Or for your convenience, this is what you would find on the web
site:
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           Restitution, Inc.. announces that a limited edition of 2,500
copies of
> The Original Monopoly Game (described below) will be marketed this Fall
> in specialty game stores.  "First edition" will be marked on the box.
> Initial interest indicates a probably sellout for this item which is
not
> only a game but a historical event.       
           Upon request, we are opening a > waiting list for direct
purchases by individuals.  To join the list, send > your e-mail request
to silanspach@juno.com. List members will be given > priority for this
limited edition on a first come, first serve basis.
>   The price is $17.25 plus shipping and handling of $2.50 in the U.S.
> (Foreign:  Canada and Mexico: $2.75; W. Hemisphere except U.S., Canada
> and Mexico: $5.50; Europe: $7.00; Asia and Africa: $8.00; Pacific Rim:
> $9.00) THIS PRICE REPRESENTS A DISCOUNT OVER EXPECTED STORE PRICES.
>  We will contact list members for payment arrangements when the games
are
> ready to be shipped. DO NOT SEND MONEY
>
NOW.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                     The ORIGINAL monopoly game(tm)       FIRST, WE BEAT
> THE PRODUCERS OF MONOPOLY(R) GAME EQUIPMENT IN COURT SO WE COULD MARKET
> OUR POPULAR ANTI-MONOPOLY(R) GAME. THIS WAS A PATENT-WINNING NEXT STEP
IN > THE EVOLUTION OF MONOPOLY(R). NOW WE LEAPFROG BACK INTO TIME TO
OFFER YOU
> THE ORIGINAL LONG-SUPPRESSED MONOPOLY FOLKGAME FROM WHICH MONOPOLY(R)
WAS > COPIED.       
             The game equipment will look like the Atlantic City
> monopoly game invented by Quaker teachers. It was the play action of
this
> version of the monopoly folkgame which was taught to a phony inventor
and
> then almost completely reproduced as Monopoly(R). (We even have a board
> made of the same type of oil cloth used by the inventors of Atlantic
City
> monopoly.)     
             For our instructions, we have reached back to the first
> published monopoly rules.  These rules were inserted in a monopoly game
> which happened to have been published one year before the phony
inventor
> self-published his plagiarized Monopoly(R).       
             Another original > feature of our game is that players will
be able to personalize their > game equipment with their hometown
properties--just as the monopoly
> folkgame players did.       
             PLAY OUR GAME AND RELIVE THE EXPERIENCE OF
> THE REAL CREATORS OF MONOPOLY(R)