Middle School
Worksheets
The History of the Monopoly Board Game
The History of the Monopoly® Board Game
Reading Comprehension for February 6
Where do game inventors get ideas for new games? You might assume that they dream up games on their own, perhaps drawing game boards on tablecloths and scribbling rules on paper napkins. Maybe they spy on other game inventors, stealing ideas and laughing all the way to the bank.
What? You don't believe that? You think the creation of board games is boring? Then you haven't heard the story of Monopoly, one of the most famous board games ever created!
The Parker Brothers' version of the Monopoly game has been around since 1935. The object of the game is to bankrupt the other players. All players begin with a set amount of cash. Players roll dice and travel around the board purchasing properties, avoiding jail, collecting $200 each time they pass "Go," and charging rent to the players who land on an owner's property. Property values increase steadily around the board; the most expensive are Boardwalk and Park Place (expensive to buy; expensive to rent). Properties come in sets that are color-coded. A player who buys an entire color set of properties may "build" houses and hotels on those properties, which drives up the cost of rent to any other player landing on the property after a roll of the dice. The game ends when one player has all the money or when everyone gets tired and wants to quit, whereby the player with the most money wins.
