Notes for "Gaming Britannia" Episode Two: Monopolies and Mergers

Mansion of Bliss – 18^th/19^th Century game of chance – read homily (+ or -) outcome, put children off vices and attempts to give them moral guidance

Mansion of Happiness – American Rip of Mansion of Bliss, American games became more economic – based with America’s prosperity.

Chequered Game of Life – Gave choice to players – sold during Civil War to soldiers – First travel game

Pank a squith (Unsure on spelling) – suffragettes vs politicians – Early 20^th Century

Brer Fox an’ Brer Rabbit – Early monopoly – Based around land tax and ownership

Elizabeth Magie Phillips – Designer of Brer – also made The Landlords Game – Players enjoyed monopolising and bankrupting other players – Hombrew version based on Atlanta turned into Monopoly – London based board was created

Brer and Landlords Game was originally based on wealth redistribution, the message was flipped with monopoly

The original appeals of Monopoly was the localisation, negotiation and trade. Originally tested at MIT

Monopoly maps in WWII made with maps built in, compasses, to help PoWs escape camps. Pushes people to inner savagery due to the psychological effects of the game

Cluedo – most successful British board game. Luck/Skill and competitiveness

Reverend Green cut from US vesion – man of cloth couldn’t be suspect. Board games picked up after WWII

Scrabble – first of its kind. Then came TV, along with game shows. The next step was Trivial Pursuit

Kensington – form a hexagon = win

80’s – Video Games

Dungeons and Dragons – First RPG – mixed war games with board games

War on Terror – Radical British Boardgame – “Liberate” the world – Putting morals to question

This episode gave a lot more insight into the development of board games in the 20th century, which really brings to light how a lot of todays' board games came to be. Interestingly, I also think that Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit, and The Landlord's Game are really good insights into human nature, proving that people prefer to look out for themselves, and will push people down if it means they succeed. Very comparable to communism vs capitalism in my opinion, showing how while the redistribution of wealth is a great goal, due to people wanting to outdo others, they push others down, making money for their own game on it.