A Daily Dose of the American Dream

Sample 3

Monopoly

"Public opinion in this country is everything."

-Abraham Lincoln

It was a bleak winter in 1933. The weather and the economy were both bad. Charles Darrow of Germantown longed for the trips he had made to Atlantic City, New Jersey, but the depression left him little money for such frivolity. Perhaps as the next best thing to being there, Darrow concocted a little diversion. He devised a game based on the streets of Atlantic City: Boardwalk, Park Place, Baltic Avenue, Marvin Gardens and the rest. He called his new game Monopoly, and it was all about making and spending money, some thing everyone wanted to do during the depression. Darrow showed the game to a few friends, and they liked it enough to want copies. Darrow made a few copies by hand, and thinking that he had a good idea, showed the game to Parker Brothers. But Parker considered the game too complicated to ever be successful.

Not willing to stop because of a single "no," Darrow managed to raise enough money to have some sets printed and offered them to Wanamaker's Department Store in Philadelphia. Soon Monopoly was the rage of the city. People who normally went to bed by nine o'clock would find themselves still trying to buy Boardwalk at two in the morning. Something about the game was addictive. After the successful showing at Wanamaker's, Parker Brothers took a second look and acquired the rights to the game in 1935. Today, Monopoly is licensed in over eighty countries and in twenty-three languages. It is a worldwide pastime that even boasts a "world series" of Monopoly that is played each year.

CONSIDER THIS: If you have an idea you think will sell, you may have to cough up the original marketing investment yourself and prove that you have a winner before getting a major company to help you out.

This story is adapted from A Daily Dose of the American Dream, by Alan Elliott, published by Rutledge Hill Press. The book contains 366 stories, one for each day of the year.

Grab a copy quickly by purchasing it at your favorite bookstore or on-line: Click here to order A Daily Dose of the American Dream: Stories of Success, Triumph, & Inspiration.