Parker Brothers wrote all the rules. Many games were based on important events of the day: "Klondike" was based on the Alaskan gold rush, and "War in Cuba" was based on the impending Spanish–American War. The game industry was growing, and the company was becoming very profitable. In 1906, Parker Brothers published the game "Rook", their most successful card game to this day, and it became the best-selling game in the country. During the Great Depression, a time when many companies went out of business, Parker Brothers released a new board game called "Monopoly". Although the company had originally rejected the game
History of the board game Monopoly Brothers worldwide rights and releasing Darrow from legal costs that would be incurred in defending the origin of the game. In December 1935, Parker Brothers sent a copy of the game to Victor Watson, Sr. of Waddington Games. Watson and his son Norman tried the game over a weekend, and liked it so much that Waddington took the (then extraordinary) step of making a transatlantic "trunk call" to Parker Brothers, the first such call made or received by either company. This impressed Parker Brothers sufficiently that Waddington was granted licensing rights for Europe and the then-British Commonwealth, excluding Canada. Waddingtons