History of the board game Monopoly general book about toys even as recently as 2007. Even a guide to family games published for "Reader's Digest" in 2003 only gave credit to Darrow and Elizabeth Magie, erroneously stating that Magie's original game was created in the 19th century, and not acknowledging any of the game's development between Magie's creation of the game, and the eventual publication by Parker Brothers. Also in the 1970s, Professor Ralph Anspach, who had himself published a board game intended to illustrate the principles of both monopolies and trust busting, fought Parker Brothers and its then parent company, General Mills, over the copyright
George Swinnerton Parker George Swinnerton Parker George Swinnerton Parker (12 December 1866 – 26 September 1952) was an American game designer and businessman who founded Geo. S. Parker Co. and Parker Brothers. Parker was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Parker's philosophy deviated from the prevalent theme of board game design; he believed that games should be played for enjoyment and did not need to emphasize morals and values. He published his first game, "Banking", in 1883 at the age of 16. "Banking" is a game in which players borrowed money from the bank and tried to generate wealth by guessing how well they could