Board game riches games that permitted players to emulate the capitalist heroes of the age. One of the first such games, "The Game of the District Messenger Boy", encouraged the idea that the lowliest messenger boy could ascend the corporate ladder to its topmost rung. Such games insinuated that the accumulation of wealth brought increased social status. Competitive capitalistic games culminated in 1935 with "Monopoly", the most commercially successful board game in U.S. history. McLoughlin Brothers published similar games based on the telegraph boy theme including "Game of the Telegraph Boy, or Merit Rewarded" (1888). Greg Downey notes in his essay, "Information
The Grape Escape The Grape Escape The Grape Escape is a board game released in 1992 by Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) and licensed by Rehtmeyer Inc.. The game was intended to entertain younger audiences of 5+ years old. The game was short-lived having only been available for one year. In 2010 Hasbro released a game called Smashed Potatoes with the same game play but with potatoes instead of grapes (probably because of Parker Brothers being part of Hasbro who owns the rights to Mr. Potato Head). However, Smashed Potatoes was eventually discontinued. The game consisted of playing pieces constructed of various colored "Grape