Charles Darrow Inventor, creator and first seller of the board game Monopoly Date of Birth: 10.08.1889 Country: USA

Biography of Charles Darrow

Charles Darrow, the inventor, creator, and first seller of the board game "Monopoly," was born on August 10, 1889, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA. His name would have remained in the shadows of history, but on July 30, 1933, an event occurred that made his name immortal - he registered the world's most popular board game, "Monopoly." The story of this popular and even cult game began during the Great Depression, which practically destroyed Charles Darrow's moderately profitable business of selling and repairing heating boilers. After another day spent searching for any kind of work, Charles sat in the kitchen and dreamt of wealth, reminiscing about the happy days of his life. In particular, he remembered a trip to Atlantic City, where he and his wife enjoyed the various casinos. To revive the pleasant image in his memory, he began drawing streets of the city directly on a tablecloth. He became so engrossed that he started crafting buildings of restaurants, hotels, and casinos out of household items. The tablecloth was irreparably damaged. In order to justify himself to his wife for this transgression, Charles invented a way to involve her in the process: he drew money and started competing with his wife in buying properties. Eventually, the nostalgic model of Atlantic City turned into an exciting game in which everyone could feel like a business tycoon.

Initially, he gifted sets of his new game to friends. However, since producing one set was quite expensive, he started charging $4 per set. Soon, he had the idea to send a sample of the game to the major company Parker Brothers in the hope of attracting a financially strong partner. However, the company's management deemed it unpromising. Charles was not greatly discouraged by the rejection. In 1934, he made an agreement with a friend who worked in a printing house to print 500 sets of the game board and set out to distribute his product in the department stores of Philadelphia. The success exceeded all expectations. Parker Brothers held new negotiations with Charles and acquired the rights to the game. Darrow became rich, as he had planned, and his game, released in 1935 and now owned by Parker Brothers, became a bestseller in America, immediately entering the history of toys. From there, the rapid conquest of the world by "Monopoly" began. Thus, "Monopoly" became one of the most popular games and even influenced the development of computer games in the future.

Charles Darrow passed away on August 29, 1967. According to Sid Meier, the developer of computer games, the heuristic approach of Charles Darrow and the main ideas from "Monopoly" were used in the creation of the leader in turn-based strategy games, Civilization.