Re: [piecepack] New Game - Pawnopoly

["Edward Pulley" <deucenine@...>]

--I saw a review for a book talking about how Parker Brothers/Charles Darrow stole the idea of Monopoly from the Amish. (I think the title is something like "The Billion Dollar Monopy Scandal") The review implied this gaming concept/layout is now in the public domain. Can any one back this up for me? 


I have read up a little on this.  There appears to have been a counter-claim to the creation of Monopoly from a lady named Elizabeth Maggie.  She in turn claimed (if I recall correctly) that she had adapted it from a Pennsylvania Dutch or Amish or something like that source.  While I have always been a little fuzzy on how far this went legally, there was sufficient evidence to support her claim, and while the they do own the trademark "Monopoly", the concept does indeed seem to have become for all intents and purposes public domain.  This is why there is a proliferation of Your-Home-City-Here-Opoly, as well as Dog-opoly, Cat-opoly and the the like (and many others which don't use the "-opoly" ending.)
While this is not a definative answer to your question, I hope that it has proven helpful.

Edward 
(:8())