Jan.07.2007 Rich Uncle Pennybags Missing Out on Royalties

There is a new book about my favorite childhood game, Monopoly. In Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game and How It Got That Way, Philip Orbanes traces the game to its roots as a socialist critique of early-twentieth capitalism through its years as a status symbol for rebellious Soviets. There’s a lot I could get into when it comes to Monopoly, but reading about its place as a desirable good in the USSR really makes me understand just how crappy life was in the Other White Superpower. If I played this game with no knowledge of life west of East Berlin, I would probably think that Westerners spent most of their time putzing around and counting for hours at a time before giving up and watching state-run television. I’ll leave it to you to assess the accuracy of that statement. Eventually, Monopoly was released in Russia — and, appropriately for today’s nation, bootlegs sprung up like McDonald’s copycats. Observe:

The Blog of Hilarity presents “Millioner,” known alternately as “economic party game” and “fantastic world game!” Globalization has truly turned global into one big sloppy felch. I look forward to reading the “Weblog of Humourousness” and its wry observations of life in Seychelles.

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