Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, March 23rd, 1903, Lizzy J. Maggie, a young Quaker woman living in Virginia, applied

to the U.S. Patent Office for a patent on a board game that she had invented. It was an easy fun-filled

method of teaching the evils of land monopolism. The game had two ways of playing,

one in which everyone prospers and one in which the players try to bankrupt one another

and gobble up all of the property. Lizzy thought, surely this will teach Americans about the virtues of shared

wealth and the common interest. Turns out Americans like the version of the common interest.

Turns out Americans like the version of the game where you gobble up everything and try

and bankrupt everyone else instead.

Of course you may have figured this out by now, but this is how the rules of the board game

monopoly came to be the wildly popular, very American board game monopoly.

So here to discuss this incredibly fascinating hidden history and maybe also ask that question of like wait what is actually the lesson of

monopoly and should we be playing it with our kids here to do that are as always

Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wesley.

Hello there.

Hello Jody.

Hey there.

We will get to all of our monopoly strategies.

Kelly, I know it's big in your world.

Champing at the bit over here.

This is like a family tradition

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