Finance (game)
| The Great Game (1935 FGC) House and Lot (1936 PB) Parker Brothers Business Trading Game (1958) Parker Brothers Junior Business Trading Game (1962) | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturers | L. S. Ayres & Co. Electronic Laboratories, Inc. |
| Designers | Elizabeth Magie Louis & Fred Thun Dan Layman |
| Publishers | Dan Layman Knapp Electric Finance Game Company/ Parker Brothers |
| Publication | 1932 |
| Years active | 1932-1970s |
| Players | 2–8 |
| Setup time | 5–15 minutes |
| Playing time | Approximately 1.5–3 hours |
| Chance | High (dice rolling, card drawing) |
| Skills | Negotiation, Resource management |
Finance, or The Fascinating Game of Finance or Finance and Fortune, is a board game originally released in 1932. The game is based on The Landlord's Game as Monopoly in the movement of pieces around the board, the use of cards, properties that can be purchased, and houses that can be erected on them. The game also has railroads, however these may not be purchased. The game is actually a predecessor to Monopoly.
Overview of game
The game begins with each player on "Cash Here" and $1925. Properties clockwise around the board begin with low value to high value purchase prices, with costs for additional houses and rents also increasing. Players move again on doubles (with no limit on numbers of doubles that may be thrown), and if a player lands on another player, the original player moves back five spaces and pays rent, follows directions, etc. Players may trade properties or sell them back to the bank, but may not mortgage property. If a player is unable to pay, all their property is returned to the bank, and the player is out. The game continues until only one player is left (an alternate rule establishes a time limit and players total up their wealth).
History
Finance was created by Dan Layman who played, with Louis Thun, Louis and Fred's version of the auction-monopoly games that had been spawned from The Landlord's Game.[1] at Williams College in Reading, PA[2]. With "Monopoly" name and game then in the public domain, Layman decide to call the game, Finance, becoming the first version of Monopoly commerically published. With L. S. Ayres & Co.[3] then Electronics Laboratories, Lyman published to game for a year before selling the game to Knapp Electric for $200.[2] (World of Monopoly's Monopoly History has Lyman instead selling to Electronics Laboratories.[3]) Initial, the game was sold in small black boxes and may or may not come with poker chips for money and four different rule versions. Other wise, it is almost identical to Monopoly including Chance and Community Chest cards.[3]
It is told that Layman taught Ruth Hoskins, who move to Atlantic City and played it there with local Atlantic City streets. One theory on the street names chosen is that these were the streets players lived on with a couple of later changes of South Carolina to North Carolina and Arctic to Mediterranean.[3] Pete Daggett Jr., a friend of Dan Layman, actually taught Ruth Hoskins. Hoskins then moved to Atlantic City to teach school in 1932 and created the Altantic City version in the late 1930 with her friends. Eugene and Ruth Raiford, friends of Hoskins, showed the game to Charles E. Todd, a hotel manager in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Todd introduced Charles and Esther Darrow, some time hotel guests and Esther was Todd's former neighbor, to the game.[2]
During 1935, Parker Brothers was developing its own version of Monopoly, Fortune, in case its deal with Darrow and the patent fell through. Almost a exact copy of Monopoly, Fortune had a limited numbers of copies made with the deal working out with Darrow.[3] Also in 1935, Finance out sells Monopoly.[4]
With Parker Brothers taking over for Darrow in publishing his Monopoly game in 1935, Parker Brothers purchased "Finance" from Knapp for $10,000. Parker Brothers changed Finance as it was less similar to Monopoly and published it under the Finance Game Company name for 1935. Parker Brothers made additional changes in 1936 and published it with the Parker Brothers name.[3][2]
With Parker Brothers wishing to hold on to the trademark on "Fortune", the second version of "Finance" by Parker Brothers was named "Finance and Fortune." With its 1958 edition, the game's name reverted to "Finance" as they developed a new marble game for the "Fortune" name. The last know version was printed in 1962.[3]
Know changes
Known changes between the original and the Parker Brother editions:
- removed Community Chest
- dropped colored property groups[3]
- Rent chart card[5] replaced the Property Cards[3]
- colored standard pawns[3] changed to colored different shaped pawns[6]
- properties renamed[7]
- property purchase prices increased[7]
External links
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References
- ^ Burton H. Wolfe (1976). "The Monopolization of Monopoly: Louis & Fred Thun". The San Francisco Bay Guardian. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Bellis, Mary. "Monopoly, Monopoly: Part 1: The History of the Monopoly Board Game and Charles Darrow". Inventors. About.com. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Finance". Monopoly History. World of Monopoly. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ Anspach, Ralph. "Game Evolution". The Board Games. antimonopoly.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
{{cite web}}: More than one of|author=and|last=specified (help) - ^ Smidt, David. "Rent chart". Finance and Fortune board game record. boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ Smidt, David. "Box contents". Finance and Fortune. boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ a b Finance at BoardGameGeek