♪ If you want to get a picture ♪
♪ Of what a person's really like ♪
♪ Don't take them to a movie ♪
♪ Don't dine by candlelight ♪
♪ Pull that game down from the shelf ♪
♪ That lays bare the inner self ♪
♪ It's there to see ♪
♪ In Monopoly ♪
♪ There's a woman that I work with ♪
♪ We've been out on several dates ♪
♪ I do believe she liked me ♪
♪ And then I made my big mistake ♪
♪ We had gone back to her place ♪
♪ When she suggested that we play Monopoly ♪
♪ And I agreed ♪
♪ Take a ride on the Reading Railroad ♪
♪ Short Line, Pennsylvania, B&O ♪
♪ Each turn around the board can be revealing ♪
♪ of something that you may not want to show ♪
Ladies and gentlemen,
the judges, the interpreters,
the bankers, are you ready to begin?
Yes!
And, players, you're all in place and ready to begin?
Yeah!
Good! I will now cast the ceremonial
throwing of the dice.
Whoa! Here we go.
Alright, let the games begin!
[Cheering]
Ken: This game is the most dynamic game in the world.
It changes with every roll of the dice.
And you never know until the last minute
whether you might just win.
That's Monopoly for you, spontaneous and exciting.
Mr. Monopoly: Oh, for heaven's sake.
Why everybody loves Monopoly.
It's the most perfect game. It's about life.
Playing Monopoly is the only time
where you can bankrupt your friends
and they will still be your friends.
It's like life. You always...
sometimes you're on the top, sometimes you're on the bottom,
but you just don't brag about it.
Just ok, be cool.
It is without a doubt the world's greatest game.
It brings out the very best in people
and the very worst in them.
We were playing Monopoly.
Monopoly, that's my game. [Laughing]
And I was winning.
She was angry and no one was paying her any attention.
She flipped the board over.
Many Monopoly games ended in tears and in fighting.
Well, when we play Monopoly, usually somebody gets injured.
The first eye gets poked out when we're trying to pick each other's pieces.
The second one is when somebody makes a bonehead trade
and hurts everyone else's chances at the table.
And then my mother is always stealing money from the bank.
And my father's always collecting
on mortgaged properties.
So yeah, there's usually, you know,
a couple of punches getting thrown.
It's really what happens off of the Monopoly board
that makes the game so special.
It's the negotiations between players,
it's the banter, it's the talk.
And that experience is fresh every time a group of people
come around the board to play.
And that's why the game has lasted for generations.
Just stop for a minute and think about when you played
your first game of Monopoly.
Because it's a memory you never forget.
One of the reasons Monopoly endures
is because of the memories it creates.
The game is a vehicle through which people
can connect with other people.
Dale: My family used to have a lake cabin.
And that's the place that we could talk my dad
into playing because he didn't have
those extra responsibilities.
And we could play what seemed to be
all hours of the night to me.
To play with my dad again, to play with my grandmother...
That...
The Monopoly for me is about that family memory
that I really treasure.
I love Monopoly.
It's one of those games that you become
so enthusiastic about playing because
it just brings people closer together.
It brings your friends and family closer together.
Narrator: If you've never played Monopoly,
or maybe it's been a few years since you have,
here are the basics.
You pick a token, roll the dice,
and move around the board,
buying properties along the way.
Whenever other players land on your property,
they must pay you rent.
If you land on Chance or Community Chest,
you get fined or rewarded,
or even moved to a different place on the board.
Try to collect all the properties
in a color group either by buying them,
or by trading with the other players,
which, by the way, most players don't do
nearly as often as they should.
When you have a monopoly on a color group,
you can buy houses and hotels
which will send the rent through the roof.
If you need cash, you can sell back houses and hotels
or mortgage your properties for half the face value.
The object of the game is to bankrupt
all of your opponents
and be declared the champion.
[Shouting]
Because Monopoly is played the same around the world,
it's not language dependent.
Monopoly doesn't get translated.
It's localized.
[Music]
As a result, I like to think of Monopoly
as being a universal language.
It's really a testament to the game
to see how it's so loved
from cultures around the world.
And how everyone can sit down from across the world
and play the game
and shares the same passion for it.
People come together at world championships
who have very little in common
except for their ability to play this game.
And during the course of the 3 or 4 days
that the championship unfolds,
they become global ambassadors.
Lee: This was 1973.
And they invited me to participate
in a World Monopoly Championship.
How did it end?
My opponent landed on Boardwalk.
So that was sort of fortuitous that indeed,
Boardwalk, probably the most known property
of the American version of Monopoly
would have been the one that was the property
that won me the championship.
As a result of Monopoly's global nature,
the setting for its World Championships
has always been carefully considered.
And typically it's in a city that has some association
with finance and usually a glamorous city at that.
You know, particularly in the World Championships,
you've got all them different nationalities
all coming together,
with a common name of enjoying themselves
having a fiercely competitive game of Monopoly.
Yet when it's all over, going back to the bar,
having a few drinks, discussing the day's games.
And it's such a nice atmosphere.
And perhaps it's a lesson in life,
how we can all get along.
So when I did win the Championship,
I won the amount of money in a Monopoly game.
15,140 dollars.
It was, really, it was a special thing.
It's just Monopoly, and to me,
it was just like I won the Stanley Cup. Because growing up, that's always the dream
of a Canadian boy, holding the Stanley Cup.
That's our dream.
For me, it was my Stanley Cup.
I first heard about Monopoly tournaments
when I was in college.
And at the time, all of my friends really mocked me
for the fact that I was actually considering
getting in a tournament.
And I told them, "You watch!
"I'm going to participate in this,
and one day I'm gonna end up winning it."
This Thursday, 48 contestants will compete
in the 2003 National Monopoly Championship,
which will be held on-board a moving train.
[Marching band playing "In the Money"]
I was fortunate enough to come out on top.
And then you're standing there.
There's confetti blowing out all over the place.
Everyone's clapping. Flashes are going off.
And people are wanting to shake your hand,
and Mr. Monopoly is standing there.
And it's a moment in time
that will always exist in my mind.
Narrator: Every four years,
over 40 countries around the world
hold national Monopoly championships.
The winners of those tournaments then compete
against each other at the World Championship,
trying to bring the ultimate crown home to their country.
Antonio Zafra of Spain will defend his world title
at the upcoming World Championship
at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
And I will be your next Monopoly World Champion!
[Music]
The first time I remember playing Monopoly
was at my grandparents' house in Bristol, Rhode Island.
I was about 6 years old.
I didn't know too much about the game.
And I rolled the dice.
I landed on a few properties,
and I was hooked!
My grandma told me that day, she says,
"Dom, if you've listened to me,
and you learn the rules of this game,
you're going to go very far in life."
Organizer: With total assets of $1,300,
Domenic Murgo.
[Cheering]
[Dom breathing heavily] Dom's Dad: Congratulations, Dom!
- Good job. - Thank you.
I'm still in shock.
Some people grow up
wanting to be professional baseball players.
You know, teachers, ballerinas, and me?
I always wanted to be National and World Monopoly Champion.
You will be defeated! You will lose!
The whole goal of Monopoly is just beat everyone else down
and you're the king of the mountain.
For some personalities, that's a great thing.
For me, I like the interaction
with other people and playing with other people,
and instead Monopoly is about getting rid of them.
[Dom laughing evilly]
Tim: I remember playing Monopoly with my family
growing up like everybody else says.
I can still remember playing by the fireplace at night,
with my mother and my father there.
My brother there.
And I was winning the game,
but really it was my dad telling me what to do,
and doing the mortgages and everything.
The reason why that memory is special to me,
and I think in today's era
a lot of people can relate to this,
it's one of the few memories that I have
of my family all together before my parents separating
and divorcing.
I know that sounds sad and whatever.
But really it's one of those things that you can hold on to
and just really treasure those moments of wholeness
and oneness together.
I have the privilege of getting to play Monopoly
with 11 and 12 year olds almost every day of my work
and get paid for it.
So, it's wonderful.
This is one of the training boards
that my 6th graders and I practice on.
It's got all of the math, probabilities,
expected values.
This number, this is the percentage calculated
by Truman Collins on his Monopoly website.
From those numbers at the bottom
of every property in the game,
I've extrapolated all the expected values of rent incomes
from all the different property groups as a whole
and all kinds of other math I've come up with as well.
So, this is what we use in my 6th grade classroom,
and it has helped a lot.
What does he need to roll to get to Park Place or Boardwalk?
Two, seven, eight, nine, or eleven.
Tim: Nine or eleven. Ok.
What's the probability of a nine?
Probability of a nine is 11.1.
What's the probability of an eleven? 5.6.
So if you add 'em both together,
there's about a 16, almost 17 percent chance
that you land on them right now.
Let's see what happens. Go ahead and roll.
Student: Cha! [Dice hit the board]
Nine! There it is!
Nine, he did it.
Today we started out with-- we call it Monopoly Mornings. And students are allowed
to come to that if they earn a really good grade
on a district-wide benchmark test.
So it's a real large carrot for them to shoot for.
What's 4 times 200?
[In unison] 800.
800. So that's 800 dollars.
Now look at how much rent you'll get if he lands on you.
[In unison] Six hundred or five hundred.
Ok?
Isn't that a lot better than the $50 or $100 doubled?
Consistently, now since I started my Monopoly
in the morning carrot,
my math class continues to set records
for the high math class at this school
on those district benchmark tests.
How many people have played Monopoly before?
Probably everyone, right? Gotcha.
No? A couple people no?
Ok. Well, we gotta change that sometime.
I had set goals for myself.
The first goal was just to play in my very first tournament.
To qualify for the championship...
Tim: We had Matt come and talk to one of the homerooms
of the students.
And he just showed how cool it is
to be a Monopoly expert.
And the kids were just like "Wow."
He looks normal.
He doesn't dress like a geek or anything.
And he spent time with those kids.
Matt: There are so many things you can learn from this game.
Whether it be the math skills,
or the language skills that it takes to interact
with other players and work deals.
So Monopoly teaches you that you need
to have a certain presentation
in the way you go about negotiation.
And I think that Monopoly is probably the first means
by which young people, in particular,
have an opportunity to learn this skill,
which then stays with them for the rest of their lives.
People have told me the first time
they ever handled money, paper money,
was when they played Monopoly.
As a game inventor, you know,
one of the things we look at is trends
and kids certainly want to emulate their parents.
So I think part of the allure of Monopoly
is pretending to be an adult, to handle money.
And then those big decisions
of "Geez, I can buy homes. I can buy hotels!"
You know, that's a pretty big deal for a kid.
So I think part of the allure for young people is
"Hey, I can step into the adult world."
At some level, you have to have some amount of belief
in your own power to affect the world,
to change the world.
And I think Monopoly has the potential to provide that
to children at a time when there isn't a lot
that they can do.
But here is a game where they can compete
with an adult on practically equal level.
Tim: I would love to qualify for the US Championship.
My wife just told me today,
"Honey, can't you do this? It's $15,000."
I think just playing at the United States Championship
would be very special.
I do not believe there is one single player
who has perfected the game of Monopoly.
Although Ken Koury, I understand,
has the record of bankrupting his opponents
in a 4-player game in like 15 minutes.
Ken Koury is good.
I've always wanted to be the United States Champion
or the World Champion.
The first World Champion, Lee Bayrd,
he was a mentor of mine for many years.
He's a good friend of mine.
And I would love to join those ranks.
My name is Lee Bayrd.
I was the first World Champion.
1973, yeah.
And to have Lee Bayrd, first World Champion here?
That's great.
Gary: And looking at his trophy
of the first World Champ trophy.
That's like...
Wow, the holy grail! [Choral sounds]
It is. It is.
We were in college. We had the summer off.
We needed to practice,
so we basically devoted an entire summer.
We played about 12 games a day.
That was in preparation for the 1977 Regionals.
Never got tired of it.
If somebody said, "How about one more game?"
I'd play it.
Not only did we play nonstop,
we started to study the odds.
We studied the dice,
started writing computer simulations
to find out exactly what made the game tick.
Ken: I developed kind of a sixth sense of Monopoly.
I don't mean anything mystical.
I mean when you play so many times, we would sit and debrief,
and analyze each game that we played.We still do that today.
You kind of got a feel for what was going to happen.
The fact that I've become so good at it
and win a lot, of course, adds to the fun.
I play so many games and I playa lot of tournaments.
And I end up, almost every time I play,
I place in the tournament.
I remember Geoff Ellis taking me aside onceand saying
"You know, you're acting a little arrogant,
and people aren't liking you.
It's going to hurt you in trading
if you don't watch it."
[Token moving on board]
Umm, that will be all your hundreds.
My mom made this actually.
Yeah, I've got a couple of Monopoly shirts she made
from some fabric that's been discontinued.
I'll buy it for full price.
Full price? Really.
Kid: 120 dollars.
Well, there's sales tax.
[Children playing]
Ok, will you be the next Monopoly United States Champion?
Narrator: Competitors from all over the United States
have been qualifying to compete
at the next US Championship.
Interested players took an online quiz
to test their Monopoly knowledge
and submitted five short essays.
The top 75 get to play each other
in an online Monopoly tournament on Pogo.com.
I won! I can't believe it!
I played against Dr. Gary Heller,
one of the best players in the world.
It could have gone either way,
just a matter of who hit who first.
I'm just very excited to have done this well
in the qualifying rounds and hopefully make it to DC.
Because I've only been playing for 15 months,
and really only against 11 and 12 year olds.
And that last game that I just had
was the first game I had ever beaten adults in.
So I was quite happy that my 6th graders
have prepared me well.
Thanks, kids. Appreciate it.
Do you want to see my place out of 75 people?
Ok.
This was close people.
Ok, drum roll.
[Kids beating on desks]
I'm going to DC!
Whoo!
[Kids screaming]
Guys, I'm going to Washington DC
for the Monopoly National Championships!
[Kids screaming]
Narrator: After playing each other online,
the top 23 finishers from all over the country,
along with defending National Champion Matt McNally,
have been invited to the US Championship
in Washington, D.C.
Dom: I will be going to Washington, D.C.
to compete for over $20,000.
I've been waiting for this moment my entire life.
I've finally made it.
Then I came to understand that there was this 11-way tie
for the last 6 spots.
And I was one of those 11.
But on assets, I turned out to be 25
when only 23 would go onto Washington.
Then the judges decided to let all of us who had tied
for the last 6 spots into the tournament.
So I'm in by the back door.
There's a player by the name of Tim Vandenberg who's...
a very unsavory character in the world of Monopoly.
I figured out through one of the conference calls
setting up the game, getting it going,
that one of my opponents was one of the practice partners
for Ken Koury.
Ken: Everybody had a code name
because you were supposed to be anonymous.
In violation of the rules,
he told all the other players that
Gary Heller was part of the game,
and he's a very well-known championship player.
And then the other players were afraid to trade with him.
Tim: I'm trying to call out Gary Heller,
to get people to realize he's awesome.
He still had trades with other players in the game.
And I didn't see anywhere in the rules
that we weren't allowed to identify players.
Ken: We reported that, but unfortunately
this unsavory character is also going to be playing in DC.
So we have at least a couple of cheaters that I know
that are going to be there.
My first round match-up, I was disqualified.
They said that I stalled.
That's the guy that cheated in a game
on the computer session in one of my rounds.
And then I received the dreaded email
that I had been disqualified
and I received 0 points for that game,
which was disappointing, which forced me in Game 2
to not only win the game but bankrupt all of my opponents
to have the necessary points to advance, which I did.
And I'm very happy that I did so.
I don't expect him to do very well
because the security is very tight
when you get to the United States Championship,
and he won't have too many opportunities to cheat.
[Music]
When you play Monopoly, the chances are
you have a favorite token.
Nowadays, I tend to take the thimble,
and the reason is because
it's innocuous,
and it's not noticed on the board as much.
Andy: I always like the wheelbarrow
because I envision myself
carrying around so much money that I need a wheelbarrow
to move it all.
I picked up a handmade Monopoly set on eBay,
which I strongly suspected was one of the first,
or perhaps the first handmade set
by Charles Darrow from 1933.
Narrator: Most people think of Charles Darrow
as the inventor of Monopoly in Philadelphia
during the Great Depression.
An unemployed plumbing repairman,
Darrow licensed the game to Parker Brothers in 1935.
But the genesis of Monopoly actually dates back
more than 30 years earlier.
In 1903, an activist and inventor
named Elizabeth Magie patented The Landlord's Game,
to promote the single tax philosophy of Henry George.
George was a popular economist of that era,
who believed that capitalism was creating
an unfair advantage for landowners in America.
Lizzie Magie submitted The Landlord's Game
to Parker Bros. in 1909,
as well as a revised version in 1923.
But both were rejected.
Far more complicated than most games of her era,
it included properties to buy railroads, utilities,
and spaces called "Go to Jail" and "Jail."
Lizzie spent several summers in Arden, Delaware,
introducing her anti-capitalist game
to other followers of Henry George.
Arden is near Philadelphia.
So how did this 30-mile journey take almost 30 years
to get to Charles Darrow?
A business professor from Arden
took the Landlord's Game to his students
at the Wharton School of Business
in Philadelphia.
But it would travel through several other states
before making it back to the city where Darrow
made Lizzie's game famous.
About 10 years after the professor
started using it in his class,
one of his students took the game home
to Reading, Pennsylvania.
Around 10 years later, some friends of his took it
to their college in Massachusetts,
where they showed it to a classmate from Indiana.
He took it home to Indianapolis,
made his own version,
and a teacher friend of his loved it so much
that she took it to her new job in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The teacher and her friends thought the game
would be more fun if they changed the properties
to the geographical street names
of this famous resort city.
Two of her friends were a couple
who lived in Philadelphia.
They really liked the game and made their own version.
They switched Arctic Avenue to Mediterranean
because it sounded more inviting,
changed Shore Fast Trolley Line to the Short Line Railroad,
and misspelled Marven Gardens.
On an evening walk in 1932,
they ran into a schoolmate
who they hadn't seen in 20 years.
They introduced their finance game to her
and her husband, Charles Darrow.
After almost 30 years and thousands of miles,
the game had finally completed the 30-mile journey
from Lizzie Magie to Charles Darrow.
Being unemployed, Darrow had plenty of time
to polish the cosmetics of the game.
His graphic improvements resulted in the look and feel
we so easily recognize today.
He decided to call it...
"Monopoly."
The game was round
and we played it on the dining room table.
So we all had to eat someplace else.
Then the neighbors started to play.
And everybody gave him advice.
Narrator: Local interest and the need to feed his family
during the Depression, inspired Darrow to hand make copies.
His goal was to make and sell one game a day for $4.
Dad can remember helping count the number of hotels,
the number of houses,
and putting them in wax paper bags
and stapling them closed, putting them in the boxes.
I once asked about the paint colors
and Dad kind of laughed and said,
"There was no significance to the different colors."
It was just the cheapest paint that his dad
could find at the corner five and dime.
Narrator: Darrow completed the transformation
of Lizzie's game that flipped
how she wanted people to think of capitalism.
Eric: She was trying to put thisgloss of entertainment on it
where people would play a game
but they would come to understand
why property ownership is bad,
and that idea, of course,
is still exhibited in the game itself.
One person wins, everyone else loses.
It's a celebration of capitalism
where one person eventually stands on top
and throws all the money on top of their head
and they're like, "I am awesome! I rule!"
You know, "You guys suck! Get out of here!"
And that's exactly what Magie was trying to get across
was that some people end up owning lots of land
and everyone else has to pay for it
through no fault of their own
in terms of just not being there early.
Narrator: Demand for the game began to grow.
Darrow took a deep breath and commissioned a printer
to make 500 sets.
But orders outside Philadelphia lagged,
so he tried to sell the rights to Monopoly.
My grandfather, at one point,
went to both Parker Brothers and to Milton Bradley
with his idea,
and got letters from both of them that rejected him.
Narrator: Despite the rejections,
Darrow convinced a major Philadelphia department store
to stock his game, and it started to take off!
My mother had a school classmate,
and she, fortunately,
called my mother, and said,
"There's a game down here called Monopoly
and you really ought to get your father
to take a look at this game
cause it's making quite a splash
down here in Philadelphia."
Well, they did and, of course, everybody had a wonderful time
and they said, "Gee, maybe we should give
this thing a try."
Parker came back to him and said,
"You know, we've reconsidered."
And my grandfather said, "That's wonderful.
I've reconsidered too."
Well, emboldened by increased sales,
Darrow asked for a royalty agreement,
and his family continues to receive royalties
from all things Monopoly to this day.
I'm pretty sure they had a shot to buy it outright
and passed that opportunity up,
which I'm very grateful for.
And it just took off in the middle of the Depression.
And the company had a heck of a time trying to find space
in the city of Salem
to assemble the game to keep up with the demand.
When you invent a game, a modern game say,
there's certainly test playing.
But you would never take, you know, 10, 15, 20,
30 years to develop a game
because it's just not economically feasible.
So I think Monopoly benefits from the fact
that it evolved over such a long time.
Every person that played it, touched it in some way.
Narrator: The possibility of being a wealthy landowner
turned out to have a much stronger appeal
to basic human nature
than Lizzie's politically-themed game.
Within one year, Monopoly was already engrained
in the popular culture of the day.
Not when you're playing Monopoly.
I think it might interest you to play it.
I don't think that it would be
as successful if it was launched today.
I think it was the perfect game at the perfect time.
It was the Depression and people were feeling
very pessimistic about the future.
Tim: 25 percent of the population is out of work
and they had a lot of time on their hands.
And along comes this game where
you can spend a lot of time with the people you care about.
But no one had any money
and here was a game where not only could you handle money,
but you could buy homes and hotels.
And it just was... perfect!
And people just gravitated toward it.
And here's something that gives them hope
and gives them a vision of the future.
And by this sort of act of constantly moving forward,
kind of focuses them on the future.
Charles: You should take with you his hard work
and determination.
I mean, he was turned down by two very successful companies,
and still, you know, went on and went with it.
So, don't always feel that even the big guy's word
is necessarily the last word.
If you feel you can do it,
keep pushing.
But don't forget the fun part, either.
Randolph: We used to think if we can get a game,
and we can keep it going at a good pace for 5 years,
and then drop it, that's good.
10 years is like, "Wow, that's wonderful."
75 years...
[Chuckles]
That's a dream.
And Monopoly is a dream.
Phil: When Darrow sold Monopolyto Parker Brothers,
one of the first questions they posed is
"You have any thoughts for what we should use
for the playing pieces of this game?"
Now Darrow did not include tokens in his game.
He had a little message in the rules saying
to use objects from around your home
to be your playing pieces.
He recommended thimbles, pennies,
other little objects.
Buttons, for example.
And he instinctively said,
"My nieces particularly love charms from charm bracelets."
And the result is history.
Ken: This piece, you may recognize.
This is the original one which is tarnished black.
It's a sterling silver charm from a charm bracelet
from the 1920s.
This is a solid gold shoe.
Carry it everywhere. Just in case a game pops up.
Never can be too prepared.
[Dice and token noises]
Let's start forcing some trades then.
Matt: There's an incredible amount of strategy and luck
in every game of Monopoly.
And anyone who tells you something different
is just flat-out lying to you.
One of the complaints by modern gamers about Monopoly
is that it's luck.
Everything is luck. You roll the dice, you move.
And I'd have to put it at somewhere like
90 percent luck, 10 percent skill.
Winning Monopoly is based on skill.
If it were just luck, I wouldn't be able to beat
my cellphone every time I play it.
It's like cards.
Some hands are better than others,
but you can win with just about any hand
if you play it right.
And Monopoly actually is a better representative
of what real life is like than let's say,
a game of pure skill, such as chess.
Ultimately, the dice will decide who's the winner or loser.
But, you obviously want to put yourself
in the best position to win,
and that's where the skill comes in.
[Dice rolling]
Charlie Brown: Seven!
[Token moving on board]
Go directly to Jail.
Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.
Good grief.
Going to Jail is probably the most famous setback
in the game of Monopoly.
Cam: Uh oh. Go to jail.
[Child laughing]
That's too bad, Uncle Cam.
You know how it's Monopoly out there?
Remember Boardwalk, Park Place, Marvin Gardens?
Go directly to Jail?
We can use our Get Out of Jail Free cards.
Or we can choose Stop, Do Not Pass GO.
Do not collect $20 million.
Barack Obama: We can't continue to spend
as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people
can be treated like Monopoly money.
Oh, really?
How come all those guys on Wall Street got
Get Out of Jail Free cards? Huh?
How'd that work? Exactly!
Wheeler: Uh, the Get Out of Jail Free card.
Is that based on something that exists, or...
That wasn't a stupid question.
[Clucking disapproval]
Wheeler: That's real.
It's real in the game of Monopoly.
Knowing when to get out of Jail
and when to stay in
is also one of the key strategies
for winning at Monopoly.
Early in the game,
when there are properties to be bought,
and no one has formed a developed monopoly,
you want to get out of Jail as fast as you can.
Just pay the 50 dollars and get out.
But later in the game, if your opponents are holding
developed monopolies against you,
you want to try to stay in Jail as long as you can.
- Ok, that one I'll buy. - What?
- Yeah. - Don't you want to auction?
Nope.
Phil: Obviously, there's a lot of strategy
to what properties you buy.
When the game begins, I buy everything I land on.
When you buy property you have trading material.
So even though you may not particularly like the Greens
because they're expensive and don't get landed on a lot,
somebody else may covet them and if you have one,
you now have something that they will want to get from you
in return for something that you may need.
Many people think that Boardwalk
and Park Place are the best group to own
because they are the most expensive.
There's two reasons why that's not true.
First, as a two property group,
they're not landed on as much.
But secondly, they lie after the space that says
in the corner "Go to Jail."
Matt: And people go to Jail quite a bit.
It's one of the most heavily landed on spaces
in the entire game.
Phil: That makes the Red group and the Orange group the best groups on the board.
And the reason is simple.
When you come out of Jail, you have to go past them.
And they get landed on more often than the Dark Blues
or the Greens, for example.
Ken: You have to get to the 3 house level,
we have 3 houses on each property.
The rent triples from 2 to 3 houses.
I don't want the Greens. I think you should have them.
You want me to have the Greens.
Yeah, because it's a better monopoly.
Andy: I think the most interesting aspect
of the game is that it involves convincing people
to do things that you think are not in their best interests.
You have to convince them to help you win the game,
but you have to convince them
that you are helping them win the game in order to do it.
So it takes a very human element,
and a very strategic element.
I found myself realizing that the same skills
I had in Monopoly are needed in business to negotiate.
One of the most key things to realize
is seize the opportunity.
That's Monopoly, and that's life.
The parallel is that you're going to go broke sometimes,
because you gamble in Monopoly to take a chance to win.
In business, there's a time and place that you do need
to try to take a chance.
And if you're wrong,
or if you don't execute correctly,
then you can be broke.
Well, I've been broke many times in Monopoly.
And despite where I'm at today,
I've been broke 3 times in life.
It's the positive thinking.
If you're thinking positive, things will come to you.
So, if I'm a money magnet, money will come to me.
I like learning about people through game play.
It's a safe way that they can express themselves,
and yet reveal themselves.
[Music]
I'm a really competitive person, and I really like to win.
I think I like about Monopoly is when you really win,
you're bankrupting everyone else and making them lose.
So it kind of sounds evil, I guess,
but it's just my personality a little bit.
I take pride in winning games.
The similarities between being a lawyer and Monopoly,
I think, has to do with negotiating.
Being a corporate attorney,
you negotiate terms of a contract.
In Monopoly, you're negotiatingterms of a deal
with respect to trading the property.
Anthony: Being a lawyer,
I think your lawyer should be good at Monopoly. If your lawyer is not good at Monopoly,
it's time to get a new lawyer.
There's a problem.
So I go straight to GO,
or do I have to actually go to all the property?
I landed on Mayfair.
No, you advance to the next property owned by someone else.
One of the key messages I like to get out
at one of these events is to tell people
that if they actually play the rules,
it's really important 'cause that's the way
the game plays fast.
Jose: We used to play with the $500
in the middle for Free Parking.
We never read the rules.
What happened waswe started reading the rules
when we started playing for money.
Dr. Balzac: House rules do a couple of things.
One is they help to balance a perceived inequity.
They give you that feeling,
ok, so maybe you're having awful luck.
But by having this money on Free Parking,
well maybe you'll just get something
that will keep you in the game longer.
But the other thing is that with house rules,
you're connecting yourself to this game.
It's not just something that someone else
has designed for us,
and now we're going to sit here and play it.
Now it's a game that we are part of.
Andy: Usually people who complain
about how long Monopoly takes
are people who don't know how to play Monopoly.
They'll put $500 in Free Parking every time,
double your money if you land on GO.
And won't trade with anybody
because they're afraid of losing, or even worse,
cut everybody breaks once they do have a monopoly
'cause they don't want to put people out.
If you do this, the game's gonna go for days.
But if you're really trying to bankrupt your opponent,
you'll be done in an hour and a half, two hours.
If you play Monopoly by the rules,
and don't put money on Free Parking
and no immunities on trade, the game doesn't take that long.
[Music]
Phil: The selection of token says a lot about who you are,
and I think this is the reason why tokens
are featured so often in TV and movies.
Ed, do you have to play racing car every time?
[Laughter]
Why don't you use this little wheelbarrow for a change
instead of that racing car?
Don't want the wheelbarrow! [Laughter]
Only reason I play Monopoly is
'cause I want to be the racing car.
I like being the shoe.
No, I like being the car!
I'd give my brother everything I have.
He could be the racecar in Monopoly.
Monopoly!
The racecar!
I'm going to be the gold racecar.
The gold racecar is somewhat of like
the superhero of Monopoly.
For about 95% of Monopoly games that I've ever played,
I go for the car.
And that's actually slightly ironic cause I'm 23,
and I still haven't gotten my driving license.
Narrator: In the beginning,
Monopoly was seen as a purely American game,
and was not expected to have universal appeal.
But Parker Brothers had a very good relationship
with a leading game company in the United Kingdom,
called John Waddington Limited.
So early on, they sent a copy to Waddingtons.
My grandfather gave the game to my father and said,
"Have a look at this. See what you think."
Well, I was 7. My brother was 4.
And having played the game,
we were soon like everybody else completely absorbed by it.
My grandfather picked up the telephone and fixed up the license deal.
And Leeds became the home of Monopoly in the UK.
Narrator: Monopoly not only succeeded in the UK,
it spread all across Europe, too!
The 30 years spent beta-testing
Lizzie Magie's version early on,
combined with the cosmetic enhancements
by Charles Darrow, gave the game a feeling
and a look that worked everywhere: Asia, Africa, South America...
And today, Monopoly is available
in over 100 countries, and played in even more.
[Music]
Phil: One of my favorite true stories
about the impact of Monopoly globally,
is how it was used in World War II
to help Prisoners of War escape from Germany,
Italy & Austria where they were impounded.
John Waddington,
who was the official licensee for Europe,
had perfected a technique of printing on silk.
So the government turned to us to print the maps
for airmen, mostly airmen,
and they were sown into their uniforms.
Phil: So that if they were shot down,
they could pull this map out of their boot
and figure out where they might be.
And the maps would show places where they might find partisans
who would help get them back home.
But also they had the idea of putting the silk maps
into sets of Monopoly.
Phil: The question was
"Well, how do we get Monopoly games inside of POW camps?"
Well, the answer came back "the Red Cross."
Victor: And then carried it a stage further.
Not just maps in Monopoly, but files, real money,
compasses, anything to help the prisoners to escape.
And many, many did escape.
Phil: The project was very successful.
However, it was so secretive,
it took 45 years before the British government
finally revealed its existence.
World War II also brought temporary changes
to the retail versions of Monopoly, around the world.
Jason: So it's quite an ingenious device,
just to save on materials during the wartime.
And also as you can see, the pieces,
rather than being metal pieces,
were down to cardboard stuck into wooden slots.
Again to cut down on materials during the wartime.
Narrator: In the 1950s, Monopoly was banned
by Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain.
Not to be denied,
citizens from those Eastern Bloc countries
took great risks by either hand making the game,
or even manufacturing underground versions.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall,
the Monopoly World Championship
was held in Berlin in 1992.
And today, some of the best players in the world
come from those former Eastern Bloc countries.
So we have a World Championships in October,
and there are over 40 countries,
All having National Championships at the moment
to qualify a national champion
to come along and represent the country
in Vegas in October.
[Gameplay noises]
We did it!
[Laughing]
[Applause & cheering]
[Big Ben chiming]
[Applause]
[Musical group performing]
[Cheering]
Yes!
[Cheering]
[In unison] Monopoly!
I will win in Vegas!
Whoo!
Matt: When people first realize
that I'm a United States National Monopoly Champion,
they might snicker a little bit,
and they think it's kind of dorky.
And let me tell you, it's definitely not the line
to use to pick up chicks or anything.
[Music from Donn Arden's "Jubilee!"
Lara: My name is Lara Preister.
And I'm a showgirl at Bally's
in the show called "Jubilee!"
My boyfriend is Matt McNally.
He's the National Monopoly Champion from 2003.
And we met almost two years ago now,
and we were at an after party
for a benefit that we were doing.
We lived the same direction
so I drove behind him on the way home.
And his license plate said "Monopoly."
And I thought, "Oh, what is that about?
That's a bit much for me, maybe."
So, of course, the next time we spoke,
I asked him,
"What's this Monopoly license plate all about?"
And he told me that he was
the National Monopoly Champion.
And my response to that was the same as everyone else.
"Does that even exist? What is that?"
But as you begin to explain to them
what the tournament is all about,
and the cash prize that comes along with the title,
and the opportunity to represent your nation,
there's definitely a newfound respect for it.
So, obviously since we've been dating,
I've been playing more and more the game
and learning more about it.
And I find it really interesting the way
it interacts with real life, business and the real world.
Matt: After the 2004 World Championship,
I have to admit, I was depressed.
I had a bad showing.
The tough part is I don't know if I'll ever be back.
You get one chance to do it every, you know, 4 to 6 years.
And it's sort of like the Olympics.
As I look ahead to the National Championship,
you better believe I'm going to do everything I can
to defend my title.
Well, I've put together what I think
is a very impressive coaching team
to prepare for the D.C. tournament.
Head coach is going to be Geoff Ellis.
And what he does is he runs me through dozens and dozens
of practice games.
Then when we get at the tournament itself,
he does a little bit of analysis
and intelligence gathering on the other players.
The assistant coach is Dr. Gary Heller.
And then Dana Terman is a consultant to the head coach.
And then finally there's Lee Bayrd,
who really needs no introduction.
He was the very first World Monopoly Champion.
And all of them are traveling to D.C. with me.
Good luck to you all.
We're looking forward to lively and vigorous games
played in a spirit of goodwill
and good sportsmanship.
Phil: Ok. Let the play begin!
Go! [Dice hitting the board]
Good luck. May the best player own it all!
Phil: At first this was pretty intimidating.
The idea of me representing this great game to the world,
and knowing that if I made a mistake,
it would be very embarrassing,
but I resolved to really make sure
I did a great job.
And apparently I did because even though it's quite a number of years later,
I'm still doing it.
Gary P: Phil Orbanes
probably knows more about the Monopoly game
and the rules of the game
and the techniques of the game than anyone.
And you're out!You're out.
The speed die will be used in championship play tonight
for the first time in tournament history.
Narrator: If you want to make the game play
a little bit faster,
a red speed die is now included in some versions of Monopoly.
It has numbers on three sides.
So if you roll triples, you can move anywhere you like
on the board.
Two of the sides on the speed die
have the biggest game changer of all.
Mr. Monopoly, himself.
Early in the game, after making making your normal move,
he advances you to the next unowned property.
So all of the properties get purchased very quickly.
Once all the properties have been purchased,
after your normal move, Mr. Monopoly makes you move
to the next property where you will owe rent!
John: I will say it certainly does move you
to other properties,
and can either make you rich real fast,
or bankrupt you real fast.
The strategies are totally different
from classic Monopoly once you throw in the Speed Die.
All of the probabilities and math
and expected values are off.
It's a totally different game.
$950.
My plan is like divine intervention.
That's it! That's my plan, here.
So we'll see how far that gets me.
One, four, or five.
Interviewer: How do you think you're gonna do?
Uh...
I don't know.
Sell you Indiana for $50.
I want the best for my brother Gabe.
He wants the best for me.
But at the end of the day, let's make no mistake about it.
I want to be World Champion.
And if it means squashing my little brother like a bug,
I'm gonna do it!
But let me also say this.
If, and only if, I am eliminated earlier,
I want this guy to go all the way.
And win, lose or draw, he's always gonna be my brother.
I love you, Gabe.
[Dom kisses Gabe]
Craig: Aw, come on. I want Community Chest for you.
I'll buy that for $180 please.
Ken: The toughest competition
is probably the defending champion, Matt McNally.
Everybody knows him.
They know the face, they know the name.
And I think it will be that much more difficult for him.
Matt: Everyone wants to beat me.
But I'm gonna put up my best fight against them,
and we'll see.
[Music]
Bjørn: My favorite token is the iron.
I have an idea that it's so small
that sometimes people don't see it.
That's my secret.
This one. Can you see that?
It's a little iron machine.
Maybe I'm woman, so I like that?
Plus, it's really cool to say that you're the Iron Man.
That just sounds cool.
The battleship,
it's just simply the toughest piece on the board.
It's not an option.
Whenever I play with anybody, there's only one.
That token is the hat.
Why is somebody the iron? Why is somebody the ship?
I have no idea. But I am always the hat.
Geoff: I mean in reality,
if a real battleship took on a top hat.
It speaks for itself, really.
We've run a lot of analytics
on which is the most popular tokens.
Depending on the year,it's Scotty dog or the racecar.
Interviewer: What was your favorite token growing up?
Oh, Scotty dog, definitely.
Yeah, it's not an option for me not to have Scotty.
Helen: I love the dog.
I think it's the only one with a heart.
I love all the historical things that go into the game.
How all the street names
are actual places in Atlantic City.
And all the little icons.
And it's just a very memorable part of my childhood.
Narrator: Some might say that the most famous icon
in the game is its mascot, Mr. Monopoly.
Originally called Rich Uncle Pennybags,
an unknown artist modeled the character
after the appearance of legendary financier,
J.P. Morgan,
complete with handlebar mustache, tuxedo,
top hat, and cane.
I live in Marvin Gardens,
which is an area of Atlantic City,
with my wife, Madge.
We have a little Scotty dog named Scotty.
Millard and Madge do not have any kids.
But they do have 3 nephews
by the names of Andy, Randy, and Sandy.
Narrator: The other characters in the game
are Officer Edgar Mallory,
who, of course, sends you to Jail,
and Jake the Jailbird,
who some believe Charles Darrow
drew in his own likeness to make fun of himself.
Alex Trebek: More than 5 billion little green houses
have been constructed for this board game,
since it was introduced in 1935.
- Jason? - What is Monopoly?
Narrator: Monopoly trivia is everywhere!
For example, if you were to take all the plastic houses
made for Monopoly and place them end to end,
they would circle the Earth...
twice!
George: I like to tell people that when I take them
to the factory on tours, when we get to the part
where we make the money,
that we print more money than the US Treasury.
Jason: To help promote the World Championships
when they were held in Great Britain,
a chap came over from America
with a 1 million pound Monopoly board game,
which was basically made out of solid gold,
with the houses and hotels that had
like diamonds and rubies in the chimneys,
each of the spaces on the boardalso had emeralds
and things like that, built into this board game.
And it was quite a surreal experience really,
knowing this board in front of you
was worth basically a million pounds,
all for a game of Monopoly.
Narrator: Monopoly is the type of game that has inspired
all kinds of world records.
[Music starts] The largest permanent Monopoly board is over 900 square feet
in San Jose, California.
The longest underwater game is over 72 hours.
And the longest continuous game lasted 70 straight days.
Monopoly has become such a cultural icon
that it is now possible to stretch the game
in many different directions.
Any number of commercial items exist that you can
buy in stores that have Monopoly logos,
whether it's drinking glasses or towels or key rings.
Reebok did a line of Monopoly...a collab--
There's a bunch of them.
There's one that's the board itself. There's one that's like Community Chest.
So there's like heaps of different ones
that are pretty cool.
So then I saw them and I was like, "Wow,
I could wear a Monopoly board on my feet.
I need these shoes."
Charles: In '35, it was just one game,
in one country.
Now it's multiple variations of that game
all over the world.
We've gone into electronics,
online,
lotteries,
McDonalds.
It's complex to keep track of.
But I wouldn't trade it.
Ashley: When I won the 1 million dollar prize
from Monopoly at McDonalds,
I was actually on my way to church.
And I was having pregnancy cravings
for bacon, egg and cheese biscuits.
So we went through the drive-thru.
And I pulled the winning piece off of a hash brown.
It was the Boardwalk piece.
And I already had Park Place in my car.
Kept thinking that there was something that was missing.
I had to have something else
because nobody actually wins this.
So I went to church,
and afterwards I went to another McDonalds restaurant
and got a game board.
And I got back out to my car and I realized that I had won.
And then they called me and said,
"It's official. You've won a million dollars.
We're gonna send you an official letter."
And that led to a whirlwind year.
It was a lot of fun.
It's often hard to think of Monopoly as a game,
because it's just used as a brand.
You know, it's more like Mickey Mouse, or Barbie.
Or these weird pop culture things that become
part of your life as you grow up.
In its infancy, Monopoly was influenced by society
and what was going on in everyday life.
But that quickly flipped.
And Monopoly began influencing society,
and this has continuously been reflected in the media
and popular entertainment, year by year.
So what kinda games do you like to play?
I love Monopoly.
I brought some dinner and Monopoly.
We can have a fun, low-key night, unless I lose.
We're gonna stay home and play Rockopoly.
- What? - It's a great game, Wilma.
Just the thing for promoting togetherness.
Hi.
Joanie, where were you?
Right here playing Monopoly. I won ten grand!
He cheated.
Five, six, seven, eight, nine.
What are you doing? Hotel.
- You do not have a hotel there. - Hotel.
That'll be 1400 bucks.
[Laughter]
I have 9 dollars.
[Laughter]
Five, six! Ha ha, yes!
What? Oh no.
Yay!
Another hotel?
Matt: Monopoly has a special place in my heart
because it's the game that I grew up with.
It's how we socialized as a family.
We would sit around a table and we'd play a board game.
And we would chat about our day.
And we don't have enough of that nowadays,
I don't think.
You know, with so many other distractions,
of everyone going in their own separate ways.
You know, everyone's on Facebook and MySpace,
and they're connected to everyone.
But are they close to anyone?
And board games like Monopoly are great ways
to sort of, ok, connect with people
you really care about face to face.
[Short musical interlude]
[Crowd and gameplay noise]
Narrator: The 28 qualifiers are competing
in 3 preliminary rounds.
After those 3 rounds, the top 4 players will advance
to a final game, to determine the new US Champion.
Ten bucks.
Did you win second prize in a beauty contest?
I should have won first.
I would have voted for you.
Okay.
[Dice hitting board]
Wow.
Rick: So in 2006, I lost my grandfather.
Growing up, I played a lot of board games with him
and really I learned my skills around the board game
and my killer instinct from him.
So you know, it's too bad he's not here to see all this.
But I know I'm making him proud.
Ken: I made a pretty bad mistake during the game
that I'm kinda kicking myself for
and my coaches are really upset with me.
But as far as this round, I'm out of luck.
Reporter: Good morning. 20,580 dollars.
That's what they'll win.
That's the amount of money that is in a Monopoly game.
But this winner, the national champion, will walk away with the real thing.
And they will go to the World Championships.
My name is Lou.
I'm here to support my friend, Adam.
We've been playing Monopoly together
for about 20 years or so.
So this is my Monopoly tattoo.
It's Mr. Monopoly.
This is the Advance to Boardwalk card.
Mr. Monopoly is pushing the baby carriage
around the Boardwalk.
[Gameplay noise]
Nine.
To my victor. You slay me!
One, two, three, four, five...
Thank you, congratulations.
How'd you do your first round?
-I went bust.- Me too.
St. James for $750.
- That's it. Great job. -Lara, well played game.
Narrator: Going into the last preliminary round,
12 players are tied for 1st place,
trying to be one of the top 4 players that will advance
to the championship game.
[Crowd noise]
- Let's mortgage...Ventnor. - I'll give you $500 for Connecticut.
I think you've lost your chance to win the championship,
- unfortunately. - As did you.
- I'm very sorry. - I'm sorry for you too.
I've won one.
Well, not again.
Third match didn't go very well.
Really, I played as well as I could.
And I'm very proud of that.
Dom: So, sorry Matt.
But coming in today, I did want to play against him
and the next time Hasbro runs the National Championship, I hope to see him again.
94 dollars. Thank you.
One more turn and it would have been all over.
Rick: I've won two matches.
So I think that gives me a good shot.
I feel like I could be in the Final Four.
Tim: I believe I just got 47 points.
Some people say that's enough to get in the final.
If it's not, I had a great time.
I won 2 out of 3.
I'm going to go home proud, regardless.
I'm here to announce the 4 finalists.
The four finalists are
Richard Marinaccio,
Brandon Baker,
Dale Crabtree,
Timothy Vandenberg.
And the winner of this final game
will be given a check for 20,580 dollars.
I'm excited, you know.
I don't know what's going to happen.
I've met all the players that have made the finals,
and they all seem to be good people and good players. So we'll see what happens.
To my knowledge, Richard is an unknown player
from New York
because I tried googling him and couldn't find
anything about him.
Rick: You know, I was really a nobody
from Buffalo, New York.
And I remember, one of the competitors say,
"So who do you play with up in Buffalo?"
And I said, "I don't know.
My mother, my father, my fiancée, my cousins."
Dale: I was one of those tied for last place getting to this tournament.
So, just the fact that I'm here at all is unmerited favor, if you will.
And to get this far, I really feel flattered.
It's this close.
And hopefully I can win the final table.
[Music starts]
Ok, so Richard? Ready?
Tim: Are we rolling to see who goes first?
Phil: The first roll is a 3. He's first.
Rick: I will buy Baltic Avenue.
So the first property’s been purchased.
A nine!
Second property is purchased. Connecticut. - I will buy it.
You've seen past accounts where World Champions
have lost at Monopoly, not because they're bad players,
but because they're having bad luck.
It can make novice players, somewhat like me,
possible to be a National Champion.
Rick: That'll be four dollars.
Phil: First rent is paid.
Rick: Thank you.
I'll buy that for $200, Reading Railroad.
$300 change please.
I also spoke to some of the players
before the final round and wished them luck
and you know, asked them to,
if they could, bring down the Dark Prince of Monopoly,
Tim Vandenberg.
Alright.
Rick: Things weren't really going so well for me.
- Triples! - Wow.
What do you want?
Phil: So triples enables you to move
to any space on the board.
What will you choose?
Rick: I wasn't in a strong position at that point.
There was a lot of property distributed.
- Pacific. - Tim: Good call.
-I'll buy it. Great call. - Phil: Interesting.
I have never seen the Greens win at a US Championship.
Rick: What do you think, guys?
Anyone interested right now?
It takes three of us to go to the table here.
I'm looking for the Oranges right now, and um...
Well, we all know Oranges wins games.
If you could get me this, and an Orange and $300,
- we can talk. - Can't give you the $300.
I don't have a chance.
I mean, if I'm giving you both of these,
I'm giving you the material you need to work a straight deal
with them, for the other Orange and the Blue.
So I don't know.
- This doesn't-- - If I'm bringing this in,
the money goes off the table.
Cause then you're both-- I'm giving up two monopolies here.
I really appreciate it, but um...
St. James for States?
- Straight up? - Yup.
Tim: Wow.
Rick: This for the Green and Yellow.
Same deal we had before.
Now you've got the Orange monopoly.
You're giving him the Oranges? That's game, man.
- You give him the Oranges-- - Dale: If I give you Green and Yellow,
and you give me the Orange,
- I'm giving you the monopoly. - He's gonna win in a heartbeat.
I'm giving you a monopoly too.
Rick: We're giving each other a monopoly, right?
Deal.
Wow.
Serious wow.
Tim: Good job, Dale. Good job, Richard. [Applause]
Dale: One house.
Tim: Alright, we need to create threats so that
he starts tearing down and doesn't get out of control.
Brandon, what do you want to do?
I'll take the Pink and Electric Company
off your hands.
For the Red?
Ok, this for the Red and $200?
And $100
and Water Works, if you want it.
Tim: All right.
Ok, significant trade.
[Applause]
Phil: Each player has a color group.
Hopefully, I didn't just make a huge mistake.
- We'll see. - Well, you've got plenty of cash.
Let's gamble here.
Yeah. Yeah.
- I'm gonna gamble. Give me 4 houses. - But this is fun, right?
- We're having fun. - Yeah.
[Brandon laughing]
Brandon: Give me 8 houses.
Phil: It's getting tense.
- There's a lot of houses up now. - Brandon: A lot.
This is not going to take much longer.
Mr. Monopoly could determine this quick.
Tim: Yeah, I think that's... yeah.
We all love Mr. Monopoly, just not right now.
[Brandon moans in disgust.]
Ok, so that's...
$130, and then Pennsylvania is $450.
Wow.
- Phil: So can you raise $250? - Brandon: We'll see.
Brandon had some bad fortune,
and he had to tear down before his monopoly
could produce for him.
I bow out gracefully.
Alright.
[Applause]
Phil: The Greens are getting quite formidable now in rents.
You wanna work a trade?
- Eh. - You can still get 2nd place here.
Don't let him...
He's looking out for himself.
- I know-- - I've been offering to help you and he hasn't.
- No, you haven't. - We're all in for ourselves.
Let's be honest.
[Dice hitting board]
- That hurt. - Ten.
Ok, so that's $900 for the first,
and $900 for the second.
That'll do it.
[Applause and cheering]
- Dale, great job. - Good game.
It really came down to who was gonna end up throwing
Mr. Monopoly first.
Nine.
- Community Chest. - Collect $200.
Collect $100.
How will I do?
It will all be determined by the Speed Die.
- Pacific. - That's $1100.
I think that's it, right? This is not enough, right? [Applause]
Ok, great.
Congratulations, Rick.
- Thanks. - Great job. - Good job.
It looked like Tim might win for a moment,
but then Rick pulled it off and got rid of him,
I was as happy as can be.
Our new champion, right here. [Applause]
Rick: When I first realized that I had won,
it was a little bit of disbelief.
I hadn't eaten all day because I was so nervous about,
you know, making it on.
And then all these cameras rush around me,
and they're expecting me to say something.
And I had nothing prepared, obviously.
And I didn't know what anyone wanted me to say.
Uh, hopefully America's going to win in October.
We'll see.
I think we haven't won in a while, right? I guess I'm headed to Las Vegas.
His life will change today.
Forever more, he will be known as a US Champion.
The cash will come and go.
But he is now the face of Monopoly in America.
I was very happy for Rick.
I think he's a fantastic player.
But it was really hard,
hearing that you are the former US Champion.
Hopefully, that will serve as a great,
deep motivation to get back there
and win it again sometime.
I can't say I like my chances.
It always comes down to a little bit of the dice.
We'll see what happens.
And what better place to roll dice than Las Vegas, right?
[Music ends]
Ken: I called Phil.
He's quite an expert on Monopoly history.
I said, "I think I have this handmade Darrow set."
And he wrote me back and he said,
"I think this is an authentic
handmade Darrow set.
I think you got one."
Phil: Monopoly has become a great passion for collectors. [Music starts]
It's still in many ways the ground floor to get in
on collecting Monopoly because it hasn't become
as popular, let's say,as collecting art
or even other types of collectibles,
like baseball cards.
Collecting is a very...
it's an interesting phenomenon.
And as human beings, we seem to have a need
or desire to gather things.
Dave: My life would be void
without Monopoly and other games.
I've got over 5,000 games.
Gaming is just one major part of my life.
Then we didn't realize that there were so many
different versions, and thought,
"There's only the basic version really."
eBay was just coming in.
It was about 1 to 2 years old at most.
And that's what really got us going.
I have about 600 sealed ones and about 50-60 open ones.
I'll always treasure this one cause it's the first one
we bought as a married couple.
Oh, there's always a set that you always want.
And remember, Monopoly is a game about
collecting all the things.
About getting all the property.
And so in a sense, it's a game that feeds itself
into our innate desire to collect things.
Matthew: Me and my wife says, "Ooh, that's a nice one.
"Buy that one and have a look at that one."
So I would blame eBay.
Narrator: Before Monopoly was published,
people made their own versions,
naming the properties after streets and places
in their hometowns.
In the '90s, published editions of Monopoly started
to follow this heritage.
It all started with this game right here
which is the San Diego edition of Monopoly.
Being that we're from San Diego,
we figured that this one was the first one to start with.
Narrator: The success of those early sets
has now spawned hundreds of special editions.
From cities
and sport teams,
to movies
and television shows.
They're a must have for collectors of both
Monopoly and the theme.
For example, if you're a Simpsons fan,
having The Simpsons Monopoly game sitting on your shelf,
it's a great source of pride.
I get so excited every year when we put together
new Monopoly games.
It's like being an 8 year old all over again.
The reason I started collecting Monopoly
is because my mom for Christmas and birthday
got me the Franklin Mint Monopoly.
And as a joke, I just said,
"Ok. I guess I'll start collecting Monopoly."
I didn't think it was possible,
but now I've got close to 100 games
and many other memorabilia.
My husband designed a Monopoly bathroom
and so it just keeps on evolving
and getting bigger.
My favorite portion of the bathroom is
probably the Water Works light fixtures.
He asked me what my favorite
token was when I play Monopoly, and it's the shoe.
So he incorporated the shoe paperweights
to be the faucet handles.
We really need to add another bathroom
because when people get into this bathroom,
they don't come out.
And so we have a line and we have to knock on the door and say, "You have to come out."
And people would run out
to the rest of the house and say,
"Wait, wait. You've gotta come see this!"
Well, here's a collection of some Monopoly mugs, and yes,
I haven't drank out of them.
Mr. Monopoly advancing to Boardwalk there.
A Monopoly coin counter, a picture frame.
I need to find a suitable picture for that.
Down underneath, we've got a little tin.
And something that reminds me of the innocence
of playing Monopoly.
Two little teddy bears.
It's a peaceful feeling piece.
My cat is named Madge after Mr. Monopoly's wife, Madge.
If you go into Mr. Monopoly's family,
he was originally named Rich Uncle Pennybags,
and his first name is Millard.
And I understand Madge is also a pretty good gardener.
Then that explains the wheelbarrow token.
Without the game of Monopoly,
well I'd still be living here and I still would be
working over at the engraving shop,
and still be unmarried.
But I don't think you'd be seeing the decorations.
I will never retire from the game of Monopoly.
It's not a job, it's a life!
[Percussion music]
And there is some fantasy to it.
[Short musical interlude]
[Street noise]
[Fountain noise]
Mr. Monopoly: This is the 13th World Championship.
And it's very exciting.
We have players who are very skilled
and very experienced.
Alright, let the games begin!
[Cheering]
[Dice being thrown]
[Music starts] Narrator: After 3 preliminary rounds the top 16
players will be matched up in 4 semi-final games.
The winner of each of those 4 games,
will meet in the final to compete for over $20,000,
and the title of World Champion.
It's great being here in Las Vegas
and hosting this tournament.
And I'm looking forward to meeting people
from all over the world.
And there really won't be another chance like this
probably in my lifetime.
- Pennsylvania. - I'll buy that, please.
I played a lot of Monopoly in my life,
but I didn't know that a national championship
existed in Norway.
So when I heard about it, I signed up immediately.
I mostly signed up for fun.
But when I qualified for the finals
with 20 players left,
I really started to take it seriously and practiced.
And I managed to win.
I'll be looking to take down everybody
cause we're going there to win.
I'm not bringing my mates halfway around the world
to come anywhere other than first.
Be through to the finals and on to victory.
V-Day.
I do have a nickname.
It kind of shortens down to TNT,
which is the way tougher version of the nickname.
TNT goes boom.
But the long version is "The Nimble Thimble." No, I don't like the thimble.
The battleship is the way tougher than the thimble,
so you gotta go with the toughest piece.
The strategy that I'm implementing today
is to bring a huge support crew,
for just, you know, general support.
Get the morale up and that sort of thing.
[Guys yelling]
[Music starts]
And the second strategy is A.N.D.
Accumulate, negotiate, and dominate.
[Music builds in intensity]
I want, I want 20 houses.
Congratulations. [Music ends]
[Applause]
Will: So right now this is the end
of the 3 game preliminary round.
And I think momentarily
they will announce what players have made it
to go through to the Semi-Finals.
And so I guess there's some tension in the room right now.
Will: There are 16 out of 41 players
who will be advancing tomorrow
to a one game knockout elimination round.
Interviewer: So how are your feelings about possibly
making it to the Semi-Finals?
It's hard to say.
Uh, I had a fair chance before the last match
but now I don't know.
It's just small chance.
So my friend Gabriel said, "I don't think you'll make it.
Sorry."
The only thing I felt bad was that I wanted to play more Monopoly.
I wanted to get back the next day and play more because I had so much fun.
The final tally was pretty close.
We had a 7-way tie for 16th place.
Let's take a look at our 16 semi-finalists.
[Cheering]
Interviewer: Number 16, by that much!
- How do you feel? - Perfect.
I was so surprised. I didn't see it coming.
I'm just...
This is so great.
Perfect!
Good morning, everyone!
Day 2 of the 2009 Monopoly World Championships.
Thousands of people have competed all across the world
to be in this very room today for the Semi-Finals.
Announcer: Go!
Mr. Monopoly: Let the games begin!
Bjørn: Before the game, people were coming up to me
and told me how I felt about being on the hardest table.
And that they would look at me as an underdog.
So I was mostly excited because I didn't have anything
to lose because they were so good players.
[Music starts]
[Applause]
Yes! Yes!
[Cheering]
[Rick saying the theme from Sportscenter]
Yay, Rickie.
USA!
Let's recognize our four finalists.
From New Zealand, Geoff Christopher.
[Applause]
Yeah, boys!
Announcer: From Norway, Bjørn Halvard Knappskog.
[Applause & cheering]
From Russia, Oleg Korostelev.
[Applause]
And from the United States of America,
Richard Marinaccio!
[Applause & cheering]
Players, are you ready?
Let the games begin!
Seven, and it's Chance.
[Music starts]
- Chance. - Geoff: Are we doing the pass to the side thing?
Phil: Yup. Ok, so he's moving to the next utility.
Eight.
- Vermont. - Geoff: Buy.
Buying Vermont for $100.
- Doubles. - Doubles.
That's 12 times 4, that's 48.
And the first rent is being paid.
Thank you.
Rick's Mom: Yeah, Rickie!
Reading.
- Reading Railroad. $200. - I'll buy that.
Thank you.
- Triples! - Triples!
Triples entitles Norway to move to any space of his choice.
This is a very significant decision early in the game.
I'll take the Marvin Gardens.
Phil: So he will advance to Marvin Gardens.
- Triples! - How unusual.
It's unusual to see two of the in three rolls.
The odds are quite low of rolling triples.
Banker: Pennsylvania.
The Greens were good for Russia in his last game.
So now we only have two properties in the bank.
Kentucky and Connecticut.
Oleg, if I can get New York, are you keen to do a deal
with the Greens and the Oranges?
- And what are you looking to... - What would you prefer?
Hmm, I'd like to exchange this one on the Green.
For the Green?
We ought to do that deal, now.
Phil: Ok, we have a three-way trade and it's been accepted.
A three way trade.
- Let's go boys, let's go! - Russia has the Greens.
New Zealand has the Orange.
the US has the Purples.
The game is getting exciting.
Geoff: Some serious trading went down
very early on in the piece.
I thought I did quite well out of it.
And I got the Orange set which most old school Monopoly dudes
reckon it's a pretty good set.
Bjørn: So all the three other players had a full monopoly
and started to build houses.
And I sat there like an idiot,
and I felt "Now I'm bankrupt in 2 minutes."
We're gambling, huh?
- I like it. - We're dancing, we're dancing.
Rick: We're gonna end our moment
in the spotlight early, huh?
I actually will give you a Red one for the Blue one.
Luckily, I swapped my Red one with a Light Blue one
from the Russian player. Was actually a little bit surprised
that he went on that because he already had a monopoly.
We all got a chance now, right?
- Banker: That was doubles. - That's it.
Let's wait just for a second here
and just look at the situation.
We have five color groups formed.
All properties owned.
Players are in a very interesting
and exciting portion of the game,
in just a matter of minutes.
So let's go, and good luck.
Let's do it.
This is like the fastest game I ever played.
- Doubles and Mr. Monopoly. - Phil: It's not over yet.
But I threw doubles again.
Bjørn: Sixteen.
Rick: Sixteen. Here you go.
-And you have it, with one dollar to spare. - Rick: One dollar to spare.
Bjørn: I would like to buy some houses.
I'll buy hotels on each.
Ok.
Phil: The houses are coming down on the Light Blues
and they're being replaced by shiny red hotels.
- Bjørn: Here you go. - Rick: How'd you like to buy Park Place?
Bjørn: No thank you.
Mr. Monopoly and six.
Oh, no $200.
[Applause]
He can't meet the $550,
so he goes bankrupt to Norway as is.
- Thank you. - Tough game.
I knew that would happen.
Well played.
[Applause]
Did you see that one coming?
- He was going to send the Blues over? - What, how he got hotels?
Rick: No, I didn't think he was going to send the Blues over to him.
What did he get? Did he get the Reds in exchange?
He got the Reds, but he had two monopolies.
So I knew we were in trouble.
Geoff: Seems like we might be playing for second.
You could come in second right now.
Aw.
Phil: Seven and Mr. Monopoly.
- Well, that's it. - Phil: Wow.
[Applause and cheering]
So the US has gone bankrupt to Norway.
His mortgaged properties carry with it the interest.
[Applause & cheering]
Phil: And so Norway has mortgaged his remaining
single properties, so that Mr. Monopoly
will direct New Zealand to the high rent district.
I would like to buy some houses on the Greens.
Phil: So 7 houses are going to be erected on the Greens.
[Geoff claps] Four! Yes!
One, two, three, four.
Phil: Jail.
[Loud cheering and laughter]
Phil: At this stage in the game,
it's great to be in jail.
Geoff: Pretty sure it needs to go really,
really bad for you though.
- Phil: Triples. - I go to jail.
[Cheering]
Two, four, six, seven.
[Dice hitting board in slow motion]
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Ah, she's all over.
- Well done. - It was.
The new World Champion is Norway!
[Lots of cheering]
You're not first, you're last, boys.
Bjørn: I will definitely be back.
To try to defend Norway again, to defend the title.
It will be hard, I think. But I will try my best.
Oleg, from Russia. Thank you.
Phil: We're here having fun today
because an unemployed man in the Great Depression,
Charles Darrow, started making Monopoly to feed his family.
Since then, all of us have enjoyed a bounty of fun,
and priceless memories, thanks to the game he crafted.
Matt: Love the game for what it is.
Recognize that it is an opportunity to bring
people together, to celebrate, to have fun,
to enjoy what you're doing.
And for many people, it's a tradition
that is passed on from generation to generation.
The game's been around for 75 years,
and it will be around for 75 more.
And it will outlive all of us.
[Music ends]
♪ If you want to get a picture ♪
♪ Of what a person's really like ♪
♪ Don't take them to a movie ♪
♪ Don't dine by candlelight ♪
♪ Pull that game down from the shelf ♪
♪ That lays bare the inner self ♪
♪ It's there to see ♪
♪ In Monopoly ♪
♪ There's a woman that I work with ♪
♪ We've been out on several dates ♪
♪ I do believe she liked me ♪
♪ And then I made my big mistake ♪
♪ We had gone back to her place ♪
♪ When she suggested that we play Monopoly ♪
♪ And I agreed ♪
♪ Take a ride on the Reading Railroad ♪
♪ Short Line, Pennsylvania, B & O ♪
♪ Each turn around the board can be revealing ♪
♪ of something that you may not want to show ♪
♪ Well before the game got started, ♪
♪ we had a minor tiff ♪
♪ It seemed we both were heart set ♪
♪ On that clunky battleship ♪
♪ I was pretty close to tears ♪
♪ My favorite token through the years ♪
♪ What could I do? ♪
♪ She took the shoe ♪
♪ She was giving out the money ♪
♪ I could not suppress a smile ♪
♪ She put each denomination ♪
♪ In its own separate special pile ♪
I held all of my cash In my hand in one big stash
♪ I know the way the game was played ♪
This guy comes by.
He's gotta weigh 600 pounds.
He's got a custom made Star Trek uniform
that was probably made when he was only 400 pounds.
Got the pointed ears and everything.
And I said, "Hey, we're starting a Monopoly tournament.
Why don't you join us?"
And he looked at me and he says,
"What do I look like, a nerd?"
[Nerdy voice] Want to go play Monopoly
at my place?
[John laughing hysterically]
♪ Well, I cruised around the board ♪
♪ In my fortress battleship ♪
♪ I was grabbing up the properties ♪
♪ Seemed my luck just would not quit ♪
♪ I was grinning ear to ear ♪
♪ Winning's no great cross to bear ♪
♪ There was no doubt ♪
♪ She'd be wiped out ♪
♪ Well it's true she did have Boardwalk ♪
♪ Yes, she had Park Place ♪
♪ And before I knew what happened ♪
♪ she put hotels on each space ♪
♪ But no one lands on them ♪
♪ And then I did and did again ♪
♪ Oh yeah, that hurt ♪
♪ And it got worse ♪
♪ I had to give her all my cash ♪
♪ I had to mortgage all I bought ♪
♪ And then I picked this card ♪
♪ Advance your token to Boardwalk ♪
♪ I'm not the kind to battle fate ♪
♪ but how much can a person take? ♪
♪ I took no more ♪
♪ I flipped the board ♪
♪ Take a ride on the Reading Railroad ♪
♪ Short Line, Pennsylvania, B & O ♪
♪ Each turn around the board can be revealing ♪
♪ Of something that you may not want to show ♪
♪ Well I still see that woman ♪
♪ We still cross paths at work ♪
♪ I don't believe her looks intended ♪
♪ To make me feel like I'm a jerk ♪
♪ But if there comes another day ♪
♪ When someone asks me if I play Monopoly ♪
♪ I'll say, "Not me" ♪