Elizabeth "Lizzie" J. Magie (later Elizabeth Magie Phillips), a Quaker from Virginia who was a follower of the economist Henry George, was the patentor of a board game that was the precursor to Monopoly. On March 23 1903, Magie applied to the US Patent Office for a patent on her board game, which was designed to demonstrate the evils of land monopolism. She was granted on January 5 1904. She patented a revised version of the game in 1924; it received . She sold her rights to the game for $500 in 1936 to Parker Brothers, with the understanding that they would promote the game, although they instead suppressed it in favor of Monopoly.

External link

• The story of Lizzie Magie and Parker Brothers

Board game designers | Monopoly | Quakers

Elizabeth Magie Phillips