Maggie Phillips filed her patent application for the Landlord’s game in 1923, as “a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences.” Her patent issued as U.S. Pat. 1,509,312. Charles Darrow later patented the board game known as Monopoly, as U.S. Pat. 2,026,082.
Although her patent claims dominated Monopoly, Magie’s deal with Parker Brothers allowed them to shun royalties, claiming that her game was “completely worthless” and that Parker Brothers had published a small run of her games “merely to make her happy.”
“It might well have been called the ‘Game of Life,’ as it contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world, and the object is the same as the human race in general seem to have, i.e., the accumulation of wealth.”
Elizabeth Maggie Phillips
Meanwhile, Charles Darrow, creator of Monopoly who was inspired by the Landlord Game, became wealthy from his patent royalties, the first person to earn $1 million from licensing a board game.