Anti-Monopoly
Anti-Monopoly is a board game made by San Francisco State University Professor Ralph Anspach in response to "Monopoly". The idea of an anti-monopoly board game dates to 1903 and the original Monopoly created by Lizzie Magie. Background and history. Anspach created "Anti-Monopoly" in part as a response to the lessons taught by the mainstream game, which he believed created the impression that monopolies were something desirable. His intent was to demonstrate how harmful monopolies could be to a free-enterprise system, and how antitrust laws work to curtail them in the real world. The game  was originally to be produced in 1973 as "Bust the Trust", but the title was changed to "Anti-Monopoly". It has seen multiple printings and revisions since 1973. In 1984, a new version appeared as "Anti-Monopoly II"; this version was updated and re-released in 2005 without the numerical designation. The game is currently still in print, and is produced and distributed worldwide by University Games. Gameplay. The original "Anti-Monopoly" game begins with the board in a monopolised state, effectively the result of a completed "Monopoly" game. Instead of real estate and public utilities, properties in "Anti-Monopoly  are individual businesses that have been brought under single ownership. Players take the role of federal case workers bringing indictments against each monopolised business in an attempt to return the state of the board to a free market system. In Anti-Monopoly II" individual players choose to play either by monopolist or competitor rules at the beginning of the game. This version plays more like the actual "Monopoly" game in that it is based on the buying and selling of real estate. Among other differences, competitors charge lower rents and can improve any property they own at any time, while  monopolists must own at least two properties in a group before building houses on them and charge much higher rents. Trademark lawsuit. In 1974, Parker Brothers sued Anspach over the use of the ""Monopoly"" name, claiming trademark infringement. While preparing his legal defense, Anspach became aware of "Monopoly"s history prior to Charles Darrow's sale of the game to Parker in 1935, and how it had evolved from Elizabeth Magie's original "Landlord's Game" into the version Darrow appropriated. Anspach based his defense on the grounds that the game itself existed in effectively the public domain before Parker purchased  it, and therefore Parker's trademark claim on it should be nullified. The case dragged on for ten years, with numerous appeals and overturned judicial verdicts, until Anspach and Parker ultimately reached a settlement, permitting him to continue using the name "Anti-Monopoly" and distributing the game. For a time during the dispute, the game was marketed as simply "Anti."