Book Log 2007 #10: Monopoly - The World's Most Famous Game and How it Got That Way by Philip Orbanes

As a former Parker Brothers executive and current president of Winning Moves Games, Orbanes has a unique vantage point to write about gaming in America, and I really liked his book about Parker Brothers, The Game Makers. Orbanes has also previously written about Monopoly, and serves as a judge at the major Monopoly tournaments. So I was happy to see this book, and looked forward to the history of America's most famous board game.

This happiness turned to tedium as the book progressed, as it felt a little thin. The early history was very good, discussing the precursors to Monopoly and the people who invented them. But many chapters included large sections about what was going on in the world at the time, which didn't quite mesh with the game history. The book was written without input from Hasbro, who bought out Parker Brothers, so I wonder if this extraneous writing was to make up for planned story lines that couldn't be written without Hasbro's help.

Some of the later chapters could have been more detailed as well. The accounts of Monopoly's world championships were good, but could have been more engrossing with better detail of game play and stuff from behind the scenes.

So while it's worth a browse, I don't think this is the best history of Monopoly that could be written. Hopefully, Orbanes and Hasbro will get together and come up with something definitive.