These certainly aren’t “bored” games, amirite?
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The longest game of Monopoly lasted 70 days.
Marvin Gardens doesn't exist. Marven Gardens is real, but there's a typo on the board that never got fixed.
That McDonald's Monopoly game? It was rigged. The independent company McDonald's hired ran a scam where they would keep the best game pieces for themselves.
If the bank runs out of money, you're required to print more or hand draw extra cash.
Jeweler Sydney Mobell crafted the most expensive Monopoly version. Valued at $2 million, it consists of a 23-carat gold board and diamond-studded dice.
The characters on the board have names. Jake the Jailbird is the dude behind bars and Officer Edgar Mallory sent him there.
The game's mascot used to be named Rich Uncle Pennybags, but that was changed to Mr. Monopoly. How original.
"Boardwalk," the most expensive property on the board, has variants depending on where the game is sold. "Paseo del Prado" in Barcelona and "Rue de la Paix" in France.
Six billion green houses have been created.
Over 2 billion red hotels, too.
Neiman Marcus produced a $600 chocolate version of the game in 1978.
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The game was originally called Snakes and Ladders in the US.
Like basically everything else in the world, it originated in India in the 19th century.
The game began life as Moksha Patam, and emphasized the role or karma.
The titular snakes and ladders in the games are essentially karma (destiny) and kama (desire).
A Jain version called Gyanbazi focused on Hindu philosophy.
The original moral lesson of the game was that a person could attain Moksha (or salvation) through good deeds, whereas evil deeds would cause rebirth as a lower form of life.
The phrase "back to square one" mostly likely originated from the game.
The original game squares of virtue were Faith, Reliability, Generosity, Knowledge, and Asceticism.
The squares of evil were Disobedience, Vanity, Vulgarity, Theft, Lying, Drunkenness, Debt, Rage, Greed, Pride, Murder, and Lust.
The game is a central metaphor in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children: "[...] the eternal truth that for every ladder you hope to climb, a snake is waiting just around the corner, and for every snake a ladder will compensate."
There are Dora the Explorer and Spider-Man versions of the game now.
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