In 1973 a University Professor Ralph Anspach released Anti-Monopoly intending to show that monopolies were harmful. The game has been updated and rereleased through out the years. The board resembles Monopoly, however properties are replaced by businesses. The goal is to break the trusts of 3-business monopolies, trusts or oligopolies. The players are trust-busting lawyers who rotate around the board bringing lawsuits against the monopolies. Players earn social credits, at the end of the game the player with the most social credits is the winner.
In 1974 Parker Brother's sued Ralph Anspach for trademark infridgement. The case played out over the span of 10 years with several appeals and overturned rulings. Finally Anspach and Parker reached a settlement, permitting him to continue using the name Anti-Monopoly and distributing the game.
Wanting to "capitalize" on the success of Anti-Monopoly, Hasbro released Monopoly Socialism in 2019. Ultimately Monopoly Socialism was released as a parody game to mixed reviews. Players can choose to work together as a community or not. They have the option to steal from other players to get ahead. The reviews are adamant to point out that this is not an educational tool.
Based one these short descriptions I'm interested in playing both these games. Believe it or not Anti-Monopoly seems to be the game that would be easier to get a hold of. There are several used games listed on Ebay and the travel tin is selling for $12 on
Macys.com. Monopoly Socialism however is a limited release edition and selling for close to $100 on Amazon. Please let me know if you own either of these games, I would love to come over and play sometime.
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