Monopoly
AVERAGE OG PRICE: $2
MIGHT FLIP FOR: $146,500
The money-centric board game was first released by Parker Brothers in 1933. “Ironically, it was based on another 1903 toy called ‘The Landlord’s Game,’ meant to show the greed of monopolization,” says Anderson Dowell. Creator Elizabeth Magie meant to demonstrate Ricardo’s Law of economic rent, Georgist concepts of economic privilege, and land value taxation.
Charles Darrow is often credited as the creator of the Monopoly we know today, but his version is derived from Magie’s The Landlord Game. Darrow originally made the game on oilcloth instead of stiff cardboard. A hand-drawn version of the game from the early 30’s is worth $146,500.