Main Page alternative (Search Box)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More main page alternatives

Welcome to Wikipedia

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit

Categories - Portals - A–Z - Tutorial - Questions - Help - Random article

Today's featured article

Drawing for a game board from patent application by Lizzie J. Magie

The history of the board game Monopoly can be traced back to the early 1900s. Elizabeth Magie invented in 1903 a version of The Landlord's Game which was a real estate trading game in which players got rich by monopolizing sets of properties. This game, usually called "monopoly", was played extensively from 1904 through 1931 when it showed up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There a group of Quaker teachers changed it to a version which was copied by Charles Darrow. The copy was then commercialized by Parker Brothers which claimed that Darrow had invented the game and turned Darrow into a rags to riches embodiment of the American dream. In the 1970s, Professor Ralph Anspach, while defending himself against a trademark infringement suit filed by Parker Brothers and its then parent company, General Mills, against his Anti-Monopoly game, uncovered the true history of the game. Because of the lengthy court process, and appeals, the legal status of Parker Brothers' trademarks on the game was not settled until 1985. The game's name remains a registered trademark of Parker Brothers, as does its specific design elements. International tournaments, first held in the early 1970s, continue to the present day, with the next world championship scheduled for 2008. (more...)

Recently featured: Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties of IndiaGreen and Golden Bell FrogIranian peoples

Did you know...

From Wikipedia's newest articles:

Oleg Pantyukhov

In the news
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
On this day...

December 13: Republic Day in Malta (1974); St. Lucia's Day in Sweden

Pope Paul III

Recent days: December 12December 11December 10

Today's featured picture
Camouflaged flounder

A camouflaged flounder. Camouflage is the method which allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment. Besides blending in with their surroundings, animals may disguise themselves as something else to avoid predation.

Photo credit: Moondigger
Archive - More featured pictures...

Other areas of Wikipedia

  • About Wikipedia — An introduction to the encyclopedia and the community.
  • Help Desk — Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
  • Reference Desk — Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
  • Village Pump — For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.
  • Community Portal — Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
  • Site news — Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:

Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals

Wikiquote
Collection of quotations

Wikisource
Free-content source texts

Wikispecies
Directory of species

Wikinews
Free-content news

Commons
Shared media repository

Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination


Wikipedia languages

This is the English language Wikipedia, started in 2001. It currently contains 1,530,304 articles. Wikipedias are also being written in many other languages:

Complete list · Multilingual coordination · Start a Wikipedia in another language