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It's always satisfying to learn something interesting or neat to know.
In 1935 Parker Bros introduced Atlantic City and the board game Monopoly To America.
Victor Watson, the head of Waddingtons, a British printing firm, then got a Monopoly license,. He switched the streets and landmarks to those of London and made a small fortune.
Then came the war. RAF Bomber Command soon accumulated a serious problem: Downed crews became POWs across the English Channel. The boss "Bomber" Harris wanted to get them back.
Shortly, "Clutty", the head of M19, an intelligence division concerned with POWs (the real person M of James Bond fictional fame) paid a visit to Waddingtons. He gave Watson a map, a flat six inch sawblade, and a half-inch compass (and later currency, IDs, and lock-picks). The company was to incorporate these into a Monopoly board in such a manner as to be indistinguishable from regular boards. Once done, the "doctored" boards were mixed with unaltered boards, donated to the Red Cross, and sent to POW camps in occupied Europe. The secret boards were identified by a dot on the Free Parking square.
The first use of the boards was in an escape from Oflag IV-C - Colditz Castle (of book, movie, and subsequent board game fame).
Later, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe Department X of the Military Intelligence Services adopted the secret kits for their POWs. Parker Bros, completely in the dark, could never understand the huge increase in board sales in the Washington, D.C. area during the war, Department X also developed a shared code cipher employing the game's cards.
The Monopoly Board caper was so successful that both Britian and the US maintained it under their Official Secrets Acts until the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980's.
In 1935 Parker Bros introduced Atlantic City and the board game Monopoly To America.
Victor Watson, the head of Waddingtons, a British printing firm, then got a Monopoly license,. He switched the streets and landmarks to those of London and made a small fortune.
Then came the war. RAF Bomber Command soon accumulated a serious problem: Downed crews became POWs across the English Channel. The boss "Bomber" Harris wanted to get them back.
Shortly, "Clutty", the head of M19, an intelligence division concerned with POWs (the real person M of James Bond fictional fame) paid a visit to Waddingtons. He gave Watson a map, a flat six inch sawblade, and a half-inch compass (and later currency, IDs, and lock-picks). The company was to incorporate these into a Monopoly board in such a manner as to be indistinguishable from regular boards. Once done, the "doctored" boards were mixed with unaltered boards, donated to the Red Cross, and sent to POW camps in occupied Europe. The secret boards were identified by a dot on the Free Parking square.
The first use of the boards was in an escape from Oflag IV-C - Colditz Castle (of book, movie, and subsequent board game fame).
Later, U.S. Strategic Air Forces in Europe Department X of the Military Intelligence Services adopted the secret kits for their POWs. Parker Bros, completely in the dark, could never understand the huge increase in board sales in the Washington, D.C. area during the war, Department X also developed a shared code cipher employing the game's cards.
The Monopoly Board caper was so successful that both Britian and the US maintained it under their Official Secrets Acts until the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980's.