Comments on: War-opoly: How History’s Most Popular Board Game Helped Defend The Free World

By: Lucas

Lucas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:54:17 +0000

I have heard this story before, but the version I heard was that the Red Cross was never used. They often smuggled in the game using fictitious organizations. This was because if the Germans ever got wise, they would have no reason to stop legitimate Red Cross supplies.

Also, they never put the locations of safe houses on the maps. If the Germans found the map, they would then be able to shut down the safehouses and arrest anybody associated with them, or just make it easy to recapture POWs when they inevitably show up at the safehouse.

Basically, the POWs were only give the tools to escape, but they were on their own for the actual details of the escape.

By: Ian Brown

Ian Brown — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:55:39 +0000

I have uploaded pictures of my Monopoly collection to my website, if interested go to http://www.ianbrowns.com/mymonopolycollection.htm
The site does show pictures of a 1971 Russian set that after translation goes by the name “Manager”. There are also pictures of standard wartime sets from the UK and Australia.
Regarding the WW2 POW story, I believe it to be basically true, I have been aware of the story for many years, but suspect bits may have been added with the passage of time.

By: jordan

jordan — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:38:40 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlxTmCFRcbI support our troops, comments welcome

By: Free Documentaries

Free Documentaries — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:17:04 +0000

Oh, btw, I forgot to add something. Why isnt there some communist equivalent to monopoly on the part of the Russians or something? It would make sense wouldn’t it?

By: Free Documentaries

Free Documentaries — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:15:24 +0000

Man, I love monopoly. I never knew this history though. Thanks for sharing!

By: John

John — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:33:40 +0000

This was real, I’ve personally seen one. At my local museum they had an exhibit featuring several spy gadgets and one of these monopoly sets was on display.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:23:58 +0000

I’m the best Monopoly player there is.

I haven’t lost a game since the late 90s. I did retire from the game then though, to be fair. I wanted to finish on a high. Not go on like these boxers who never know when to stop.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:58:52 +0000

This is NOT a fake story. My Great Grandfather used to tell us about when his best friend was captured he was able to escaope using this! He told the men in his platoon when he was returned to them. He described it so they would know also in case they were ever caught. We heard this story every time we played monopoly.

By: moo

moo — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:07:23 +0000

interesting.

By: Oleg

Oleg — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:15:16 +0000

That’s a pretty incredible story. It’s amazing how something like this can actually happen in real life and save thousands of lives.