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Everybody’s played Monopoly. We’ve all sought possession of Park Place and Boardwalk so we can extract exorbitant fees from fellow competitors who stay in our tiny green houses and/or red hotels. In Monopoly, there’s a card for everything, including a “get out of jail free” card.
But during World War II, the game Monopoly actually helped POWs literally “get out” free.
In the early 1940’s, as WWII raged across most of Europe, many British pilots found themselves in an undesirable position: a prisoner of war in Italy, Austria, or Germany. As a result, the British high brass schemed for months on the best way to help their fly boys escape and rejoin the war effort.
Without a doubt, the most necessary tool for an escaped POW on the run was a map. Unfortunately, maps printed on paper had their fair share of limitations: they disintegrated in wet weather, they made a lot of noise unfolding and refolding them, and they wore out easily.
Someone in the British government landed upon the idea of printing maps on silk. The quality was great; they could also be wadded up silently, and un-wadded just as quietly. Further, moisture didn’t do them in.
As it turned out, the best silk printer in England was John Waddington’s corporation…who also held the British license to produce and sell Parker Brother’s Monopoly. When the military approached him with their request of silk-based maps, Mr. Waddington did them one better.
“Games and Pastimes” were legitimate additions to care packages distributed by support groups during the war, so Mr. Waddington’s company not only printed maps on silk, but built “special edition” copies of the now-famous board game.
In these “special edition” boxes, some of the playing tokens had compasses built into them. Among the stacks of fake money were real German marks and Italian lire. Each kit also came with a handy dandy two-piece file.
An estimated 35,000 POWs escaped prison camps across Europe during World War II. It’s unknown how many of these POWs used the modified versions of Monopoly to escape, but for those who did, the “get out of jail free” card was never more sweetly played.
Resource’s Origin:
The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers by Philip Orbanes. HBS, 2004, Page 113.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Escape
Help
Prisoner
Sneaky
War
World War II
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
