El estudioso lúdico habla sobre la autora.

A principios de siglo XXI la verdadera historia del Monopoly ya se había descubierto, pero estaba lejos de haberse extendido. Hasbro mantenía el cuento de que Charles B. Darrow era el inventor, con artículos en su web y notas publicitarias. Esa misma historia del sueño americano se repetía en libros de todo tipo, en prácticamente todas las fuentes de Internet y también sitios especializados en juegos de mesa.
Había que escarbar para llegar al nombre de Lizzie Magie -y si nos ceñimos a información en castellano, era nula.

Creemos que nuestro articulo sobre el descubrimiento de Ralph Anspach, el detective del Monopoly, fue un importante hito para dar a conocer la historia en castellano globalmente. Entonces llegamos a ponernos en contacto con Ralph para tener más detalles de un relato tan poco conocido hace ya más de una década.

Hoy en día Lizzie Magie está reconocida como autora, existen libros que recogen la historia de Anspach y artículos en prensa que reivindican la verdadera autoría del juego -Darrow ha pasado a ser conocido como un aprovechado con suerte. Hasbro ha retirado su nombre a todos los efectos, aunque ha seguido celebrando aniversarios del Monopoly respecto la fecha de publicación por parte de Parker (ahora absorbida por Hasbro).

David Parlett, autor de juegos (La liebre y la tortuga, etc,) y estudioso de la historia lúdica, imparte una conferencia sobre la figura de la autora Lizzie Magie en la Universidad de Suffolk (Suffolk, UK): Lizzie Magie por David Parlett.

Lizzie Magie by David Partlett
Lizzie Magie will already be known to many as the inventor of Monopoly or, more precisely, of its ancestor The Landlords Game. First patented in 1904, Landlords was not her only game, nor her first, and she took pride in her role as a games inventor. But games were only part of her many and varied interests and activities. Landlords, in fact, was a political game, inspired by her commitment to Henry George’s Single-Tax theory, which her father James had actively promoted. Amongst other things she was also a poet, an actress, a journalist, a feminist, and in short one of the most interesting, eccentric and enigmatic characters one could ever have hoped to meet. She might be called a Jill of all trades and mistress of none, other than that of promoting Georgist principles.
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David Parlett is an author, designer, journalist and consultant on board, card and word games. He gives talks and workshops on the games history, theory and appreciation, and advises on the staging of games in period films and TV drama. He edited Games & Puzzles magazine in the 1970s and in 1979 his best-known board game, Hare & Tortoise, became the first winner of Germany's now prestigious Game of the Year award. In 2013 he was one of five inductees to the first UK Games Expo Hall of Fame for his books and writings. In 2016 he was awarded the Dau Barcelona, and in 2018 the Göttinger Spatz, for "a lifetime's dedication to games". He has been presenting papers at the International Board Game Studies Association since 2005. The University of Suffolk appointed him Visiting Professor in Game Design in 2016 and in 2017 awarded him an Honorary Doctorate. His books include The Penguin Book of Card Games, the Oxford History of Card Games, and Parlett’s History of Board Games. Website: https://www.parlettgames.uk.

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