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6 Surprising Facts You Never Knew About Your Favorite Board Games

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Board games are fun for the whole family, and the classics bring us all together. Read on for some fascinating stories behind some of the games we know and love.

1. The Great Monopoly Escape

During World War II, you might be surprised to hear the Nazis allowed Allied prisoners of war to play board games. They also let the British government and relief charities send the soldiers a few games. What the Germans didn’t realize is that these organizations were sending inmates tools for escape, including real money hidden among Monopoly notes, compasses, tiny saws, and a silk escape map. The plan worked and the prisoners of war managed to flee!

2. Scrabble will take you far.

If you line up all the Scrabble tiles ever produced, it’s thought it would reach around the world eight times! A whopping 3,000 Scrabble games are started every hour. And don’t sniff at those “Qs” and “Xs” — there are 84 English words you can play at Scrabble that include a Q with no U. The highest–scoring word ever in Scrabble is the arthritis medication called Oxyphenbutazone, earning you 1,778 points!

3. Trivial Pursuit Quandary

Every trivia buff’s game of choice actually came about when two lexicon lovers sat down to play Scrabble, only to find there were pieces missing. They then dreamed up the new game that went on to sell more than 100 million copies. It’s estimated there are over one million Scrabble tiles missing — fallen inside of sofas or swallowed by children, pets, and the vacuum cleaner.

4. Clue changed cast.

The Clue suspects once had different aliases as the game’s inventors, Anthony Pratt and wife Elva, named the cast Colonel Yellow, Mr. Gold, Miss Grey, Mrs. Brown, Professor Plum, and Mrs. Silver, while the victim was Dr. Black. When the game came to America, Reverend Green changed to Mr. Green due to concerns over the idea of a murderous parson. Murder weapons have included an axe, bomb, syringe, and poison.

5. Monopoly was a fraud.

History books credit the creation of Monopoly to Charles Darrow in the ’30s, but he wasn’t the inventor.  In 1904, Lizzie Magie created The Landlord’s Game, as it was called, to teach people about the unfairness of economics and private land ownership. As her game spread and homemade versions emerged, a broke and recently unemployed Charles Darrow took a version to Parker Brothers and claimed it as his own. He earned millions from its success, while Lizzie reportedly received just $500 and no royalties.

6. It’s a wealthy business.

As small children who’d diligently save up every penny in our piggy bank, playing Monopoly was our thrilling chance to dabble with the big bucks. In fact, Parker Brothers, the company that makes Monopoly, print a whopping 30 times more Monopoly money every year than the United States prints real money. It’s just a shame Monopoly money doesn’t go far towards the grocery bill! But, Parker Brothers did hide real currency in 80 of the 30,000 80th anniversary editions of Monopoly.

This article was originally written by Yours editors. For more, check out our sister site, Yours.

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