Darrow, Charles Brace (1889-1967)

US game designer. He is generally credited with devising the board game, ‘Monopoly’. Initial lack of interest led him to try selling it himself. This was so successful that Parker Brothers bought it and he made over $1 million from it.

He was born in Cumberland, Maryland. He was a qualified heating engineer reduced to selling stoves during the depression. His board game involves players competing to buy property and wipe out their opponents. However, some claim that he only adapted a similar game, based on ‘The Landlord's Game’, devised around 1900 in Virginia. His subsequent invention, ‘Bulls and Bears’, was a failure.