| Easy Money | |
| Publisher: | Milton Bradley Somerville Industries Ltd. |
| Years: | 1935–1974, 2005 |
| Players: | 2–8 |
| Ages: | 7+ |
| Playing Time: | 120' |
| Random Chance: | High (dice rolling, card drawing) |
| Related: | Monopoly Finance |
| Skills: | Negotiation, Resource management |
Easy Money or The Game of Easy Money was a board game introduced by Milton Bradley Company in 1935. Like Monopoly, the game is based on The Landlord's Game in the movement of pieces around the board, the use of cards, properties that can be purchased, and houses that can be established on them.
Milton Bradley Company (MB) was one of the companies that Charles Darrow showed his Monopoly in 1934, but was turned down. After the success of Monopoly and Finance, Milton Bradley decided to issue its own version of Finance. Despite the Landlord's Game patents having expired and the auction-monopoly game itself having developed in the public domain, Parker Brothers sued Milton Bradley for patent infringement, and the latter was forced to license the former's patents to continue production of the game. MB was forced by Parker Brothers to make changes for its 1936 "New Improved Edition" issued in three separate versions, so that it no longer played quite so similarly to Monopoly. A design patent for Easy Money was applied for at the Patent Office and was either withdrawn or rejected.[1]
A new board was made for the 1940s edition with a new box design in the 1950s. A final Milton Bradley edition was printed in 1974; in this version all dollar amounts had been multiplied by ten, and the board had been further redesigned to look even less Monopoly-like. In 2005 under license from Hasbro, Winning Moves republished the 1950s version with new property names.[1]
Easy Money is a member of the Landlord's Game/auction family of games, of which Monopoly is the most famous example. Players begin with a set amount of money. Properties allow owners to charge rents based on the houses purchased on that property. Players may trade or sell properties. Other spaces have a particular action that must be taken when landing on or passing over.
Key differences from Monopoly include:
Players start with $2,000 (rather than $1,500 as they do in Monopoly), and earn $250 (not $200) for completing a full circuit of the board. In the 1974 edition of the game, basic dollar amounts were multiplied by 10; consequently, these figures became $20,000 to start with and $2,500 for a full circuit, with commensurate increases in property values and rents.
A game of Easy Money ends when one player is not able to pay what they owe, and had sold or mortgaged all of their properties. At that point (if more than two are playing), the cash-on-hand of each remaining player, plus the value of each property owned (and not mortgaged), is used to determine each player's net worth; the player with the highest total is determined the winner. (One major flaw in Easy Money is that a player collects more by mortgaging than was paid when purchasing the property.)
Games can last several hours, but games with three or more players are generally shorter than a typical Monopoly session with the same number of players (as it is not a requirement for one player to force all of their opponents into bankruptcy).
[2] * non-property spaces
From 1935 to 1936 editions:
In The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games, game designer Jon Freeman noted that "it would seem at first glance that the opportunities for trading are wider than in Monopoly, but, unfortunately, such is not the case [...] Trading is limited primarily to the final stages, as players attempt to stave off bankruptcy by selling their property outright or trading it for something less expensive." Freeman also called the game "slow-paced and dull until play has reached the 'building' stage — which takes a while." Freeman concluded that Easy Money lacks the scope and complexity of Monopoly and was "certain to remain a 'poor relation' at best."[3]
In 1989, Milton Bradley published a similarly titled game, Ea$y Money, that was completely unrelated in look or gameplay to the original. In this game, players move around a board and are given the chance to speculate on Wall Street, gamble in Las Vegas, and play in lotteries.[4]