The author chronicles the history of the world's most popular board game, tracing the origins of each "property" within Atlantic City, New Jersey, while recalling the evolution of the game. Original. It's the best-selling board game in the world, sold in 80 countries and produced in 26 languages-but how did this favorite pastime get its start? Take a visual tour down Boardwalk and advance to the St. Charles Place through this fascinating visualization of the Monopoly game board and discover that these places really do exist in a place called Atlantic City. Illustrated with collectible imagery and paired with informative text, Monopoly captures the ornate and elegant hotels built along a Boardwalk lined with shops, restaurants, and giant amusement piers jutting out into the sea and brings to life the places that have captivated over 500 million people for over 65 years.Rod Kennedy, Jr.'s books include The Brooklyn Cookbook, Lost New York in Old Postcards, Hollywood in Old Postcards, and Atlantic City: 125 Years of Ocean Madness with Lee Eisenberg and Vicki Levi. He is the founder and president of Stadia Tins Ltd., which produces decorative tins that are replicas of major league baseball stadiums. He also produced the "Star Spangled Banner" poster for the Smithsonian Institution. He lives in New York City.Jim Waltzer is a freelance writer who has written more than 600 feature articles for regional and national magazines and several short stories in fiction journals. He is the author of Tales of South Jersey (Rutgers University Press) and resides in Philadelphia.The Atlantic City Historical Museum strives to serve and present the culturally diverse history of Atlantic City in an informative and entertaining time line for the visiting public. The museum is home to the award-winning exhibit, Atlantic City, Playground of the Nation, which depicts the madcap history of Atlantic City through Miss America memorabilia, postcards, song sheets, costumes, artifacts, and other ephemera. It is located in the historic Garden Pier (at New Jersey Avenue and the Boardwalk) and overlooks the famous beach, Boardwalk, and majestic Atlantic Ocean. For more information, please visit them at www.acmuseum.org. INTRODUCTION Monopoly: The Story Behind the World's Best-Selling Game combines two of my favorite things-Monopoly and Atlantic City. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of long, drawn out Monopoly games on rainy Saturday or Sunday afternoons with family and friends, and it is more than just a childhood memory. Monopoly is a game I have enjoyed playing throughout my life and it was even the basis of a relationship that started out as a Monopoly challenge in a bar one night. In fact, I love the game so much that my home would not be complete without a Monopoly set in the closet. Like most people, I once thought that the colored properties on the classic Monopoly game board were fictional places that existed only as I imagined them, so it was one of the great discoveries and in my life to learn that they really do exist in a place called Atlantic City. My first trip to Atlantic City was in the summer of 1973 and I was thrilled to be really taking a walk on the Boardwalk and advancing to St. Charles Place. I was captivated by the ornate and elegant hotels looking like giant sandcastles built along a Boardwalk lined with shops, restaurants, and giant amusement piers jutting out into the sea. And even though this once thriving and fashionable resort, known as the "Queen of Resorts" and "America's Playground" was in decline, I still sensed the ghosts of years gone by and was possessed. The deal was further sealed when I learned that my parents had honeymooned in Atlantic City, and that I was most probably conceived in the Shelbourne Hotel. Several years later, I was invited by "America's Best Loved Photographer," Bud Lee and Susan Dintenfass Subtle to join them in a photo shoot of the diving horse lady on Steel Pier. It was from this experience that Susan and I conceived of the idea to do a nostalgic book about Atlantic City, which eventually was so wonderfully bought to fruition by Vicki Gold Levi and Lee Eisenberg, and called Atlantic City . . . 125 years of Ocean Madness. The book, which takes a long and loving look at Atlantic City as The Capitol of Americana, was published in 1979, has gone through many subsequent printings and is still in print today. While Atlantic City . . . 125 Years of Ocean Madness touched briefly upon the connection between Atlantic City and Monopoly, I still had always wanted to do a book that would be a visualization of the classic Monopoly game board illustrated with Atlantic City images, that would bring to life for the very first time, the very real place upon which this game, enjoyed for generations by millions of people around the world, was based. Now, thanks to Gibbs Smith Publisher and Hasbro, I am able to do this in this volume. -Rod Kennedy, New York City Dark Purple Mediterranea