Today's Article - Mr. Monopoly

This article is for quizzes on Monday June 15th, 2015...

Rich Uncle Pennybags is the round old man with a mustachio in a top hat who serves as the mascot of the game Monopoly. In large parts of the world he is also, or even exclusively, known as Mr. Monopoly.

The character first appeared on Chance and Community Chest cards in U.S. editions of Monopoly in 1936. The identity of the artist who designed the character was long a mystery. In 2013 Wendy Wolfe, granddaughter of the artist, having read historian and author Philip Orbanes remarks that the artist was unknown, contacted Orbanes. He then obtained from the artist's children material identifying their father as the artist and delivered a paper at the June 4, 2013 meeting of the Association of Puzzle and Game Collectors entitled MEET DAN FOX – The Artist Who Created “Mr. Monopoly®”. .

The unnamed character made his first appearance outside of Monopoly within the Parker Brothers' game Dig, released in 1940, before the U.S. entered World War II. The character did not receive a name until 1946 when the game Rich Uncle was published by Parker Brothers. His likeness appeared on that game's box lid, game instructions, and currency.

Between 1985 and 2008, the character appeared in the second "O" in the word Monopoly as part of the game's logo. More recently, the character is depicted over the word "Monopoly", drawn in a 3-D style, and extending his right hand. The character, however, no longer appears uniformly on every Monopoly game box.

In 1988, Orbanes published the first edition of his book The Monopoly Companion. In the book, all of the characters that appear on the Monopoly board or within the decks of cards received a name. Uncle Pennybags' full name was given as Milburn Pennybags, the character "In Jail" is named "Jake, the Jailbird", and the police officer on Go to Jail is named "Officer Mallory".