And sure, maybe it is just a board game, a way to pass the time, but writer Mary Pilon, the author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game, says Monopoly is much more than that. For a long time, the supposed origin story appeared right at the top of the game's rulebook and went something like this: A man named Charles Darrow was down on his luck, unemployed amid the Great Depression and looking for something to pass the time. The game was originally known as The Landlord's Game, and was patented by a woman named Lizzie Magie in 1904.