One-hundred and sixty-years ago on May 9, 1866, a woman was born in Macomb who put the ‘opoly’ in Macombopoly and made Macomb a destination for Monopoly fans from across the globe.
To celebrate the late Lizzie Magie-Phillips’ birthday, a new statue, Mr. Monopoly, will join the largest Monopoly board in the world in downtown Macomb at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 9. Magie-Phillips’ 1903 game design, “The Landlord’s Game,” later became Monopoly.
This year, the city is marking Magie’s birthday with the public unveiling of a new Uncle Pennybags © Hasbro sculpture in the heart of downtown and the official seasonal opening of Macombopoly, larger than life-size, app-powered, interactive board game experience played across the real streets and storefronts of the historic Courthouse Square.
According to Jock Hedblade, executive director of Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia, Macombopoly launched as a way to put Magie’s story where it belongs: in the middle of the city where she was born.
“Macombopoly started as a way to bring people into downtown and connect them to Lizzie Magie’s legacy,” Hedblade added.
“The thousands of people who’ve played it are proof that when you give visitors something truly fun, genuinely local and wholly unique, they show up. The sculpture is the next chapter, a permanent piece of that story.”
The new Uncle Pennybags aka Mr. Monopoly sculpture gives players and visitors a permanent gathering point at the center of the experience, joining five existing Macombopoly sculptures already standing on the square: a statue of Lizzie Magie, a pair of gigantic spinning dice, the life-sized jail, a giant illuminated hybrid Landlord’s Game/ Monopoly tribute, and a larger-than-life Lincoln top hat honoring Abraham Lincoln, a recurring presence in Macomb during his 1858 campaign who had a personal connection to the Magie family.
Players download the Macombopoly app, powered by eATLAS, and navigate a 4,000-square-foot real-world game board set around the McDonough County Courthouse, completing stops, collecting properties, and exploring downtown on foot. Since opening, thousands of players have made the trip to Macomb for the experience. The game holds a 4.9-star rating and has been recognized as one of Illinois’s top tourism attractions.
The May 9 celebration lands during a moment of wider attention for the region, with a 30-minute prime-time television special taking viewers inside Macombopoly and the broader Forgottonia region.
The program originally aired on April 24 on WYZZ (FOX), a second airing on WMBD (CBS) will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 2.
The Macombopoly experience, including the interactive tour map, stop-by-stop guide and app download link, is available at map.visitforgottonia.com/experiences/unforgettable-forgottonia-macombopoly-tour/.
About the Trailblazing Lizzie Magie Magie-Phillips was born to James and Mary Magie in Macomb, Illinois on May 9, 1866. For a woman of that era, she was ahead of her time, being a writer, poet, feminist and an actress, activist and inventor who held several patents. Now, all these years later, she finally got the credit she’s due for creating “The Landlord’s Game,” a prequel to “Monopoly,” with the layout of her board game similar to that of the Macomb Square.
She patented the game in 1903, and was considered a pioneer of the time as less than 1 percent of patent holders were women. Then along came Charles Brace Darrow who altered the design of Magie’s original invention. His version of the game, which later became known as “Monopoly,” made Darrow the first millionaire game designer in history, and over the years, he has been falsely credited as the original inventor.
Magie was also paid by Parker Brothers, but much, much less than Darrow’s millions. When the game started to take off in the mid-1930s, the company bought up the rights to other related games. For the patent to “The Landlord’s Game” and two other game ideas, Magie reportedly received $500, and no royalties. If not for her trailblazing patent, the original game, and Magie herself, might have been lost in history.
About Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia
Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia is the destination marketing organization for McDonough County and the surrounding region of west-central Illinois, promoting the area’s history, attractions, and experiences to visitors from across the state and beyond. More at visitforgottonia.com.
