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Number of versions: 6
Edition: June 29, 2008
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There are most probably no Parker Brothers
Monopoly games with streets from Indian cities, because this former English
colony remained gravitated towards England for a long period and therefore used
also Waddingtons games with streets of London.
 Edition:
Standard London edition, with separate board - black box
Trade Mark - Patent Nr. 453689
Publisher: United
Importers Corp, Bombay 1 - ±1946
Dimensions of the box: 19.0 x 16.7 cm
The game:
This very early India manufactured London edition is owned by Harold Lee
- UK.
The small box has the red illustration
with “2 black engines, 2 houses and the £-sign
through the middle O, with the “precursor of Uncle Pennybags”
on top, exactly identical to the UK made London editions. The
label reads: Manufactured by United
Importers Corp, Bombay 1. Under Licence from: John Waddington Ltd. According
to Harold's observations
all lettering and images, including label, have
been hand drawn. While the label on the box mention the Patent No., the game
board shows still the UK Patent appl. for No. 3796/36.
Although an accurate year of issue is hard to estimate it is to be expected to
be soon after WW II, that ended 1945. The stations on the game board are still
from L.N.E.R. although the
railways were nationalised in England in 1948 and from then on were called
British Railways. But it is not strange the most topical information from the UK
to be processed somewhat later by a game board manufacturer in India. On the
other hand the houses and hotels
are already of plastic, whereas they were of wood in the UK in that
time.
It is striking these houses and hotels to be of the same sizes 13x11x10
mm, an unusual shape for the Waddingtons' buildings. So they must have come from
an inland manufacturer.
 Typical
for this first London edition made by United Importers Corp. are:
 | the board is 49.5 x 49.5 cm, with a black covering with raised impressions of spiders
web, made of low quality cardboard. |
| the printer did not know English places and have misspelt one of the
stations: Fenchurch Station as French St. Station.
Also the board of this set
has The Angel Islington colored olive green instead of pale blue. |
| the Chance card that should
read "Drunk in charge" Fine £20 says
however "Drink in charge". |
| the Community Chest cards are numbered, yellow
and have rounded corners. The Chance cards are also numbered
and pink.
The sizes are 87x53 mm. |
| the property deeds are numbered as well and have brown
rough backs. Their sizes are 83x67 mm. The outer border lines
on all 4 sides on the deed cards are in the same color as the color bar
except for the 4 stations as well as Old Kent Road,
Whitechapel Road, Park Lane and Mayfair where they are all black. |
| the banknotes are of soft, low quality paper, 100x55 mm, all,
except for the 500 note, printed in black on colored paper.
The 500 note is in red
ink on white paper. They only show "Monopoly" in the ellipse of
the note. The 7 denominations are: 1 - 5
- 10 - 20
- 50 - 100 and 500. |
Unfortunately there are no tokens, nor dice and Rules with this set, so
nothing can be said about them.
 Edition:
Standard London edition, with separate board - red box
Trade Mark - Patent Nr. 453689
Publisher: United Agencies, Bombay 2 - ±1950
Dimensions of the box: 19.0 x 16.7 cm
The game:
 Harold Lee
- UK discovered this version on the ebay auction site where US$ 115.- was paid
for the box with its contents, but without the game board.
What is it that makes this set so interesting? It is the different
Indian publisher in another district of Bombay, ór the original
manufacturer changed name and moved?
Also in this edition all
lettering and images, including label, have
been hand drawn. The label on the box mention the Patent No.,as well
as the banknotes.
The print errors made in the black box edition do not occur in
this version.
The lines on the deed cards of this version are all black.
The Community Chest cards are numbered, yellow
and have rounded corners. The Chance cards are also numbered and pink.
The tokens are flat cardboard figures on a foot of black
timber. The figures are:
hat - iron - car - boat - shoe and rocking-horse like in the UK editions of the wartime era.
The houses and hotels
are of dull wood and are of the
same length, which has never been the case in the UK.
Both dice are white and have black pips.
 Edition: Standard,
without ref.nr.
Publisher: Parker Bros./United Importers Corp. Bombay - 1986
Dimensions of the box: 26.0 x 51.0 cm
The game:
This game is composed of a strange mixture of influences of as well (the English
manufacturer) Waddingtons as (the American publisher) Parker Brothers of
different periods. Despite the cover talks of "Importers … " a small
sticker on the bottom of the box tells is manufactured
by Pleasantime Products in Bombay, so it is of inland make.
What are the Parker Brothers features?
| Only the Rules of 'United' toys mention "Copyright © 1935,
1946, 1961, 1986 by Parker Brothers". |
| The red (instead of white) lid shows
the game board in 2 squares who are however in blue
and yellow, instead of green and
blue
(sixties). |
| The bottom of the box shows a black and white picture of the board
and the accessories as usual in the eighties with the
European sets made in
France. |
| The front side of the banknotes says "Copyright Parker
Brothers". |
| The property deeds of the stations show the black Parker
Brothers' locomotive (the game board the green
one in accordance with Waddington). |
What are the Waddington features?
| The streets and stations of this set are those of London. |
| The lid shows the "engines-picture-with-precursor-of-Uncle Pennybags"
as it was pursued by Waddingtons together with "pat.nr. 453689"
from end thirties to early sixties. However it is hardly recognizable
because the word Monopoly is removed what makes Uncle Pennybags floating
"loose" above the now remarkably large £-sign. |
| The green engines of the board
point to the right, whereas the black locomotives on the property
cards go to the left. |
| The back side of the thin banknotes is printed with the "engines-pattern-with
Uncle Pennybags". |
| The back of the property cards is red,
as usual with the sets manufactured in England around 1970. |
Typical for this set:
| The board is folded with the playfield outwards. It's back is red. |
| The box is about 2 cm too long for the board and the white plastic
insert with 10 holes. |
| The pink through Chance
and Community Chest cards are numbered. |
| The Community Chest cards do have a black edge around the text. |
| The property cards also have a black edge around the text. |
| The 6 tokens of grey
plastic have abnormal sizes: the dog is smaller than the iron who on its
turn is as large as the (submarine?) boat and the racing-car-with-driver. |
| The dice are white and have black pips. |
| The green plastic houses and red
hotels do have all sided overhanging roofs and a chimney. |
The Rules are in English only.
 Edition: Business
Delux
Publisher: Speed Age - Bombay - 1994?
Brought to you by: Shadilal and Sons - Bombay
Dimensions of the box: 22.5 x 43.8 cm
The game:
This is a monopoly-like game that however differs importantly in many ways.
The glossy, multi-colored lid shows a man, plane, car, train, apartment
building and banknotes, obviously as a symbol of a "trade game".
The blue back of the soft, plasticizied game
board says "A trade game BUSINESS". On the yellow
midfield of the play side is a map of India with the name of the game, BUSINESS,
across.
There are 36 spaces on the board instead of the usual 40.
The properties
are divided into groups of 2 or 3 spaces and are resp. the cities Bombay -
Ahmedabad - Indore - Jaipur - Delhi - Chandigadh -
Simla - Amritsar - Srinagar - Agra - Kanpur -
Patna - Darjeeling - Calcutta - Hyderabad - Madras -
Bangalore - Ootacamund - Cochin and Margoa.
There are no stations but at other places
you'll meet a train - bus - airplane and a speedboat.
Instead of "Free Parking" you may go to the Club. At the fourth
corner is a Rest House, but there is however a Jail.
There are 2 Chance- and 2 Community Chest spaces on the midfield:
1 for unequal numbers and 1 for equal numbers. The number of pips namely is
decisive for the instruction, not a text on a card!
The currency is Rupee = Rs. At/over Start you receive Rs 1500. The money
do not consist of banknotes but of round and square counters:
RS 10 = white, round
Rs 50 = red, round
Rs 100 = yellow, round
Rs 500 = brown, square
Rs 5000 = green, square
Rs 1000 = white, square
Rs 10.000 = blue, square
The colorfull property deeds do mention the revenue per house and hotel.
However, now you can build a hotel after having 3 houses. Indeed there are 2
kinds of houses: green (= 1 house)
and red (= 2 houses!). The hotels are
yellow and blue!
The tokens are 5 thick pawns.
The instructions are bilingual: English and Hindi.
 Edition: Monopoly,
ref. 7405 (2)
Publisher: "Made in India" - 1994?
Dimensions of the box: 25.0 x 49.0 cm
The game:
Although this set was bought in Saudi Arabia it will be described here also
because it is "made in India".
This issue is a bad copy of the bilingual original game of
Waddingtons with ref.nr. 46021 with the streets of London. On each space
the text is written both in English and Arabic. For the rest is striking that:
| The game board is of soft carton. Its back is silver
grey. The word Monopoly (in open characters) on the midfield of
the board is parallel to the first side. There is no mention of any
copyright year and no Uncle Pennybags is coming out the O. |
| The inner box contains but a few carton stripes to shape trays for
the equipment. |
| The banknotes are of translucent paper! The front is in accordance
with Parker Brothers, with engine and house. The backside is like that of
Waddingtons, i.e. with "engines-pattern-with Uncle Pennybags and £-sign". |
| The green houses and red
brown hotels are made of plastic and have no roof edges. |
| The 6 tokens are the well-known car, hat, boat, shoe, iron and dog,
but badly cast of grey
plastic. |
| There are 2 redbrown dice with black
pips. |
| The yellow Chance and pink
Community Chest cards have rounded corners and are numbered. |
| Both instructions have been printed on thin paper, without mention
of "Registered Trade Mark", as it is on the OMAN sets. |
Of the three different editions (as far as known) issued under ref. nr. 7405
this is the medium one in quality.
 Edition: Monopoly,
ref. 7405 (3)
Publisher: "Made in Taiwan" - 1994?
Dimensions of the box: 25,8 x 50,0 cm
The game:
It is unknown in which country this set has been bought but since these games
occur in the Middle East and India this set is described here as well.
It's a mystery as yet why this bilingual Waddingtons' issue with ref.
nr. 46021 with the streets of London is also copied in Taiwan!? On
each space the text is written both in English and Arabic. The mention
"Made in Taiwan" is on both long rims of the cover, while the number
7405 is only on the right small rim. The differences with other editions (see
also Yemen) are but small:
| The game board is of strong carton. Its back is red.
The word Monopoly (open characters) on the midfield of
the board is parallel to the 2nd and 4th side. There is
no mention of any copyright year and no Uncle Pennybags is comping out the O. |
| In the inner box is a white plastic insert with 8 holes. |
| The banknotes are printed on solid paper but there is no
mention of "Registered Trade Mark". The front is in accordance
with Parker Brothers (with engine and house), the back with Waddingtons. |
| The plastic houses are green
and the hotels red. They all do
have a chimney as well as a roof edge. |
| The 6 tokens (car, hat, boat, iron and dog) are ugly and coarse
made of a heavy metal. |
| There are 2 tiny white dice with black pips. |
| The yellow Chance and pink
Community Chest cards have rounded corners. |
| The instructions are in Arabic only. They are printed on solid
paper. |
Of the three different editions under the same ref. nr. 7405 this issue is the
best in quality, because it has a sound game board, a decent tray for the
equipment, solid tokens and well to use dice.
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