CLASSIC: How the Monopoly Board Game Became a World War II Escape Kit

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Ridiculous History
Episode: CLASSIC: How the Monopoly Board Game Became a World War II Escape Kit
Hosts: Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown
Date: December 13, 2025

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Overview

This episode dives into the remarkable, little-known tale of how the board game Monopoly—originally intended as a warning against the dangers of unchecked capitalism—became a tool for Allied prisoners of war (POWs) to escape Nazi camps during World War II. Hosts Ben and Noel unravel the weird, inventive story of “escape kits” smuggled under the guise of harmless board games, revealing how clever British intelligence and manufacturing ingenuity helped save lives in the most unexpected way.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Monopoly's Origins and Irony

• Elizabeth Magie and "The Landlord's Game": Monopoly started as "The Landlord's Game" in 1904, which was meant to critique unfettered capitalism. The rules were changed after the idea was appropriated, ultimately celebrating the very thing it sought to warn against.
  • Ben (06:00): "It was really meant to inform people about the dangers of unbridled capitalism. And when this game was more or less stolen from her, the gameplay was modified so that it rewarded unbridled capitalism."
• Popularity and Reputation: Despite its intended message, Monopoly became a beloved (and at times divisive) family and party game, with themed editions everywhere.
  • Noel (07:08): "Monopoly is sort of the board game equivalent of solitary confinement in that it's really boring."

2. Wartime Context & Board Games as Distractions

• Waddington’s Role: The UK company Waddington’s, licensed to make Monopoly, also specialized in printing maps on silk—a technology that would soon become crucial in the war effort.
  • Noel (08:47): "Waddington, this company, was also very well known for their ability to print things on silk. And that...might be the biggest deal..."
• Board Games in POW Camps: Due to the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian organizations, board games were permitted in POW camps as morale-boosters and distractions.
  • Ben (12:12): "Board games were allowed into POW camps largely because of the Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross."

3. MI9, Ingenious Espionage, and ‘Clutty’

• Christopher Clayton Hutton ("Clutty"): Eccentric MI9 intelligence officer obsessed with escapology and magic tricks; applied this flair to devising clandestine POW escape aids.
  • Noel (10:21): "He was kind of a clever guy who was very fascinated by things like up close magic and little tricks that might be involved in doing some illusions."
• Silk Maps and Smuggled Tools: Silk maps (quiet, durable, waterproof) were hidden within Monopoly boards, along with compasses, files, and real currency (French, Italian, German) sandwiched among Monopoly money.
  • Ben (11:40): "They could be used to have maps printed on them. Maps that wouldn't deteriorate in the rain or get torn to shreds..."

4. Constructing the Escape Kits

• Physical Modifications: Thicker, older Monopoly boards had shallow indentations to hold escape tools; sometimes playing pieces were actually the concealed items.
  • Noel (18:20): "They were able to cut these very shallow indentations that could hold things like files or those little compasses you mentioned earlier..."
• Coded Clues & Secrecy: A small red dot on the board was the tell for POWs, but not obvious to camp guards. Distribution used fake humanitarian organizations to avoid implicating the Red Cross or giving away the ruse.
  • Ben (20:01): "MI9 covered their tracks very well...They invented fake cover organizations to...donate these parcels to the camps."
  • Noel (19:05): "...the soldiers were instructed to destroy these boards. And...they had to figure out these things were even in there."

5. Scale and Effectiveness of the Operation

• Scale of Aid: Packages—and their contents—were tailored for specific camps, and airmen were trained to look for these kits if captured.
  • Noel (22:23): "Parker Brothers themselves...didn't know this was going on. This all had to be done very secretly..."
  • Ben (26:53): "Airmen...were told if they were captured, to look for escape kits in Monopoly games."
• Effectiveness/Impact: Official numbers are impossible to nail down, but estimates suggest thousands of POWs escaped aided by these kits.
  • Ben (27:44): "Waddington's reckoned around 10,000 POWs successfully used the Monopoly map, which is inspiring..."

6. Legacy, Declassification, and Cultural Impact

• Secrecy Until the 1980s: Details about the operation remained classified until the 1980s, with American involvement revealed around 1990.
  • Noel (37:30): "...when the war ended in September 1945, there was only one escape kit that the German forces had not discovered, and it was Monopoly."
  • Ben (37:30): "It was officially revealed in 1985. Right. But the American use of the game wasn't revealed until 1990."
• International Ramifications: After WWII, Monopoly was banned in several communist countries as a symbol of capitalist ideology.
  • Ben (31:42): "Cuba, the USSR, and other communist countries outlawed the game because it advocated capitalism."
• Modern Cultural Footnotes: Mention of satirical and themed editions like "Monopoly for Millennials," poking fun at generational and lifestyle trends.
  • Ben (32:55): "'Forget real estate, you can't afford it anyway.' So that's just that lovely, lovely late capitalist dystopia..."

7. US Imitation and Engineering

• Reverse Engineering: The US military developed its version of the kit, laboriously matching Parker Brothers’ glues and manufacturing techniques so civilian games could be retrofitted and smuggled to POWs.
  • Noel (36:54): "They had to reverse engineer the exact glue that Parker Brothers used...so that it wouldn't throw up any red flags."
• Lasting Impact: By war’s end, only the Monopoly escape kits had avoided detection, with hundreds of documented escapes—though the true number will never be known.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Monopoly’s Origins:
  • Ben (06:00): "It was really meant to inform people about the dangers of unbridled capitalism...the gameplay was modified so that it rewarded unbridled capitalism."
• On Boredom and Monopoly:
  • Noel (07:08): "Monopoly is sort of the board game equivalent of solitary confinement in that it's really boring."
• On Silk Maps:
  • Ben (11:40): "They could be used to have maps printed on them. Maps that wouldn't deteriorate in the rain or get torn to shreds if you stepped on them or make a noise when you try to clandestinely unfold them..."
• On Ingenious Concealment:
  • Noel (18:20): "They were able to cut these very shallow indentations that could hold things like files or those little compasses..."
• On Cultural Reception:
  • Ben (32:55): "'Forget real estate, you can't afford it anyway.' So that's just that lovely, lovely late capitalist dystopia we've all enjoyed..."
• On Secrecy:
  • Noel (19:05): "It takes a lot for you to think, oh my gosh, this board game surely hides these secret items."
• On the Scale of the Operation:
  • Ben (27:44): "Waddington's reckoned around 10,000 POWs successfully used the Monopoly map, which is inspiring..."

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic / Segment | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 03:20–04:11 | Introduction – Board games as universal pastime | | 05:58–06:43 | Monopoly’s origin and purpose | | 08:47–09:26 | Waddington’s, Monopoly, and silk maps | | 10:21–11:40 | “Clutty” and MI9’s clever trickery | | 11:40–12:57 | How silk map Monopoly kits and other tools worked | | 17:39–18:54 | Physical construction and hiding of escape tools | | 19:05–21:38 | Red dots, cover orgs, and coded kits | | 22:23–23:02 | Secrecy—Parker Brothers unaware, kits destroyed | | 26:53–27:44 | Airmen told to look for escape kits in Monopoly | | 31:42–32:55 | Monopoly banned in Communist countries | | 36:48–37:11 | US reverse engineers the Monopoly kit | | 37:30–38:31 | Declassification / Lasting legacy |

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Tone and Style

The episode balances witty banter and sly skepticism (especially regarding Monopoly’s fun factor) with a real enthusiasm for oddball history and clever wartime ingenuity. Ben and Noel often poke fun at the game, each other, and the absurdity of history itself, creating an engaging, conversational tone.

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Conclusion & Takeaways

This Ridiculous History episode illuminates how something as ordinary as a Monopoly board could become a vessel for cunning, life-saving subterfuge in wartime. From silk maps to disguised compasses and cash, intelligence officers, manufacturers, and POWs all played a hand in this secret operation, with details remaining classified for decades. The story stands as both a testament to human ingenuity and a reminder that history is often stranger than fiction—even in the world of board games.

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Transcript

[A]

Fellow Ridiculous historians, we are returning with this week's classic episode, a board game that I think has fascinated all of us for quite some time.

[B]

The Landlord's Game.

[A]

The Landlord's Game was the original non broken version.

[B]

You're right, we are talking about Monopoly but not the history of the game itself, though we'll get into a bit of that. But how the physical board itself actually helped Allied POWs captured during World War II staged their great escape.

[A]

Beautiful. Let's roll it.

[B]

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[A]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. If you're like millionaires of other people throughout history and around the world, then you have probably at least once played some sort of game with your friends. Whether it's a game of dice, a game of cards, or important for our purposes today, a board game. And today's episode is about board games. But not in the way you think. Welcome to Ridiculous History. My name is Ben.

[B]

My name is Noel and I'm a fan of the old fashioned five finger filet. You know where you take a blade and pop it real quick between the gaps between your fingers.

[A]

Uh huh. Have you ever done that?

[B]

Only in video game form. It's an available game in I believe, Red Dead Redemption.

[A]

Oh that's cool.

[B]

I haven't found it yet in the new one, but hopefully it exists. But yeah, that's a pretty scary game.

[A]

I've played that game in real life before and I never went fast enough to actually cut myself.

[B]

Seriously, was that back when you spent time in that prison camp? In that POW camp?

[A]

Well, they called it church camp, but you know what? I think six on one hand, half a dozen in the other.

[B]

Not to derail the topic before we even get there, but I just watched both documentaries about the ill fated Fyre Festival.

[A]

Oh yeah, we talked about this and.

[B]

That was sort of like being in a POW camp.

[A]

F Y R E the ill fated. The ill fated festival that was most closely associated with Ja Rule when it broke in the news.

[B]

And the main guy who was the perpetrator of the whole hoax is a guy named Billy McFarlane I believe is his last name. And yeah, he, he, he was a real piece of work. But here's one thing they didn't have at Fyre Fest. They had these geodesic dome kind of FEMA tents that were left over. They use that they had advertised as luxury, I believe villas. They had some really sad looking cheese sandwiches. They had a lot of kind of gross porta potties. What they didn't have was the game of Monopoly.

[A]

What they also didn't have was our super producer Casey Pegr. There they were. Without Monopoly and without Casey Pegram, which I think is a grave injustice, it's.

[B]

Possible he could have solved the whole debacle.

[A]

Quite possibly. We are by way of fantastic segues exploring the world of Monopoly. But again, perhaps not in the way that you have heard it explored before. For just a quick look at the strange history of Monopoly. It was originally invented as something called the landlord's game in 1904 by Elizabeth Maggie and it was a real estate and taxation game that was really meant to inform people about the dangers of unbridled capitalism. And when this game was more or less stolen from her, the gameplay was modified so that it rewarded unbridled capitalism. And nowadays Monopoly is a love it or hate it game for a lot of people. I've never experienced a huge falling out with friends, loved ones, relatives and so on playing Monopoly, but that's because I don't play with cheaters. And that seems to be one of the big accusations against winners of Monopoly.

[B]

I just think Monopoly is sort of the board game equivalent of solitary confinement in that it's really boring.

[A]

You find it boring and takes a.

[B]

Long time to finish.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I could see that being a criticism. It's not for everyone, but it's a tremendously popular game, you know what I mean? Like even, even people who aren't big fans of it have played it before.

[B]

Absolutely. It's very true. Do you think people still play it now, like for fun? Really?

[A]

Absolutely. And they've made a huge business similar to Trivial Pursuit. They have made a huge business in selling themed Monopoly boards.

[B]

That's true, but at least with a trivial pursu branded versions, they're like questions related to that topic. With Monopoly it's just like a different looking board and instead of a shoe you've got like a Stranger Things baseball bat or something.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Or a Demogorgon. Right. The thing that I always found interesting about Monopoly is that it is a pale shadow of the board game life, which is, I think much more intriguing. But either way you look at it, Monopoly is here to stay. It's a very popular game and During World War II it was widely played. It was just as popular in the United Kingdom as it was in the us. In fact, there was a manufacturer of Monopoly in the United Kingdom called Waddington John Waddington Limited and they had purchased a license to create this just across the pond, which will be important later. But Noel, where are we going with this?

[B]

Oh man, we're going so many places. Yeah, it's true. Waddington was the licensee of the product, almost like a franchise deal, right, where they were allowed to manufacture and distribute this game in the UK after it had seen a lot of success in the us. But Waddington, this company, was also very well known for their ability to print things on silk. And that doesn't a big deal for our story today, but it turns out it might be the biggest deal and the thing that gave Uncle Sam and his minions of espionage the idea to pull off this amazing caper, I guess.

[A]

We can say, I think caper is a great word or scheme. Caper is a little more fun. Yes. The story really kicks into gear with a guy named Christopher William Clayton Hutton, known as Clutty to his friends, which I think is just a terrible nickname. Not great, not superior. And so Christopher Clayton Hutton, or Clutty, is an intelligence officer at MI9. And he got this job through a very strange series of events or an offhand comment when he applied to work as an intelligence officer in 1939 for the UK War Office. He says in a quote later, my passport to the whole curious business has been a casual reference to my thwarted efforts to get the better of Harry Houdini, the world's greatest escapologist.

[B]

That's right. Because his whole deal, and the reason that he was attractive to MI6 was that he was kind of a clever guy who was very fascinated by things like up close magic and little tricks that might be involved in doing some illusions. And he was able to apply that to those kind of James Bondi type gadgets that we all know and love, like a pen that's also an explosive device or something like that. Right.

[A]

A tiny telescope that looks like a cigarette holder or compasses on the backs of buttons. Boots with hollow heels that held knives, maps, compasses and files. But the thing was, and you're right, Nolan was a brilliant, brilliant man. But as ingenious as his inventions were, it seemed that the Germans, as they called them, always eventually figured them out. All of them, that is, except for one. You see, he came to Waddington limited and said, hey, you all manufacture a lot of things.

[B]

Check.

[A]

I understand that you print on silk.

[B]

Double check.

[A]

And I am of the understanding that you also print a board game called Monopoly.

[B]

Triple check.

[A]

He probably pronounced it correctly.

[B]

These are some important boxes. And add these three boxes up together, you get a way to execute this plot that was gestating in this guy's mind. Because here's the thing, the reason that it was a big deal to print on silk is because they could be used to have maps printed on them. Maps that wouldn't deteriorate in the rain or get torn to shreds if you stepped on them or make a noise when you try to clandestinely unfold them. Maybe in a POW camp or surrounded by enemy troops.

[A]

Absolutely. Absolutely. You see, this is something that fascinated me. When we were studying up for this episode, Silk maps were already around because of those advantages that we just named. Silk maps had already been proven superior to the paper. Stuff that could disintegrate, tear, make noise, give away your position. And because Wadd made silk maps and Monopoly, Cluddy knew he was onto something. There was one other important ingredient of wartime reality that solidified his decision. He knew that board games were allowed into POW camps largely because of the Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross.

[B]

And also because Germany at this point in the war had such a bad rep for adhering to the Geneva conventions and the way they treated prisoners of war that they were willing to allow these humanitarian airdrops into their camps, which included things like snacks and, you know, things to pass the time. I think books. But board games were also okay. And they would also think of it as a win for them because they figured if their prisoners were busy occupying themselves, playing an interminable board game that took ages and ages and ages to finish. Clearly, I'm not a fan of the game. Yeah. But I mean, it would serve its purpose. Right. And they would probably be thrilled to have the opportunity to do something like that to pass the time. But there's the thing. A board game is in a big box with layers with stacks of stuff in it. This is a pretty amazing opportunity for our Mr. Cluddy.

[A]

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[A]

This episode of ridiculous history is brought to you in part by American Public University.

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You're juggling a lot. Full time job, side hustle, maybe a family.

[A]

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That's not crazy, that's ambitious.

[A]

At American Public University, they respect the hustle and they're built for it.

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Their flexible online master's programs are made for real life because big dreams deserve a real path.

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[A]

So what they eventually decided to do Waddington's we should note, was initially not 100% on board with this. So Cluddy and the UK government pitched it to them hard and they said, look, we are going to have this covered stem to stern. We are not just going to smuggle maps in these Monopoly games. We are also going to include real money hidden with the Monopoly money. We're going to include French, Italian and German notes just under the actual Monopoly cache. What else did they include?

[B]

They included hidden in little indentations that were cut in the board itself because back in those days, the boards were a good bit thicker than they are now. So they were able to pre label because, you know, the whole label with all the pieces, park place and all that, just a big old sticker that goes on a piece of foldable cardboard. They were able to cut these very shallow indentations that could hold things like files or those little compasses you mentioned earlier, the very small ones. So the smaller the better. Because they wouldn't want it to be a red flag to any officers, any German guards handling it who might think this is way too heavy for a board game.

[A]

Right. You'll also read other accounts that say playing pieces were actually the escape items, like a compass and a file were disguised as playing pieces.

[B]

That's interesting because when I picture the whole cutting out of the indentations into the board thing, it kind of reminds me of stuff like how you might hide something in prison by cutting the pages out of the middle of a book or a Bible or something like that and having like a file or a shiv or something hidden inside. And it's interesting too, because this actually was classified until, I want to say, the 1980s. And the soldiers were instructed to destroy these boards. And the thing is too, they had to use their own intuition to figure out these things were even in there. Which is the thing that blew me away because apparently there was a little red dot on the board that made. That was sort of a clue, I guess, that this was a special board. But it wouldn't have been seen as anything out of the ordinary other than like a printing error maybe for the folks that were distributing the boards, AKA the German soldiers. But it takes a lot for you to think, oh my gosh, this board game surely hides these secret items.

[A]

I don't know, man. You spend a lot of time looking at the same board. So maybe the staff of the POW camp just checks it and they shake it a little bit, but they don't really care because it's a Monopoly game. But then there are a couple Points that I want to hit before they get lost. So. So this board, if you're familiar with Monopoly, does look very similar. Most importantly though, the map. You may hear different things about the pieces versus things being stuffed in the board, but the map itself was always hidden within the board. And MI9 covered their tracks very well here. They invented fake cover organizations to, quote unquote, donate these parcels to the camps. So this removed culpability from the Red Cross because they can't knowingly distribute escape kits, right? So instead they're not getting stuff from the UK government, they're getting stuff from organizations with names like the Licensed Victuallers Sports association, the Ladies Knitting Circle, the Jigsaw Puzzle Club, and the Prisoners Leisure Hour Fund. So as far as the people actually supplying the kits know, these are legit Monopoly board. As far as the Germans know, these are legitimate Monopoly boards. And they just had to wait. It was a leap of faith to wait for one of those POWs to say, hey, this piece doesn't look quite normal. Let me turn it over. Oh, there's a compass. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah, that's true. And not to mention, like that the stacks of money, I believe, were fake money on top, fake money on bottom, real money in between. So that might have been the first thing that gave it away. Right? If they're like, think about it, we're going to play a nice game of Monopol. You pull out the fake money and you say, what ho, what's this? And then there's real money. And that maybe would make them investigate further. You think?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I think that's quite likely. And it's strange because at first your first question is, why is this not a film, right? Because it seems like one heck of a story. But the second question is, how much of this is exaggerated because Monopoly is a cultural icon. The answer is really not much.

[B]

No, not much. And just to throw in one last point, Parker Brothers themselves, the creators of the game, didn't know this was going on. This all had to be done very secretly and it's not like they would, like, let them know, hey, by the way, is it okay if we use your beloved board game to rescue some of our troops? But, you know, and again, it was not known for decades because it was classified. And we don't have any examples of what these might have looked like because they were all destroyed. Because what if a German guard had discovered one? The whole jig would be up for awesome of the camps. Here's the thing too, Ben. They knew which Camps, they were airdropping these on, and they had customized packages for each particular spot.

[A]

Right, right. This may have been declassified relatively recently, but it was kind of an open secret way before 2007. You can find a 1985 AP Press article about this, but again, we don't know what the kids look like because people could describe them. Right. POWs who used these to escape. People can recount their appearance, but as you said, they had to be destroyed. There's a fantastic article on this in the Atlantic. How Monopoly Games helped Allied POWs escape during World War II by Megan Garber. And for someone who is severely anti Monopoly, it seems, no offense, you might be enol. This maybe as redemptive. Does this make you feel a little bit better about the game?

[B]

Well, sure. I think the game has its positive qualities, and this certainly is one of them. I just personally don't enjoy playing it. It's one of those games where I like the idea of it more than the actual practice of playing the game. I'm really into a game called Pandemic, which is a game that you play cooperatively with people, and I think that's a lot of fun. Sometimes the adversarial nature of a game isn't for me.

[A]

There are also games, such as there's a great HP Lovecraft game called something like Call of Cthulhu, I can't remember. And you cooperate with other players to prevent the coming of the eldritch gods. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And the Pandemic is very similar in that you're preventing some sort of global outbreak that could annihilate civilization. So it's all, you know, it's all for a good cause. Also, there's something about Monopoly that kind of rubs me the wrong way because like you said at the top of the show, it used to be much more about, you know, highlighting the evils and potential negative things that can result from capitalism run amok. And now it's just much more about like, hey, let's run amok with some.

[A]

Capitalism now that we live in a world of late stage capitalism. Oh, excuse me, Gig economy. Sheesh. Well, we would be remiss if we did not ask super producer Casey Pegram. Are you a monopolist, Casey?

[B]

I like it because the experience of.

[A]

Playing it is terrible. I just kind of feel like it's good propaganda for a different way of life.

[B]

So sort of like in the way you might watch a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, you enjoy the aw of it just for its own sake. Yeah. Because, I mean, it's true to life.

[A]

True to life. It's too terribly true to life. Casey on the case, folks. Yeah, I think that's such a great point. One thing that I was thinking about during the course of research into today's episode was the fact that going to jail in Monopoly is just part of business and does not impede your financial or social success in any shape, fashion or form. Sort of like how paying multimillion dollar fines is just the cost of business for a lot of banks. I don't want to get too oriented toward the corporatocracy or politics, but that's just the case. Monopoly predicted it, but they predicted it in a terribly misleading way. So I'm glad it did something good and helped Some portion of over 35 Allied POWs escaped from German prison camps.

[B]

Yeah. And they don't have exact numbers of how many people many POWs escaped using these Monopoly kits. But everyone involved is pretty confident that they were effective on some level. And here's the thing, I just found Ben too, in this great article from ABC News where they say that airmen, before being deployed on missions that might have been going out on maneuvers at this stage in the war, were told if they were captured, to look for escape kits in Monopoly games.

[A]

Oh, cool.

[B]

So I was thinking more of the folks that had been there maybe a little longer term. Right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which lets us know that this had been in production for some time. You know what I mean? And it worked. I also quoted in that ABC article is Victor Watson, who was a former chairman of Waddington's until 1993. And in his estimation, again, this might be a bit biased because he did work for the company. He says that Waddington's reckoned around 10,000 POWs successfully used the Monopoly map, which is inspiring and I love that you raised the point that we're never going to know the actual number of people who were, who were for sure saved or able to escape with this.

[B]

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Watch with a free trial today at BritBox.com and Doug, what a horrible call. Hey ref.

[B]

Open your eyes ref. You're really not gonna call that?

[A]

Come on.

[B]

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[A]

Sure I do.

[B]

We're all just giving him advice. You guys on sports? Me unsafe. Nope, that's not it. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[A]

Liberty.

[B]

Liberty.

[A]

Liberty. We should also mention that this was not the first involvement. Uncle Pennybags. That's the name of that cartoon character. The capitalist. The guy.

[B]

Yeah, we'll just call him the Monopoly guy.

[A]

Yeah, well, his real name's Rich Uncle Pennybags.

[B]

Rich Uncle Pennybags.

[A]

It's back when a penny before inflation.

[B]

Carried a lot more we had meant something.

[A]

Yeah, back when a penny meant something. After World War II, monopoly found itself in the middle of another international conflict. This one more ideology related because you see, Cuba, the USSR and other communist countries outlawed the game because it advocated capitalism. You know what I mean? There's not a communist version of Monopoly yet. Someone check on that. If there is, please let me know whether there's some sort of anti Monopoly or communist Monopoly. And Casey, by the way, I see that you just sent us something called Monopoly for Millennials. Yes, this is a true thing. I remember hearing about this a while back when it broke fairly recently. It was Monopoly's crass attempt to advertise to the millennial generation.

[B]

They might have airdropped some of these on fyre.

[A]

There we go. Nice way to call back. So what is this, Casey?

[B]

It is a updated version of Monopoly for millennials. And just looking at the box cover.

[A]

Art, I love the slogan, forget real.

[B]

Estate, you can't afford it anyway. So that's just that lovely, lovely Lake.

[A]

Capitalist dystopia we've all enjoyed Casey on a tragic case there.

[B]

But I love it because it's got.

[A]

Pictures of bike lanes and it's like a vegan only restaurant green kind of ecological messages. And Mr. Pennybags has kind of like some reflective sunglasses on. Looks like he has an ipod earbud in his ear. So they're really hitting the millennial cliches pretty heavily there.

[B]

More of a douchebag than a pennybag community.

[A]

Chess cards say things like, your free web streaming trial expires, pay the bank $40 tokens include an emoji and a hashtag.

[B]

Oh, this is great.

[A]

This is terrible.

[B]

Yeah, it's funny because it seems like they' but I mean it is a real thing you can buy in stores, apparently.

[A]

What rough board game slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

[B]

Yeah, especially again, I'm fresh off watching both of these Fyre Fest documentaries, so I have a pretty bad taste in my mouth and A bit of a self loathing for millennials. Although I'm technically a xennial, I think I'm on the cusp. I think both you and I, Casey, are a little bit on the cusp.

[A]

Yeah, we're cuspers.

[B]

We're cuspers.

[A]

It's rated in two different ways. The one way would be to rate it on a generational chronological divide. But another way, and some sociologists have argued this would be to rate it on a digital divide or access to information. So people who were born before the days of dial up modem are clearly not millennial. I don't know. I think we're all actually cuspers. What we should be wondering about if we were Hasbro is what sort of board game the generation after Millennials would like to play. Hint it's not on a board.

[B]

That's true. You also notice it's funny how there's like app versions of most old board games and they're very similar, they're just a little quicker to play. Like you mentioned the Game of Life at the top of the show and I used to have an app version of that because the mechanics of the Game of Life are a little cumbersome. And with the app it kind of does all that for you. So it's the lazy Game of Life.

[A]

I don't know, it's weird. I've tried doing, you know, you guys know I'm a huge fan of crosswords and I've tried doing them online, but there's something about the physical pen and paper also. Yeah, I do them in pen, but whatever. I chose my battle. Oh, we should mention as we're wrapping up here, that Uncle Sam and the Yanks, that's us. So we can say Yankees and it not be pejorative. We totally copied this idea a little later, after the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor on December. December 7, 1941, Hutton was tasked with training his American, like the American version of him, a guy named Captain Robley Winfrey, in the art of concealing escape tools in this innocuous looking stuff. And he came up with ideas that took off, kind of dovetailed on Hutton's and eventually his part of the intelligence services, Military intelligence services, Escape and evasion section, or Ms. X, started sending out Monopoly boards that were also loaded with escape tools. The one thing different they did is that Winfrey would send his employees into toy stores and department stores to buy civilian Monopoly games, and then they would take the games back to their secret lair and that's when they would kit them up so they didn't have. I guess nobody trusted Parker Brothers at that time, you know what I mean? Because they ever asked Parker Brothers to manufacture bespoke or custom ones, they just reverse engineered them.

[B]

That's nuts that there would be that much logistical planning that would go into something like that. You talk about the glue, for example.

[A]

Oh, lay it on us.

[B]

Yeah. They had to reverse engineer the exact glue that Parker Brothers used in order to make the, you know, the decal lay correctly. So there was a whole lot of little things they had to kind of like troubleshoot and figure out how to make so that it wouldn't throw up any red flags.

[A]

Okay, I've got to catch up, because just for a second, when you said the decal lay correctly, for some reason I had a brain fart and I thought you said Decala like it was some sort of very specific Parker Brothers or whatever.

[B]

You gotta make that Decala correctly. Adhesive.

[A]

Yeah, you're right, though. And by golly, by gosh, by gum, it worked. Because when the war ended in September 1945, there was only one escape kit that the German forces had not discovered, and it was Monopoly. As you said, Noel, everything was destroyed. We know this really happened. It was officially revealed in 1985. Right. But the American use of the game wasn't revealed until 1990. And according to various sources, at least 740something airmen escaped with AIDS created by Clutty and Robley Winfrey. Which, you know, it sounds like a great gig if you can get it. If there's a wartime thing and you get drafted, can you imagine, fellas, if someone said, okay, your job is to make top secret board game escape kits? I would be in. I would be 1 million percent in.

[B]

I would do. And I think it's a real testament to British engineering and ingenuity.

[A]

Agreed. And with that ends our tale, but not our show. Tune in for our next episode, which will be a surprising romp through the origin story of one of the world's most famous rhinos.

[B]

Very much looking forward to that. In the meantime, we'd love to thank our super producer, Casey Pegram, Alex Williams, who composed our theme, our research associate.

[A]

Gabe, of course, you fellow ridiculous association historians for listening. And Noel, thank you for. Thank you for exploring this story with me.

[B]

Ben, thank you for being a friend.

[A]

I wish we could. We don't have the rights to play the Golden Girls.

[B]

You just have to use your imagination. Or go watch it on Hulu. It's out right now.

[A]

I could play it on ukulele.

[B]

Can you. Really? Yes. That's very cool.

[A]

Well, I certainly have my priorities in order right man.

[B]

Well, you got to. And you guys should have your priorities in order to listen to the next episode of Ridiculous History. We'll see you then.

[A]

This episode of Ridiculous History is brought to you by Britbox.

[B]

It's the coziest time of year on Britbox and that means baking piping hot tea on a chilly day, wrapping yourself in something soft on the sofa and getting lost in a brilliant series.

[A]

And this holiday season, Britbox has you sorted with the best of British tv. So curled up with eyebrow raising mysteries on the cliffy English coast in the new season of beyond paradise, escape to.

[B]

Sweeping countryside Manor is where headline making scandal is just another Tuesday in Outrageous.

[A]

Or patrol the charged streets and criminal underbellies of Belfast in the new season of the BAFTA winning police drama Blue Light.

[B]

Britbox gives you the kind of entertainment that makes being home on a blustery day a true luxury.

[A]

So however you cozy, it's all a bit warmer with Britbox.

[B]

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