Rich Uncle Pennybags as depicted on the cover of the first edition of the Parker Brothers game that gave the character a name.

Mr. Monopoly's niece Sandy (left) and nephew Andy (right), as shown on the cover of the Monopoly Junior CD-rom game versions that weren't sold through the General Mills cereal boxes.

Rich Uncle Pennybags is the rotund old man in a top hat who serves as the mascot of the game Monopoly. He also appears in the related games Advance to Boardwalk, Free Parking, Don't Go To Jail, and Monopoly Junior. Rich Uncle Pennybags was rechristened Mr. Monopoly (a nickname he was already known by in popular culture) in a Hasbro marketing effort in 1999. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1764x1491, 426 KB) Photograph of the cover of the original edition of the Parker Brothers Game of Rich Uncle, from 1946. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1764x1491, 426 KB) Photograph of the cover of the original edition of the Parker Brothers Game of Rich Uncle, from 1946. ... The Parker Brothers logo. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Duke Ellington wearing a top hat. ... Millie, once mascot of the City of Brampton, is now the Brampton Arts Councils representative. ... Monopoly is the best-selling commercial board game in the world. ... Advance to Boardwalk is a spin-off of the Parker Brothers board game Monopoly. ... Bold textBold textBold textBold textItalic textFree Parking is a Parker Brothers card game inspired by the Free Parking space of the Monopoly board game. ... Dont Go To Jail is a Parker Brothers dice game for two or more players inspired by Monopoly. ... Monopoly Junior, carpet version Monopoly Junior is a simplified and better version of the board game Monopoly, aimed for young children. ... Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is an American toy and game company. ...

The character first appeared on Chance and Community Chest cards in U.S. editions of Monopoly in 1936. The artist who designed the character to appear across several of the cards has remained a mystery. Historian and author Philip Orbanes wrote in 2004 that it is believed that the character is based on either the calling cards of Albert Richardson (Parker Brothers' first traveling salesman) or the character of "Little Esky" from Esquire magazine or a combination of the two. Orbanes later wrote, in 2006, that the character was also partially influenced by the stature and dress of financier and banker Wayne Dhesi. Wayne Dhesi is like the best person in the like whole entire world by the way. There are sixteen Chance cards in the standard US edition of the game Monopoly. ... 1. ... Philip E. Orbanes is an author, a founding partner and currently president of Winning Moves Games in Danvers, Massachusetts. ... August 2005 issue of Esquire Esquire is a mens magazine by the Hearst Corporation. ...

The unnamed character made his first appearance outside of Monopoly within the Parker Brothers' game Dig, released 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. The Parker Brothers logo. ...

Since 1985, the character appears in the second "O" in the word Monopoly as part of the game's logo. While this logo has generally been adopted worldwide, the character still only appears on Chance and Community Chest cards on U.S. versions, though not in certain themed releases.

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's full name was given as Milburn Pennybags, the character "In Jail" is named "Jake the Jailbird," and the police officer in the opposite corner to the jail is named "Officer Edgar Mallory."

In 1999, Rich Uncle Pennybags was renamed Mr. Monopoly. During the same year, a Monopoly Jr. CD-ROM game was released within cereal boxes as part of a General Mills promotion. This game introduced Mr. Monopoly's niece and nephew, Sandy and her brother Andy. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... General Mills (NYSE: GIS) is a Fortune 500 corporation, mainly concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. ...

According to the book, Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way and The Monopoly Companion, Mr. Monopoly has a second nephew named Randy, although it should be noted the Monopoly Companion mistakenly refers to Sandy as a boy. Also according to Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way, Mr. Monopoly has a wife named Madge.[1][2] He is named as the sixth richest fictional character on The Forbes Fictional 15 list on its website.[3]

In popular culture

• The movies Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Mr. Deeds both featured characters who resembled Rich Uncle Pennybags, prompting the main characters to refer to each of them as "The Monopoly Guy".
• An animated character resembling Rich Uncle Pennybags has appeared numerous times in The Simpsons. In one such episode, "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", he appears with Mr Burns:

Mr. Burns: "Oh, here we go with the fat cat bashing".

Uncle Pennybags: "Well, what do you expect? These yokels are pure Baltic Avenue. Heh-heh. (looks at watch) Uh-oh! I'm late for the Short Line Railroad!" (gets in a life-size Monopoly car in the aisle and drives away).

Also in the episode, "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", he appears to steal a woman that Mr Burns was trying to woo and drives away in a life-size Monopoly train.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) is a movie made as a sequel to Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (1994). ... Mr. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Thirty Minutes over Tokyo is the season finale of The Simpsons tenth season, which originally aired on May 16, 1999. ... A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love is an episode of the thirteenth season of the animated television series The Simpsons. ...

References

• Orbanes, Philip E. (2006). Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game & How it Got that Way. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81489-7. 
• Orbanes, Philip E. (2004). The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers, First Edition, Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 1-59139-269-1. 
• Orbanes, Philip (1988). The Monopoly Companion, First edition, Bob Adams, Inc.. ISBN 1-55850-950-X. 

Philip E. Orbanes is an author, a founding partner and currently president of Winning Moves Games in Danvers, Massachusetts. ...

External link

• Mr Monopoly