Sunday, December 09, 2007

Another Reason To Love Capitalism

Monopoly, one of the best board games ever created, was used to help escaped POWs during WWII.

This is an amazing story. Go read it all. Go!

Need a teaser?

During World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes...

Along with the standard thimble, car, and Scotty dog, the POW version included additional "playing" pieces, such as a metal file, a magnetic compass, and of course, a regional silk escape map, complete with marked safe-houses along the way -- all neatly concealed in the game's box.

Even better, some of the Monopoly money was real. Actual German, Italian, and French currency was placed underneath the play money for escapees to use for bribes.


That's just genius.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's great! And brilliantly subtle.

One of my favorite movies is Great Escape, I have the book too. And many years ago as a child I read about another escape from that camp where they tunneled out using a vaulting horse for cover.