David Thornton, Leeds: A Historical Dictionary of People, Places and Events (Huddersfield: Northern Heritage Publications, 2013), s.v. WADDINGTONS. The company was established as a printing business, and at first 'practically all its business related to the theatre'. [1] It entered into game production in 1922, due to a boom in demand for playing cards around World War I. [2] Waddingtons subsequently sold both original games (especially tie-ins for UK television programmes) and games licensed from other publishers. The slightly bizarre choice of London streets and the small ‘mistakes’ above were made when Victor Watson, an employee of Waddingtons, did a ‘taxi dash’ around London to find iconic streets for the British version of the board game. The pencil drawing was found many years later by a man called Charles Darrow, at the home of one of his friends. From this, he then created a game that he named Monopoly, before selling the game on to the publisher Parker Brothers. This game became a success and was played in a large amount of households. When asked in an interview for Germantown Bulletin “how he had managed to invent Monopoly out of thin air – a seeming slight of hand that had brought joy into so many households” he replyed “It’s a freak… Entirely unexpected and illogical”.

Brian McMahon (29 November 2007). "How board game helped free POWs". Mental Floss magazine . Retrieved 7 December 2007. Death of Mr Monopoly, Yorkshire businessman Victor Watson, at 86, The Yorkshire Post, 26 February 2015 Obituary: Master of Monopoly who twice trounced Maxwell', Financial Times, 28 February/1 March 2015, p. 11Lexicon | V&A Explore The Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum. 4 March 2000 . Retrieved 24 May 2022.

The next morning Jacquie had arranged for us to have tour around Leeds with a lovely lady called Beverly from The Leeds visitors Centre. This was just incredible, in fact we learnt so much about Leeds and what is available for families that I am going to share this in another post. But what I will say is Beverly was amazing, we all loved the tour and can’t wait to visit Leeds again. It has been suggested that the game was invented by a woman that lived in Washington DC in 1903 called Elizabeth Margie. Elizabeth owned her own house, worked for a living and was not married which was unusual for women at the time. The game that she invented was called the landlords game. The purpose of this game was to educate people on her political views.We also had a lovely gift, Monopoly the Leeds edition to help us get our bearings of the town. This was very warmly welcomed but caused some conflict later on in the evening when we played; I felt I should automatically be given the Queens Hotel card in my official capacity as Q Hotel Family Ambassador, but the men in my life pointed out it was a role I would not have if it wasn’t for them. Any way I landed on it, so bought it fair and square. John Keen-Tomlinson from Winning Moves, said: “We are very excited by the challenge of putting this unique board for the Yorkshire Dales together.”

We loved our Queens visit. The boys’ felt thoroughly spoilt, but extra treats aside that were all so so special. The Queens is a wonderful warm friendly hotel. The location is just perfect, next door to the train station, in the heart of Leeds in skipping distance to amazing shops, restaurants and amazing attractions including the Leeds Armories, and amazing museums.

The contents, board and box are identical to that of Monopoly sets produced from 1987 to 1993 (apart from the Leeds theme). Contents The game Monopoly owes its genesis to an American Quaker woman who believed in the common ownership of land. By 1935 when the Parker Brothers in Philadelphia acquired the rights to the game, it had become the embodiment of capitalist speculation. Waddingtons were taken over by the US firm of Hasbro in the 1990s. Most of the firm’s archives reside at the West Yorkshire Archives Service and Abbey House.