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 Click to view full-size. The 1935 Darrow Second Generation Black Box Game with Board The 2nd Generation Charles Darrow Monopoly Game was manufactured in early 1935. It is estimated that Darrow produced 7,500 small Black Boxes and boards. The Game Component Box was dramatically reduced in size (**see below for reason), the money was changed to what collectors refer to as Darrow Type 2 money, the Property Cards had corresponding Color Borders (only set to do so), Bone Dice (only set to do so) still no tokens, paper game instructions, slight alterations to the board playing surface with the Chance and Community Chest sites outlined only with a black line box, the Chance and Community Chest cards had the same verbiage but the cards were reduced in size, the houses and hotels went from balsa to pine wood and where this basic style would be adopted for the next several generations of Monopoly Games. This game was produced until Darrow sold the rights of the game to Parker Brothers on March 19, 1935. **The 1935 Charles Darrow 2nd Generation Black Box game appearance significantly changed from his initial 1934 White Box game. The Board had minor changes but the component box was now a fraction of the size of the White Box. Based on a discussion among members of the Monopoly Collectors Group, a consensus developed concerning the reason for the downsizing of the Black Box game. **The consensus, and one that I am in agreement with, is that in late 1934 and early 1935, Darrow's Monopoly game was facing significant competition from Parker Brothers games including their new Game of Finance among others. And with department store buyers looking to maximize product shelf space availability, Darrow developed the compact Black Box Game. Complete sets with the board are extremely rare. |
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