Monopoly X
How Top-Secret World War II Operations Used the Game of Monopoly to Help Allied POWs Escape, Conceal Spies, and Send Secret Codes
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4.1 • 8 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
An amazing true story of World War II that reveals how British and American military intelligence successfully smuggled escape aids into German P.O.W. camps hidden inside Monopoly game boards, and also the game’s surprising role in espionage.
Monopoly X is the fascinating true story of what is arguably the most unusual and best-kept secret operation of World War II. The masterminds at England’s top-secret MI-9, and later America’s MIS-X, created a special version of the popular game, hiding tools, maps, and money within game boards—delivered by fictitious charities—to captured Allied servicemen held at gunpoint behind barbed wire in German prison camps. This ingenious and complex plot, dubbed “Monopoly X,” was never discovered by the Nazis and led to many successful Allied breakouts.
The creation and consequences of Monopoly X remained a deep secret through the war and for decades after, until now. For the first time, Phillip E. Orbanes tells the full story of the people behind this clandestine program—how it was devised, implemented, and used to great success. A tale of derring-do as compelling as the World War II classic, The Great Escape, Monopoly X is an amazing war story of Allied intelligence services, resistance forces in Europe, heroes and heroines, a notorious traitor, and the pivotal role a seemingly innocent board game played in secret codes and espionage.
Monopoly X includes a 16-page black-and-white photo insert.
This riveting true story reveals the hidden figures and ingenious methods behind one of the war’s greatest deceptions:
MI-9’s Clandestine Operation: The full story of how Britain’s secret intelligence service, and its American counterpart MIS-X, orchestrated one of the war’s most audacious programs.Escape Aids and Secret Codes: A detailed look at the silk maps, miniature compasses, and hidden currency smuggled to Allied POWs right under the noses of their captors.The Great Escape from Colditz: The true account of the first successful escape from the supposedly escape-proof Colditz castle, aided by a specially prepared Monopoly set.Spycraft and Betrayal: The shadowy world of escape lines, brave resistance fighters, and the devastating impact of a double agent known as “the Top Hat.”
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In this thrilling account, game historian Orbanes (Tortured Cardboard) revisits a little-remembered episode of WWII when the Allies concealed POW escape kits inside Monopoly game sets distributed by the Red Cross. British military intelligence first came up with the scheme, employing Waddington Ltd., a maker of games and playing cards, to reconstruct Monopoly boxes to hold lockpicks, tiny saws and compasses, maps printed on silk, fake identification papers, and Reichsmarks. With cinematic flair, Orbanes narrates the clandestine meetings between spies that led to the false game sets' development and later adoption by the U.S., along the way touching on many fascinating historical tangents. (It was because of American spymaster Allen Dulles's regret at having once turned away Lenin from his door that he started giving audiences to all manner of visitors, including the French-German woman who would become his Red Cross plant.) The author also describes a daring escape utilizing the false game set undertaken by two Allied prisoners at Colditz Castle near the Baltic Sea. Throughout, Orbanes intriguingly surfaces other ways in which games, especially Monopoly, were used for Allied spycraft. (The Monopoly game board was the cypher used to decode a warning that Stalin had spies in the White House.) While some of the stylishly written scenes are clearly speculative, it's all so gripping that readers won't mind suspending a bit of disbelief.
