Ralph Anspach

Ralph Anspach (15 March 1926 – March 2022) was a German-born American economics professor and games creator from San Francisco State University. Anspach was a graduate of the University of Chicago and fought with the Mahal in 1948 in support of the independence of Israel. He is best known for creating the game Anti-Monopoly and the legal battles that followed.

Ralph Anspach
Born(1926-03-15)March 15, 1926
Danzig, Germany
DiedMarch 2022 (aged 96)
Alma materUniversity of Chicago
OccupationCollege professor
EmployerSan Francisco State University
Known forMonopoly legal fight
Notable workAnti-Monopoly game
The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle
Military career
Allegiance
  • US
  • Israel
Service/branch
Years of service
  • 1945–1946
  • 1948–1949
Unit
  • Artillery observation
  • Anti-tank

Life

Ralph Anspach was born on 15 March 1926 in Danzig, Germany,[1] where he grew up and belonged to several Zionist youth groups.[2] In 1938, he escaped Germany for the US. In 1940, Anspach lived on West 94th Street, New York, New York, with his father, mother, and brother.[3] Anspach enlisted in the US Army, serving from 1945 to 1946 in an artillery observation unit based in the Philippines.[2]

While attending the University of Chicago, he heard about concentration camp survivors' problem of being shuttled about and not being allowed into Palestine. Thus, he volunteered, under the cover of being an agricultural laborer, to fight in 1948 Arab–Israeli War on Israel's side as a part of the Mahal, the foreign volunteers. Anspach served in an anti-tank unit.[2]

Anspach created the game Anti-Monopoly (published 1973), which resulted in a 1974 trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Parker Brothers. While researching the case, he uncovered the patents of Lizzie Magie for her Landlord's Game, a precursor to Monopoly. In 1979, the parties reached a settlement allowing Anspach to continue marketing Anti-Monopoly.[4] In a 1983 US Supreme Court case, Anspach won the "Anti-Monopoly" and the suffix "-opoly" trademark rights from Parker Brothers. He then wrote The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle, a book about the true history of Monopoly and his legal fight over the game.[5]

Anspach died in March 2022, at the age of 96.[6]

Works

See also

References
  1. Ralph Anspach
  2. Katz, Leslie (June 5, 1998). "U.S. veterans of '48 war recall their Zionist passion". Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  3. "Ancestry® | Family Tree, Genealogy & Family History Records". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  4. Pilon, Mary (October 20, 2009). "How a Fight Over a Board Game Monopolized an Economist's Life". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
  5. Collins, Doug (Nov–Dec 1998). "Go to Court, Go Directly to Court". Washington Free Press. No. 36. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  6. "It is with a heavy heart that I report that Anti-Monopoly inventor and board game crusader Ralph Anspach has passed away at 96. In looking through my notes from reporting on him, his epic life story, and Monopoly, two words appear over and over again. "Keep fighting."". Mary Pilon, New York Times, on Twitter. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
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