Prosperity
Published under US Patent 1,509,312 by the Adgame Company of Washington, D.C. in 1932, this is Elizabeth Magie Phillips’ final design. Despite sharing a board with “The Landlord’s Game” (printed on the reverse), Prosperity is a complete standalone game with its own mechanics, components, and win condition. It introduces the Chance Cube, No Trespassing signs, Idle Land speculation cards, and improvement tags.
Prosperity — 36-space board layout
https://engine.moddable.games/play/?game=landlords-game&variant=prosperity
Components
| Component | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Board | 1 | 36-space perimeter, 4 inner offices |
| Green cards (Land In Use) | 20 | Title deeds for the 20 green board spaces |
| Orange cards (Local Utilities) | 3 | Slambang Trolley, Soakum Lighting System, Ting-a-Ling Telephone Co. |
| Red cards (Interstate Railroads) | 3 | Lickety-Cut R.R., Gee Whiz R.R., P.D.Q. R.R. |
| Yellow cards (Idle Land) | 16 | 15 at $200 each + 1 Gold Mine at $500. No board spaces. |
| Improvement tags | 40 | Cost $300 each, add $100 rent |
| No Trespassing signs | 4 | One per player |
| For Sale sign | 1 | Marks the draw pile |
| Checkers | 4 | Player tokens |
| Chance cube | 1 | Faces: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 |
| Dice | 2 | Standard d6 pair |
| Money | $6,600 total | 8 red ($500), 17 green ($100), 13 yellow ($50), 21 blue ($10), 8 pink ($5) |
Setup
- 4 players. Each receives $500 starting cash, 1 checker, 1 improvement tag, and 1 No Trespassing sign (tag matches checker colour).
- Shuffle all 42 cards and deal one at a time until each player has 8 cards. Place the remainder in the centre of the board with the For Sale sign on top.
- All checkers start on the Wages corner (JAIL/WAGES space).
- Highest dice throw goes first.
Movement
Direction: Clockwise (to the left from the Wages corner).
Dice: Roll 2d6 and move forward that many spaces. Count the Jail space as 1, Wayback as 2, etc. Follow the rule for the space landed on.
Doubles: When doubles are thrown, complete the normal move transaction first, THEN throw the Chance Cube and follow its result.
Railroad jump: After paying railroad fare, a player may move to any space up to 8 spaces away, either forward or backward.
Chance Cube
Thrown only after rolling doubles, after completing the normal move. Six faces:
| Face | Effect |
|---|---|
| 5 | Caught robbing a hen-roost. Go to Jail. |
| 10 | Caught robbing the public. Take $200 from the board. |
| 15 | Draw a card from the board (For Sale pile). |
| 20 | Take an Improvement tag from the board. |
| 25 | Loss by fire. Return your nearest Improvement tag to the board. |
| 30 | A judgment against you. Pay $200 to the next player on your left. |
Players may agree to replace these outcomes at their pleasure. The cube runs 5 to 30, increasing by 5 per face.
Space Rules
Land In Use (green spaces): Pay land rent to the owner. If you own the space, take rent from the board. If the card is still on the For Sale pile, highest bidder takes the card; the landing player has first option at the highest bid.
Local Public Utilities (orange spaces): Pay $50 to the owner, or take $50 from the board if you own it. Monopoly (own all 3): rates raised to $100 each.
Railroads (red corner spaces): Pay $100 fare to the owner, or take from board if you own it. Monopoly (own all 3): fare = $200 each. After paying, you may jump up to 8 spaces forward or backward.
Real Estate offices: You may sell any/all Idle Land (yellow) cards you hold back to the board at $200 each (Gold Mine at $500). Or you may buy Idle Land from the board at $100 each, drawing blindly if the Gold Mine is among them. You cannot buy and sell on the same turn.
Tax spaces:
| Tax type | Rate |
|---|---|
| Personal Property | $10 on every $100 cash held (under $100 exempt) |
| Land Taxes | $10 on every Land card (green or yellow) held |
| Improvement Taxes | $25 on every Improvement tag + every Railroad card + every Public Utility card |
Lord Blueblood’s Estate (No Trespassing): Go to Jail immediately.
Jail: Pay $50 fine and throw 6 or more on the dice to leave. Until then, remain.
La Swelle Hotel: Pay $25 if holding $2,000 or more in cash. If under $2,000, throw dice again and move backward that many spaces.
Wages corner: Collect $400 from the board. If reaching this space by exact count, receive $500 instead.
Property Rules
No Trespassing signs: Place on any green (Land In Use) space you own. Any other player who lands there is sent to Jail. When 4 or more signs are placed on one side of the board, land rent on that entire side is doubled.
Improvement tags: Buy from the board at $300 each. Place on any green space you own. Collect $100 additional rent per improvement. Once placed, an improvement cannot be voluntarily removed. It changes ownership with the property if sold, and can only be removed by fire (Chance Cube face 25).
Buying and selling: All cards may be bought, sold, or traded between players at any time during a turn. Trading is preferably done in regular turn order.
Idle Land (yellow cards): These have no corresponding board space. They are held purely for speculation and can only be bought or sold at Real Estate office spaces.
Winning
The first player to accumulate $3,000 in cash wins. Players may agree to raise this limit before play begins.
Attribution
Prosperity. Published by the Adgame Company (Inc.), Washington, D.C., 1932. Designed by Elizabeth Magie Phillips. US Patent 1,509,312 (filed 1923, granted 1924). Public domain (patent expired 1941). Sources: landlordsgame.info (board photographs and patent drawings); US Patent 1,509,312 (public domain).