MONOPOLY ON FUN Making money is goal, and this game has made plenty

If "Jumanji," the new movie that opens today, is the fictionalstory of a board game gone awry, Monopoly is the true story of aboard game that's gone on and on. Chances are your parents playedMonopoly, and your grandparents, too. The game, which is made inMassachusetts, is 60 years old this year. That makes it older thanTV.

Everybody knows how to play Monopoly: You buy property with fakemoney, charge your opponents rent when they land on it, and strive todrive them into bankruptcy, i. e., cause them to go broke. A formerpresident of Parker Brothers, the Salem-based company that producesMonopoly, described the game as "clobbering your best friend withoutdoing any damage." That pretty much sums it up.

There are several versions of Monopoly on the market. The twonewest are a 60th anniversary edition and a CD-ROM version. (Bothsell for about $40.) In the new board game, much of the paraphernalia-- including the money, the deed cards, and even the board itself --has been redesigned. In the CD-ROM game, you can play your computer,your friends, or "virtual" opponents on the Internet. ParkerBrothers once licensed another company to make a chocolate version ofMonopoly, which sold for $600. A basic, no-frills inedible Monopolygame sells for about $10.99.

If you haven't played Monopoly, you probably will. When you do,you might want to know a bit about its history and some of itsobscure facts. This will enable you to amaze, and perhaps evendistract, your opponents. After all, it's been said that all's fairin love and Monopoly.

Monopoly's beginnings during the Great Depression -- when realmoney was scarce and jobs were scarcer -- are a bit clouded. Formany years, legend had it that Charles Darrow, an unemployedPennsylvania heating engineer, invented the game. It is now agreedthat Darrow borrowed from two board games, "The Landlord's Game" and"Finance." He even took someone else's idea of naming propertiesafter streets in Atlantic City, N. J.

But in 1933 he did copyright the game, taking it a year later toParker Brothers, which turned him down at first. (The company todaysays the original game contained 52 "fundamental playing flaws.")When Darrow did well selling the game on his own, however, ParkerBrothers had a sudden change of heart and bought the rights. Darrowdid not return to engineering and lived happily ever after -- oruntil 1967, when he died a wealthy man. Meanwhile, did you know:

- Monopoly cost $3.50 when it was released by Parker Brothers in1935.

- The rules have not changed, nor has the amount of moneyinvolved: there is still $15,140 in the game; each player still gets$1,500.

- The pudgy little mascot in the top hat is called Rich UnclePennybags. His first name is Milburn. The guy in jail, serving timefor an unknown crime, is Jake the Jailbird. The cop who sends himthere is Officer Edgar Mallory.

- Marvin Gardens is misspelled. (Actually, it's Marven Gardens,and it's an area of Margate, which is two towns west of AtlanticCity.)

- The property most likely to be landed upon in a typical game isIllinois Avenue.

Parker Brothers says it has sold more than 160 million copies ofMonopoly, in 45 countries and 25 languages. But two spinoffs,Advance to Boardwalk and Free Parking, lasted only 6 and 3 yearsrespectively, while a TV quiz show ran on ABC for just 11 weeks in1990.

And no one has yet made a movie with Monopoly as the star, as theyhave with Jumanji.SIDEBARTHE TOP GAMES

What are kids' faves when they reach for a board game?

Here are the five most popular board games, according to a surveyconducted by "Zigzag," a puzzle and games magazine for kids age 8-14.

1) Monopoly

2) Clue

3) The Game of Life

4) Sorry

5) Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?; tied with 13 Dead EndDrive