Monopoly X
Philip E. Orbanes
Harper Collins Pub
July 15th, 2025
Monopoly X by Philip E. Orbanes is 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.
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.
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.
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
Philip E. Orbanes: Monopoly X is the true story of the top-secret projects during World War II that (successfully) smuggled escape aids to Allied POWs confined in Nazi Germany Stalags. It also reveals the use of Monopoly in espionage, and as the basis for a secret code that produced shocking revelations. I first encountered a glimpse into the story when I was 27 years old. Complete research of it spanned the next 36 years. Five men in particular were my sources. Monopoly X took several more years to mold into a compelling, unified story.
EC: What was the role of the Monopoly game?
PEO: While many common items like shaving brushes and phonograph records were doctored to hide escape aids shipped to POW camps, Monopoly gameboards were the most versatile. Prior to the gameboard label being applied, compartments were cut into the cardboard liner and snugly filled with the likes of German money and travel documents, a silk map, saw blades, a miniature compass, and specific types of paper to render the likes of Identification papers.
EC: Why the title?
PEO: Two secret organizations doctored the Monopoly games, MI9 in London, England and MIS-X in the United States (hidden at Fort Hunt, Virginia). MIS-X nicknamed its loaded Monopolies “Monopoly X” games. At least two ordinary Monopoly games were shipped along with each loaded game. These ordinary games were known as “Monopoly V” for “vanilla.”
EC: Why was that game chosen?
PEO: Monopoly was chosen because its board was large, and it could hold many escape aids. It was also chosen by MI9 (which preceded MIS-X’s entry in the war) because by happenstance Monopoly’s maker in England was also the same printing firm that supplied MI9 with escape maps, which were also provided to all British airmen on missions over Europe: The John Waddington Company of Leeds. Note: Why silk maps? Answer: Because silk doesn’t deteriorate when wet, does not wear along the fold lines and (most importantly) does not rustle. Rustling could give away the location of an escaper hiding in the woods at night, for example.
EC: Did you ever play Monopoly?
PEO: I became an enthusiastic Monopoly player from the very first time I played the game as an eight-year-old at the invitation of my favorite aunts and uncles. This experience started me on the road to inventing games and becoming an executive in the games industry. In 1979, after joining Parker Brothers (the U.S. maker of Monopoly) I became chief judge at periodic US, Canadian and World Monopoly Championships. I have written three prior books on the game’s history and its role in our culture.
EC: Why was Watson called the Monopoly Man?
PEO: Norman Watson was the General Manager of the John Waddington Company during the war. Three years earlier, when Monopoly was first offered to him (1936). He had jumped at the opportunity and, more than anyone else in the UK, was responsible for the game’s success there, and in Europe. Note: not only did Watson brilliantly handle the Monopoly secret project but his firm provided other sensitive help for the war effort. To maintain secrecy, nothing was to be written down. Watson had to keep all of his orders inside his head. Like everyone associated with these projects, he was sown to secrecy by the Official Secrets Act, which endured throughout his lifetime. Fortunately, he passed his knowledge to his son Victor. Victor Watson and I became good friends. He chose me as the person he wanted to publish them.
EC: Who made the biggest impact in using Monopoly?
PEO: Airey Neave was the first POW to escape (from Colditz) and make it back to England with the aid of French escape line helpers. He joined MI9 and was placed in charge of its “Room 900” operation, whose mission was to aid the brave man and mainly young women of the escape lines with money, equipment, and organization. He is the most important hero, among several, in the Monopoly X story.
EC: Were there any other “players” influential in using Monopoly?
PEO: The most notorious wad, the British traitor Harold Cole, who was a passionate Monopoly player and who always chose the Top Hat token. Cole had grown up in a poor London neighborhood and always aspired to wealth, which he gained by becoming a con artist. Cole managed to enlist in the Royal Army, which he abandoned during its retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. He eventually worked for the Nazis and exposed many escape line workers. The search for Cole by Neave is central to Monopoly X. Cole was loathsome but very charming and managed to elude Neave for years. His ending was stunning.
EC: Next book?
PEO: My next book has a working title Spyopoly, which details the exploits of the most remarkable spies of World War II who worked for Churchill, Hitler, Stalin and Roosevelt, 28 in all.
THANK YOU!!
