Anonymous Monopoly, ca. 1980
This Monopoly game comes from the East German prison at Rummelsberg in Berlin, and was secretly drawn by an unknown prisoner on the bottom of a removable cupboard shelf. The game shows several alterations to its original design. There is, for example, an Apple and a Citrus Street (Apfelstrasse, Citrusstrasse), a Pepsi and a Cola Street (Pepsiestrassee, Colastrasse), and an E. Presley and a B. Haley Street (E. Presleystrasse, B. Haleystrasse). Music was not permitted at Rummelsberg, and both radios and televisions were forbidden. Apples could be bought in the prison shop, but only certain prisoners had this privilege. The “Go To Jail” square has been renamed the “Guest Slammer” or “Mumpe”. “Mumpe” was prison slang for the detention cells located in the prison’s basement. Monopoly was forbidden in East Germany.