1962-1975

1962 brought about the return of the white box #9. This would be the mainstay for the next 25 years. A few special editions were available in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, but the #9 was the set in most households.

1962 saw the first of these special editions. It was a green boxed #12 Library edition with a heavy duty green bound board.

In 1964 the #11 deluxe edition was introduced. It was housed in a larger red box and came in 2 different versions; one with a gray Styrofoam insert (Title Deed holder) and one with a brown insert, and had 10 tokens. It appears that the gray insert was used first and was probably replaced with plastic because the styrofoam didn't hold up well. This game remained in production until it was replaced in 1974 with the 40th anniversary edition.

1965 was the 30th anniversary of Monopoly and was celebrated with the release of the #12 Anniversary Edition housed in a plastic case. The library edition had apparently ceased production by this time as its number was reused for the anniversary edition.

The next special edition was 10 years later and was the #11 40th Anniversary edition. This edition was in a box the same size as the red box whose number it shared. There were 2 versions of this set available. This first was the 40th anniversary set and was replaced later with the Anniversary Edition. These sets brought about the return of ten tokens to the Monopoly game.

Amazingly there is less known about the 1960s #9 than the sets from the ‘30s. I’ve done my best to piece these sets together, so here goes!

The first 2 1962 #9s had a picture of the board on the left, a large "Monopoly" in a red stripe running from the board to the right side of the box, "Parker Brothers Real Estate Trading Game Equipment" above the red stripe, the familiar dual locomotives, Darrow caricature, and dollar sign on the lower right, and the Parker Brothers signature with "Salem, Massachusetts" and "Made in U. S. A." under it on one and Salem, Des Moines, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta on the other. Inside, there was a blue bound board with a label, plastic houses and hotels, and 8 tokens: Long cannon, top hat, Scottie dog, ship, thimble, race car, shoe, and iron. Missing were the wheelbarrow and the horse and rider. My guess would be that the box with the 6 cities on it is the earlier version.

The Parker "swirl" appeared in about 1964 and there are 3 different "swirl"/signature boxes. These boxes are identical to the 1962 box with the exception of the lower left corner. One has "Parker Brothers Inc., Salem, Mass. Made in U. S. A." in white under the swirl. This set has the same tokens as the 2 earlier sets (the only difference being that there’s no 3 on the race car. I think this is the earliest "swirl" set. The 2nd set has "Salem, Massachusetts / Des Moines, Iowa" in white under the swirl and "Made in U. S. A." in black on the lower left corner of the blue field. The tokens in this set are the same. The box in this set was changed from a folded box to a pressed box. The 3rd set is the same as the 2nd with the addition of "Parker Brothers Trademark For its Real Estate Trading game Equipment" in black under the blue field. The tokens in set include the wheelbarrow, thimble, top hat, iron, Scottie dog, shoe, horse and rider, and race car (with filled in cockpit). The wheelbarrow and horse and rider replaced the ship and long cannon.

In 1968 Parker Brothers was sold to General Mills and became part of the General Mills Fun Group. 3 versions of the #9 have the big "G" on them. The 1st 2 of these sets have the "G" on the front of the box. The label is gone from the board and the tokens are the same as previous versions. The race car looks more like the modern token now. It’s no longer hollow or completely filled in. The inside of the cockpit is filled in now so there’s no hole it. The second is identical to the first with "Parker Brothers Trademark For its Real Estate Trading game Equipment" in black under the blue field. The 3rd "G" set has no "G" on the cover but has "A Parker Game" and "Ages 8 to Adult 2 to 8 Players" next to the swirl. It also has "Parker Brothers Trademark For its Real Estate Trading game Equipment" in black under the blue field. That makes 8 different versions of this box top.