Monopoly X

During the Second World War, British and American military intelligence hid escape equipment inside specially made Monopoly sets. Britain's MI9 and later America's MIS-X designed the scheme, which packed maps, tools and money into the boards. Fictitious charities delivered the games to Allied servicemen imprisoned behind barbed wire in German camps.

The operation, known as Monopoly X, stayed hidden from the Nazis and helped produce a number of successful Allied escapes. Its existence was kept secret during the war and for decades afterward. Philip E. Orbanes now tells the full account of the people who conceived, carried out and profited from the program.

The book also covers Allied intelligence services, resistance networks across occupied Europe, the heroes and heroines who took part, and a notorious traitor. It shows how an ordinary board game became part of secret codes and espionage. The volume includes a 16-page black-and-white photo insert.