According to various internet aggregators of official and unofficial holidays, November 19th is National Play Monopoly Day. Will you break out the board game and give it a go? Do you play a digital version? Or will you choose to go to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200 as you skip it?
Image by mpmd2009 from Pixabay
The history of the game in a nutshell is an attempt to demonstrate Georgist economic ideas about the necessity of equality and land rent as a remedy for the zero-sum game of cutthroat capitalism turned into a mass-market commodity by a megacorporation. Weird, right? If something about the game feels a bit off, it might not just be because it's a very old game. It's literally designed to turn the cooperative market process of exchange for mutual benefit into cutthroat competition to bleed opponents dry.
Of course, there are a lot of different official versions of the game, and now that the rules are public domain, many more companies have made imitations. Ironically, Hasbro no longer has a monopoly on Monopoly.
Here's an idea: make your own Monopoly! You can find play money fairly cheap online or at local stores. Design a board with your town's streets and iconic locations, for example. The board has square spaces at each corner: Go, Jail (and "just visiting"), Free Parking, and "Go to Jail." In between, there are nine rectangular spaces on each side with a railroad in the center, properties, utilities, penalties and chance/community chest spaces. Play with the pattern and make it different, or copy everything on the layout exactly. Change prices to fit whatever play money you have available.
What do you think of the game conceptually? Is it a nostalgic family game, or a hated waste of time? Have you explored the ideas which inspired it?
It's nice to see the original design metal pieces, they've got a charm to them that the more modern designs lack.
But Monopoly is up there with Diplomacy as a game I avoid becuase it can get just too competitive and risks harming friendships !
What about Risk?
Weirdly, I find that Risk isn't as bad, for some reason.
Perhaps it's just that I haven't played it so often, or that I tend to play in groups which are more about open warfare and less about diplomatically picking the time to stab your supposedly forever-allies in the back. 😁
That's a "holiday" in which I wouldn't have minded participating! But I was very busy yesterday.
Aha... the game that makes all the kids cry. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
We shop at a store where all items are donated from big stores like WM, and Target. and food stores like Publix and Winn Dixie.
They had Monopoly games for sale, several cases full, and they wanted 19.99 each for them, I have not bought a board game in many years so I do not know what they are worth in the bigger stores but I thought for something that has been donated it was a ridiculous price.
They say their prices are a handling fee, so why does it cost more to handle something that just gets set on the floor and something that has to be kept cold is cheaper to "handle"?
Sorry, I got on a rant about them.
Anyway, if my kids were young, I would be for making my own game to play with them.
$20 does seem closer to regular price than a real discount. Special editions are around $30 on Amazon, and the basic game is about $15.
It had wrestlers on the box, maybe it is a special wrestling edition but still, 20 dollars is a lot to ask for something that was donated and you claim the charge is a handling fee.
We started palying it with the kids and it was worth it for the nostalgia. Although the family are none too impressed with my play like its a matter of life and death modus operandi :OD
There is no room for mercy in Monopoly. Crush your enemies and hear the lamentations of their women!
Exactly my style!!! 😃😃
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