Monopoly

We spent thousands of dollars playing with my Dad – entertainment binges that lasted days as we went round and round the Monopoly board gathering up properties, collecting rent and bankrupting each other.

While playing, we learned to do quick mental arithmetic, a bit about business and taxes and how to develop a strategy. Mom refused to join our after chores and school hours of wheeling and dealing. She choose instead to head for the kitchen to make us popcorn, fudge and orange soda floats.

My big brother reminded me of those early lessons at the Monopoly board after he spent and evening playing with his grandchildren and children. “It teaches one to focus, to keep an eye on many things at once, to count, to add and subtract mentally, to be a good loser and to pay bills on time,” he said.

Monopoly adapts to any level of ability – although it moves along faster after a child has at least a basic understanding of arithmetic. Playing in the years before the invention of calculators, we did not have time for paper calculations. By necessity, we learned to make quick mental calculations of moves, monetary change and multiple purchases of motels.

Once we learned the basics, we played a fast game of Monopoly. In Fast Monopoly, as soon as the dice land, we had to know by looking – not counting – that the x-shaped dots meant 5, the square with a dot in each corner meant 4 and the diagonal line across meant 3.

Before my brother scooped up the dice, I would barely have time to look at the dots to assess how far I needed to move a tiny metal ship oir thimble to the appropriate property. Sometimes we played with a couple sets of dice to speed things up even more.

We moved around the board without counting spaces. My nephew recently taught his young son the technique – pointing out that there are 10 spaces on each side and five between railroads and corners. He showed his son how to know where to move without counting every space.

While claiming new property with a brief, “I’ll buy it,” we also kept watch where others landed in order to make rent demands before the next two persons threw the dice for their turn and canceling the rent payment. Sympathetic siblings have been known to team up to throw dice quickly to make that happen.

When my youngest brother took his fiancee’ to meet the middle sister, he invited his true love to play Monopoly. Before they started, little brother whispered to our sis, “play it fast.”

The game galloped along until his fiancee’, a grade school teacher said, “Now, I know what it feels like to be a special needs student.”

Playing fast gets the property sold quickly in the long version of the game.
Once all the properties are sold, we would begin negotiating to get all the properties of one color by trading less desirable or accessible properties.

Trading properties with differing potential for development teaches relative values. The cheap purple properties are not a straight trade for the expensive green spots. As a player we learned risk tolerance and how to make a deal. My husband’s favorite deal is to ask for a couple free landings on the traded property – and than not take his free landings until after motels or hotels have been added.

During a recent game, my nephew showed a more aggressive tact and paid another player to not trade properties with his mother, according to an e-mail from our youngest sister.

Which brings up another lesson – learning to be a good sport, to not whine or complain when the game goes against you. If you incur a whopping bill landing on Boardwalk, the debt must be paid. Pull out your cash – and the properties if needed to mortgage a few to get more cash – and pay the bill. If you simply cannot get enough cash, then assess the reality and admit defeat.
“Some people borrow and negotiate to the bitter end – and never learn to stop and try another game,” littlest sis observed.

Those are the few who forget that it is after all just a game – a game where we can do what we can’t in real life and stop at an expensive hotel without paying the rent because the owner did not notice us there – and still go on to collect our $200 without going to jail.

Because the game of Monopoly lasts longer than most board games, just playing the game teaches patience and persistence.

Plus, let’s face it, Monopoly – the game invented during the Depression – allows us the pleasure of being a tycoon and managing expensive properties and a big pile of fake cash. My husband loves this aspect of the game. When he wins, he remains at the table adding up his stacks of cash and property values, reveling in the possibilities and dreaming of what he would do if it all were real.