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Thoughts about Monopoly
Henry's friend Jason came round to visit and to do some gaming yesterday. I forget how the subject of Monopoly came up, but Henry mentioned that I'd wipe Jason at Monopoly and he agreed to give it a try (all kudos to Jason for being will
ing to include his friend's mum in the day's gaming).
Having prior experience of most people's Monopoly skills, I suggested to him that he read the rules before we started. He did this and was mildly suprised to realise that you have to build evenly. eg. You cannot have three houses on on
e property in a colour group until you have two on all the others.
We'd only been playing two minutes before he said: "You can buy houses the first time round the board?" We explained that, yes, you could. (Be a bit daft if you couldn't as it would slow the game down to no purpose, and besides, the rul
e leaflet is perfectly clear)
Jason was the first to gain a colour group as he landed on all three yellow properties. Immediately after that, Henry and I did a quick deal regarding the greens and the light blues and the rest was history. I won, Henry came second and
Jason never built a single house.
Afterwards he said, in the tones of one hard done by, "But you were trading properties!" To which we gently explained that if he thought we were going to sit back and pay rent on the yellows without doing a thing to improve our own chance
s, then he was nuts. (and the rules most certainly do not forbid trading!)
Apparantly in his family, they never trade any properties until everything has been bought. No wonder Monopoly sometimes has a reputation as a game that takes hours. There were still several unsold properties by the time I'd won.
Monopoly is a game handicapped by what people *think* are the rules.
Anyway, full credit to Jason, he promptly asked to play a second game.
This time, he was faster off the ball and did some sensible trading. He ended up with the dark blues and the browns: the most expensive and the cheapest groups on the board. So what did he do? He build a house on Old Kent Road. One ho
use. On the poorest property on the board. His rent increased by less than half the price of the house he'd built.
Henry and I looked on in surprise, and suggested he might want to build more (we're always willing to suggest tactics to new players), did some more property trading, built every house we were able and had an epic battle between us in whi
ch the light blues (and the dark blues once Jason went bankrupt) were pitted against the reds and the browns (courtesy of Jason landing on the reds). Henry finally won when I drew 'Advance to Trafalgar Square'. (I'd been waiting for him
to get 'Advance to Mayfair, but that was further down the deck)
We finished the game and pointed out a whole range of tactical options that Jason had missed. In his shoes, we'd either have mortgaged the dark blues to build hotels on the browns, or else used all available cash to build a house on Mayf
air (the most expensive property on the board).
Monopoly is a mathematician's game. How and when I learnt to play it that way, I really don't know. It's probably just developed over the years. I only realise just how mathematically we play it when a new player enters the game. For o
ur family, it's automatic to calculate the rate of return on any intestment (be it a house or a new property). All property is seen as fluid cash - you mortgage to build houses; you don't wait until bankrupcy looms before mortgaging prop
erties with high value and virtually no income.
I think Jason may be back again. That in itself impresses me. For many people, losing a game twice in succession (and not just losing, but getting wiped) is enough to make them decide that they don't really like the game after all. He'
s willing to try again. Perhaps because he realises that we're playing fair by him. We're trying to teach him tactics as we go. We're explaining what we're doing and why. eg. One of Henry's favourite tactics is what we call 'the deat
h of a thousand rents'. When you're opponent has lots of houses and no cash in hand, you pay off the mortgages on as much of your property as you can and smile when a 22 pound rent forces the sale of one of your opponent's houses.
Jason used to think Monopoly was a game of chance. I hope he'll come to enjoy it as a game of skill.
ing to include his friend's mum in the day's gaming).
Having prior experience of most people's Monopoly skills, I suggested to him that he read the rules before we started. He did this and was mildly suprised to realise that you have to build evenly. eg. You cannot have three houses on on
e property in a colour group until you have two on all the others.
We'd only been playing two minutes before he said: "You can buy houses the first time round the board?" We explained that, yes, you could. (Be a bit daft if you couldn't as it would slow the game down to no purpose, and besides, the rul
e leaflet is perfectly clear)
Jason was the first to gain a colour group as he landed on all three yellow properties. Immediately after that, Henry and I did a quick deal regarding the greens and the light blues and the rest was history. I won, Henry came second and
Jason never built a single house.
Afterwards he said, in the tones of one hard done by, "But you were trading properties!" To which we gently explained that if he thought we were going to sit back and pay rent on the yellows without doing a thing to improve our own chance
s, then he was nuts. (and the rules most certainly do not forbid trading!)
Apparantly in his family, they never trade any properties until everything has been bought. No wonder Monopoly sometimes has a reputation as a game that takes hours. There were still several unsold properties by the time I'd won.
Monopoly is a game handicapped by what people *think* are the rules.
Anyway, full credit to Jason, he promptly asked to play a second game.
This time, he was faster off the ball and did some sensible trading. He ended up with the dark blues and the browns: the most expensive and the cheapest groups on the board. So what did he do? He build a house on Old Kent Road. One ho
use. On the poorest property on the board. His rent increased by less than half the price of the house he'd built.
Henry and I looked on in surprise, and suggested he might want to build more (we're always willing to suggest tactics to new players), did some more property trading, built every house we were able and had an epic battle between us in whi
ch the light blues (and the dark blues once Jason went bankrupt) were pitted against the reds and the browns (courtesy of Jason landing on the reds). Henry finally won when I drew 'Advance to Trafalgar Square'. (I'd been waiting for him
to get 'Advance to Mayfair, but that was further down the deck)
We finished the game and pointed out a whole range of tactical options that Jason had missed. In his shoes, we'd either have mortgaged the dark blues to build hotels on the browns, or else used all available cash to build a house on Mayf
air (the most expensive property on the board).
Monopoly is a mathematician's game. How and when I learnt to play it that way, I really don't know. It's probably just developed over the years. I only realise just how mathematically we play it when a new player enters the game. For o
ur family, it's automatic to calculate the rate of return on any intestment (be it a house or a new property). All property is seen as fluid cash - you mortgage to build houses; you don't wait until bankrupcy looms before mortgaging prop
erties with high value and virtually no income.
I think Jason may be back again. That in itself impresses me. For many people, losing a game twice in succession (and not just losing, but getting wiped) is enough to make them decide that they don't really like the game after all. He'
s willing to try again. Perhaps because he realises that we're playing fair by him. We're trying to teach him tactics as we go. We're explaining what we're doing and why. eg. One of Henry's favourite tactics is what we call 'the deat
h of a thousand rents'. When you're opponent has lots of houses and no cash in hand, you pay off the mortgages on as much of your property as you can and smile when a 22 pound rent forces the sale of one of your opponent's houses.
Jason used to think Monopoly was a game of chance. I hope he'll come to enjoy it as a game of skill.
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Here's hoping for some more gaming the next time you're over here.
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There is a chance element, but that element can be predicted and largely allowed for. The first thing I teach any of my math pupils when we start probability is simple things like where to build houses in Monopoly to have the best chance of them being landed on. Likewise, every property on the board has a different probability of being landed on.
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I'd much rather play Settlers of Catan (thanks again for introducing me to that).
(Note to self: remember to look for "Awful Green Things from Outer Space", "Ricochet Robot" and "Puerto Rico"...)
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Only played this a couple of times but it seemed ok. I think there are a couple of related games with similar names though.
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I don't play Monopoly for that reason... (and others)