That has gotta be a Black Hole of Suckitude.
Posted on 04/24/2006 2:07:46 PM PDT by Paddlefish
The last line of the article says the classic will still be available. I think this is basically just another one of the knockoffs they've been doing for the last 15 years or so. You can get just-about-anything-opoly these days if you're looking hard enough, your city, your state, your favorite sport, your favorite sports team, your favorite vehicle manufacturer... and now your era.
Really I think the strength of Monopoly has always been the house rules. With only 1 page of "real" rules you can tweek Monopoly any way you want to. I never got into the Free Parking payout either, just floods money back into the game to make it take longer.
"Risk" is more of a task . You win, with your armies of beans and you rule the world ..Bet the president of Iran plays the game every day .
Jagoffs?? How bout those Stillers !!!!!!!!!!!! Got my Bon Jovi concert presale tickets today for the 7/23 Superbowl Champs celebration at Heinz Field .
I hereby move that the "Baltic Avenue" and "Mediterranian Avenue" positions be replaced with ... well, pick any Cleveland street name.
We always played it so all the fines from the cards were thrown in the middle and who ever landed on Free Parking got the cash. I think the official rules had fines simply going to the bank.
I recall around Jr High in El Paso, the School District brought in some special teachers from some where and had us play some game, where the class was divided into three groups, the top group made all the rules the middle group ruled the lowest group. I forget exactly haw it went (this was around '72ish) but the lower group would vote some one to move up a group, if the person promised to make better rules, but as soon as they moved up they forgot about their promises. After an hour the game stopped and they left with no explanation. I guess their message was with a class system the little guy always getting the shaft and socialism is needed to protect the lower class from those in power. I think the Monopoly game has the same message with socialist terms like capitalist and "monopoly"! Maybe I am just making too much of a game, but I have a feeling there was a message behind it that capitalism was bad.
Yes, indeedy. I think the game itself was supposed to be a parody of Greedy Capitalists who needed to be taken down a peg or two by the "Progressive Era". So, how does losing feel like you Greedy Capitalist, yadda yadda yadda.
It's had a profound effect on our culture. On the bright side, the fact that dummies like my friends and I can bring top-down, risk-management approaches to an otherwise-capricious game speaks well to the economic knowledge now affordable to the lay person.
Yeah that's a standard house rule, but it just makes the game go longer by re-introducing money into the game. Because the money supply in the game is severely limited (number of players X starting cash + Go money and minor rewards from Community Chest and Chance), and regularly gets drained by real estate purchases tax spaces on the board and other CC and C cards that's what sets the "time limit" of the game. Once you start allowing a portion of that money to get re-introduced back into the game you're extending your time limit, also adding more randomness into who wins (Free Parking can be a serious cash haul sometimes).
"Monopoly" wasn't always a dirty word. And really if you look at the laws it still isn't, being a monopoly is legal so long as you don't follow certain business practices. I think if there's an economics lesson in the game it's a good capitalistic one about using your money wisely, in general Boardwalk and Park Place are over priced and a poor place to sink money (OK if you get the chance to get one to stop anybody else from making the collection fine, but don't try to get both and build on them, too expensive). From a cost return perspective the primo real estate is the middle valued stuff between Jail and Go to Jail (that's the section people spend the most time going through), and don't be afraid of the ghetto lots they're incredibly cheap and can lead to some pleasant pay days.
I htink they made us play that "game" in school too, yeah it was totally about vilifying the class system and trying to convince the kids that you can't really get ahead in America (or any soceity that has definable classes). Then they teach you about Lincoln and totally blow that out of the water.
Heh..stevopoly...that'll sell like maybe one unit.
[I'm having more fun here than even Parker Bros. would allow...]
Another, more realistic tweek is to start everyone off with ZERO cash, have two competing banks compute risk assessments, and make mortgage values negotiable between the player/debtor and the bank(s).
To add real annoyance, set up a Government account (exists just on paper - what a wonderful world), then have the Government take Property Assessments every-odd turn around the board and charge Income Tax every time you pass Go.
Limitless and wonderful. An American Icon, and an ironic tribute to what really creates wealth: initiative and ingenuity.
Well, consider when the game was created. There wasn't much of a middle class in the 1920s. Most people were either rich or poor.
During the first Gulf War, under Bush the Elder, I "got" to visit Saudi Arabia. I bought an Arab Monopoly game, complete with "worm writing" in Riyadh. Still have it around here somewhere . . . .
"I bought an Arab Monopoly game, complete with "worm writing" in Riyadh. Still have it around here somewhere . . . ."
In this version do you put oil wells on your properties instead of hotels?:)
Sadly, no. Cheesier, actually, than the cheapo (as opposed to the nicer ones that have come out of late) US versions. Crappy flexible cardboard playing board, red hotels, green houses, made out of badly molded plastic.
Baltic Avenue - Eight Mile
Medditeranian - Detroit
There is a Baltic Avenue in Cleveland you jagoff.
That has gotta be a Black Hole of Suckitude.
I loved playing Monopoly as little kid and I had no idea where or what Atlantic City was at the time. Neither did any of the kids I played with. But we all loved the game and played for hours on cold winter days in the bad ol' days before cable and video games.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.