Family board game training generations of cutthroat capitalists for 75 years., page 1

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Topic started on 5-9-2010 @ 09:37 PM by FortAnthem

In the year of our lord 1935, Parker Brothers launched a new family game upon the world. It quickly grew in popularity until today; almost no family home is complete without a Monopoly board game in the house.

Pretty harmless looking isn’t it but, this game may just be responsible for all of those morally bankrupt, bloodsucking corporate CEOs who have driven our economy into the toilet with no regard for their fellow man except to see him as something to trample on their way to the top.

It is my hypothesis that the game Monopoly was designed by a group of evil Robber Barons to train the future leaders of their evil corporations to stop at nothing to keep their companies on top and crush all competition that got in their way.

Think of it; players are set against their friends and families in a game in which the only winner is the one who finally destroys all other players and emerges as the last man standing, owning everything on the board. What better way to train future cold-blooded CEOs than to teach them early to go against their own flesh and blood in a battle to the bitter end with money as the weapon of choice. Monopoly is teaching our children that it is OK to destroy their family members financially in order to get ahead and win it all.

The usual game of Monopoly starts our friendly enough, sometimes as part of family bonding during “family game night”. The game goes along with mom and dad helping along the kiddies to lean the rules and how to move their pieces like good parents are supposed to do. But underneath all of this family bonding is the understanding that only one family member will walk away from the board the winner; all of the others will leave broken and bankrupt.

Nice way to bond with the family right?

Inevitably, someone will fall into trouble and will call upon one of their family member to show mercy on them, often using their family loyalty to sway their judgment. A lot of times, it is dear old mom using this ploy on the kiddies. What kind of heartless SOB would turn down a request from their own mother right? More often than not, later in the game, this same person who got by on the charity of their relatives will be the one laughing with glee as they gobble up the belongings of their fellow players. It’s a hard lesson for a small kid to learn but, learn it they must; in business, there is no one you can trust and EVERYONE is an adversary. Soon the kiddies learn to backstab just as well as the parents and then the game gets really bloody.

Many will claim that this is just a game of luck, ruled by the throw of the dice but, anyone with a good bit of experience with this game will tell you; in every family there is always one person who seems to always come out on top and they usually ruin the game for the rest of the players. This person often shows an inordinate amount of glee in destroying their family members and the gloating can be unbearable.

This is the one, who if they play their cards right, will have all of the attributes of a “good” Corporate CEO when they grow up; an unbeatable sense of competition along with a total lack of compassion for their fellow man and that awful sense of glee they get from destroying their competition with no regards for the consequences to their victims.

To my knowledge, there have been no studies done on this subject but, I would be willing to bet that most successful corporate CEOs were the ones in their family who used to make “family game night” unbearable for their siblings and would manage to come out on top every time when they played this evil game.

Sure, to some of you, this may sound like the wild ramblings of some bitter loser who never found out that secret formula necessary to win at the game of Monopoly. I will admit, I never excelled in the game myself. I guess my killer instinct was not strong enough.

I am sure that many others have wondered about what causes the almost diabolical changes that come over the one who consistently excels in this game; it almost seems the game brings out the worst in the one who destroys all of their family and friends in this game. To me, it seems that there may be more to this phenomenon than just a simple game played between friends.

What do you think, am I a paranoid bitter nut, or is there something to this?

[edit on 9/5/10 by FortAnthem]

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 09:42 PM by Nosred

reply to post by FortAnthem

I'm pretty sure the USSR thought the same thing about Monopoly. I think they tried to make a communist version but, as you can imagine, it didn't work out to well. S+F!

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 09:44 PM by superluminal11

I use to play the game alot as a kid and I'm one paycheck away from living in the streets as we speak.

Maybe I needed to play it more

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 09:47 PM by AlreadyGone

If Monopoly causes cuthroat capitalists.... what does Battleship and Risk do ?

I think you put too much thought into this, however, I always found Monopoly a good primer to introduce kids to how the markets work. Then we move up to the bane of socialist ideology...the Lemonade Stand.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 09:51 PM by vermonster

monopoly is based on "the landlords game"

it's meant to teach how monopolies end up bankrupting many while giving incredible wealth to one.

it was originally developed by elizabeth magie, a quaker.

s+f

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 09:52 PM by Nventual

Haha I knew this would be about Monopoly from the title.
When ever I played it as a kid with family it would always end in a huge argument because of something trying to cheat.
I don't think I've ever finished a game.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:06 PM by antonia

I didn't get to play much =( Maybe that's why I'm not rich today.

No one wanted to play with me cause I always won. I never cheated. I just have a strategy. No, I won't tell-The game is to be sold not told.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:10 PM by riddle6

You could make just about anything "evil" if you try hard enough.

I'm not saying there isn't anything wrong about Monolopy, because it would always cause arguments whenever it was played in my household (and many others I know). But at the same time, maybe it isn't necessairly the game itself, but more of the competitive nature that we are taught to have (like with any game - especially sports) that is more of the problem.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:19 PM by FortAnthem

Originally posted by vermonster
monopoly is based on "the landlords game"

it's meant to teach how monopolies end up bankrupting many while giving incredible wealth to one.

Unfortunately, the one who usually ends up the winner never learns this lesson. He only learns that winning feels awesome and stepping on others to get what you want feels great.

Its a shame to see how this message has been lost ot generations of players. I guess the only ones who get this message are the ones who lose the game. At least the game gets its message out to the majority of the players...

The winner though is another matter; in that case, it seems the game excells at making monsters.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:22 PM by antonia

Oh no U2U's guys I was just kidding lol.

Here's the keys to winning.

First you need a good amount of luck. Secondly, this really only works well if you've got 4 players so stack the board. Ignore the utilities, they are useless. The transport spots can be good, if you are lucky that day.

The key problem in Monopoly is avarice. Everyone wants Boardwalk. Well, don't waste your time. Statistically speaking people don't fall on it enough to justify the cost of building houses on it. Buy it only to keep it away from another player. Keep a cash reserve to trade. Go for the weakest player first. Now my favorite strategy is nickel and dimeing folks to death. How? The cheap properties nearest the go space are easy to collect. Build houses and hotels. People blow their wad on the high priced properties so when they land on your hotel stacked spot they are bankrupt. Hoard properties to keep other from building houses. That will stretch a game out though so you may want to put a time or turn limit on the game so you aren't sitting there forever. People have favorite spots, take that crap from them. No remorse.

See, it is just like real life. It's Slum Lord vs. 5th Avenue Town House maven. Either way-you get paid.

[edit on 5-9-2010 by antonia]

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:25 PM by Oaktree

I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.
- Steven Wright

Always loved that one!

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:28 PM by antonia

reply to post by Oaktree

You can get a ghetto version. It got banned though so it costs too much.

www.amazon.com...

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:46 PM by sliceNodice

zzzzzzzzzzz Another capitalist bashing post... You people would really make good friends with the Israeli bashers. You could gather 'round the camp fire and discuss the evils of coffee and saturated fats or something.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 10:48 PM by FortAnthem

Originally posted by sliceNodice
zzzzzzzzzzz Another capitalist bashing post... You people would really make good friends with the Israeli bashers. You could gather 'round the camp fire and discuss the evils of coffee and saturated fats or something.

We do that on Thursdays, Sundays are our capitalism bashing days.

Didn't you get the memo?

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 11:16 PM by randomname

this game has caused more family fights , arguements and tension than any boardgame in history. it takes 6+ hours to finish, no-one lands on boardwalk and 1 in 100 knows how the friggin mortage works on a property. in true capitalist fashion parker bros. should be sued for all the mental anguish this has caused on families. i'm still waiting for the communist version to come where we can all work together in trying to equally aquire all the properties and share in the wealth and the only loser is the bank.

reply posted on 5-9-2010 @ 11:24 PM by randomname

why wouldn't you bash capitalism. a system that has allowed according to most studies 1% of the population to acquire and hoard over 95% of the nation's wealth. we're taking about trillions and trillions of dollars in the hands of relatively few people. reality is the other 99% of the population is working in the service of these people one way or another. the only reason there hasn't been another revolution in america is that this 1% have thrown out a massive lie to the masses: that you can through hard work become one of the 1%. reality is that the odds of becoming this 1% are the same as winning the lottery. which ironically is probably the easiet way to become this 1%.

reply posted on 6-9-2010 @ 12:12 AM by orionthehunter

I never found too much interest in the game even though I used to play it when I was younger. There was hardly any negotiation among the brothers and sisters I played with. You got as much property as you could and then developed it as quickly as possible. Then you took as much money from your brothers and sisters as quickly as possible. If they got wiped out, less competition and the game was over sooner. I do remember having to use the monopoly money from two games instead of just one. It seemed like we always ran out since there were always two or 3 players with a lot of cash.

reply posted on 6-9-2010 @ 12:24 AM by Blue Shift

Well, I don't recall ever finishing a game of Monopoly, because usually if I landed on Boardwalk after my older brother had four hotels there, I would throw a fit and flip the board over.

I know he cheated, I just didn't know how.

reply posted on 6-9-2010 @ 12:28 AM by Blue Shift

Originally posted by Nosred
I'm pretty sure the USSR thought the same thing about Monopoly. I think they tried to make a communist version but, as you can imagine, it didn't work out to well. S+F!

Yeah, I don't know how interesting a game would be if all you did was give all your money to the government and then it would redistribute it back so that everybody had the same (but smaller) amount.

Also the game would end pretty quick if you landed the square that read, "Go to the Gulag. There is no way to get out free."

reply posted on 6-9-2010 @ 01:25 AM by bismarcksea

Soooooooo playing operation when you where a kid will train you to be the next Josef Mengele?

Riiiiiight.

[edit on 6-9-2010 by bismarcksea]

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