Does anyone actually like Monopoly? It is the worst board game in existence.
To me, it’s not even a game, because players don’t make any decisions. You roll a die and go a number of steps, no player agency so far. After that you technically have a decision to buy or not to buy the property. But it is not really a decision, you need to buy it, if you can afford it.
I believe the main reason people say that they don’t like board games is because the only board game they played is Monopoly.
That was a different game, the original by Liz Magie. Darrow pretended he never heard of it, plagiarised it, but made it worse, then claimed it was his own idea. It all got settled later on.
And, really, the winner will almost certainly be determined by who owns the middle-priced properties. I’m too lazy to look them up, but it’s the ones that are essentially opposite the Go space on the board. It’s a fascinating commentary.
It’s the red ones, they’re about 14 spaces away from jail, which is the most common space to end up on. In the long run people will land on them most often.
There’s one really popular red spot, but the three orange ones are also frequently hit, according to this analysis.
Basically, to survive, you need to make sure no one gets a monopoly of the orange or red ones. Which really brings us back to the point of the original game…lol
No, those are the two most expensive properties, right by the Go. Everyone wants to buy them because they see the huge rent price, but it turns out that people seem to land on those spaces only rarely.
Its actually a pretty good metaphor. Imagine playing the game and never buying any assets, just passing Go and collecting a paycheck. That’s how most people live their lives. If you live in a capitalist country, you either aquire assets, or accept you will be exploited by those with all the assets. Its a simple and horrible system, and its all right there in a 100 year old kids game.
The main difference being that most people never have an opportunity to buy assets because they are too busy paying rent on other people’s assets. The game assumes you are a capitalist already, and you are playing against other capitalists.
Which actually is an even better metaphor, regular people don’t even get to play the game.
Lol we actually used to play this way with my cousins. We had two younger cousins that weren’t too bright at the time, but really wanted to play. So they played as “peons” and got a pawn from a chess set as their marker. They got an extra $100 for passing go, but that’s it. They couldn’t buy or anything, only pay. They actually seemed to have fun in a little competition between themselves as to who could weather the capitalist hell hole the best.
My wife had dominated rolls. Buying multiple properties. Other players got some, but more of our rolls were railroads, and chance spots. Everyone was bleeding dry. So I finally got the peasants to unite. We had 3 other players basically form a company and rallied to take down the empire. By that time though, it was too late.
If she had one or two rolls into our meager hotels, maybe things could have turned but never happened. We hit one or two of her properties and that was the final nail. We couldn’t recover.
The game is pure RNG and don’t let anyone tell you it isnt. You can maybe talk and deal your way to victory if someone doesn’t understand the game, but if everyone is seasoned. It’s who lands on the most properties to chain.
Yeah almost pure RNG as you said. Last time I played with 3 others I played as cut throat and by the rules as possible any I still lost because literally nobody ever landed on my maxee out mid tier properties. Like in 10 or so rounds (full board rotations) after maxing it out nobody of the other 3 landed on any of those properties once. And then I went bankrupt by landing on the most expensive tile 3 rounds in a row.
Does anyone actually like Monopoly? It is the worst board game in existence.
To me, it’s not even a game, because players don’t make any decisions. You roll a die and go a number of steps, no player agency so far. After that you technically have a decision to buy or not to buy the property. But it is not really a decision, you need to buy it, if you can afford it.
I believe the main reason people say that they don’t like board games is because the only board game they played is Monopoly.
It was literally designed to be a metaphor for capitalism. You’re not supposed to enjoy playing unless you are lucky enough to be the one winning.
I had almost exactly the same exact comment written out before I saw yours. Its original title was “The Landlord’s Game”.
That was a different game, the original by Liz Magie. Darrow pretended he never heard of it, plagiarised it, but made it worse, then claimed it was his own idea. It all got settled later on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord's_Game
And, really, the winner will almost certainly be determined by who owns the middle-priced properties. I’m too lazy to look them up, but it’s the ones that are essentially opposite the Go space on the board. It’s a fascinating commentary.
It’s the red ones, they’re about 14 spaces away from jail, which is the most common space to end up on. In the long run people will land on them most often.
There’s one really popular red spot, but the three orange ones are also frequently hit, according to this analysis.
Basically, to survive, you need to make sure no one gets a monopoly of the orange or red ones. Which really brings us back to the point of the original game…lol
Yeah. that’s the analysis I was thinking of, I just misremembered the conclusion.
Boardwalk and Park Place, and yes it eventually comes down to whoever lands on one of those first that doesn’t own it. They probably lose first.
No, those are the two most expensive properties, right by the Go. Everyone wants to buy them because they see the huge rent price, but it turns out that people seem to land on those spaces only rarely.
Sorry for the reddit link.
Ah you’re right, I totally just misread the comment derp
Its actually a pretty good metaphor. Imagine playing the game and never buying any assets, just passing Go and collecting a paycheck. That’s how most people live their lives. If you live in a capitalist country, you either aquire assets, or accept you will be exploited by those with all the assets. Its a simple and horrible system, and its all right there in a 100 year old kids game.
The main difference being that most people never have an opportunity to buy assets because they are too busy paying rent on other people’s assets. The game assumes you are a capitalist already, and you are playing against other capitalists.
Which actually is an even better metaphor, regular people don’t even get to play the game.
Lol we actually used to play this way with my cousins. We had two younger cousins that weren’t too bright at the time, but really wanted to play. So they played as “peons” and got a pawn from a chess set as their marker. They got an extra $100 for passing go, but that’s it. They couldn’t buy or anything, only pay. They actually seemed to have fun in a little competition between themselves as to who could weather the capitalist hell hole the best.
The reason people hate it is because they don’t follow the rules.
They put tax money in the center and pretend “free parking” means “payday”.
They prevent purchases until a lap or two around the board.
They allow landed-on properties to go unpurchased.
They allow no-rent agreements between players.
And then they have the audacity to bitch that the game takes too fucking long. After removing every god damn mechanism the game has to end.
There is strategy in knowing what to purchase, what to bid at auctions, what properties to develop and when and how much, and what to trade.
One of the canon rules is you can’t skip a property sale.
If a player lands on a property, they earn the right to buy it at cost, or start an auction.
If they don’t have the money to buy it, they can only auction.
Other players can buy the property you landed on
Its an RNG fest.
My wife had dominated rolls. Buying multiple properties. Other players got some, but more of our rolls were railroads, and chance spots. Everyone was bleeding dry. So I finally got the peasants to unite. We had 3 other players basically form a company and rallied to take down the empire. By that time though, it was too late.
If she had one or two rolls into our meager hotels, maybe things could have turned but never happened. We hit one or two of her properties and that was the final nail. We couldn’t recover.
The game is pure RNG and don’t let anyone tell you it isnt. You can maybe talk and deal your way to victory if someone doesn’t understand the game, but if everyone is seasoned. It’s who lands on the most properties to chain.
Yeah almost pure RNG as you said. Last time I played with 3 others I played as cut throat and by the rules as possible any I still lost because literally nobody ever landed on my maxee out mid tier properties. Like in 10 or so rounds (full board rotations) after maxing it out nobody of the other 3 landed on any of those properties once. And then I went bankrupt by landing on the most expensive tile 3 rounds in a row.
It’s not the worst game in existence, I own a much worse game called War on Terror. Here it is.