Now we all know that monopoly takes a long time to play. We have been known to have monopoly games stretch out for days over the school holidays. It is definitely the kind of game where you need to be prepared to devote plenty of time. Hence the reason it is reserved for school holidays.
The thing with monopoly is that someone invariably ends up with a massive monopoly and they then grind the rest of the players into the dust. You don't just lose monopoly, you are slowly ruined and tortured over a protracted period of time until eventually you turn to dust. It's quite depressing really. Steve loves the whole wheeling and dealing thing and is a keen enthusiast for dealing his way to a complete monopoly where he eventually wipes the rest of us out. He sees nothing wrong with using his unique personal relationships with each of us to manipulate favourable outcomes for himself. He then leaves us grovelling in the dust, his fatherly/husbandly love completely forgotten.
This game we are currently playing however, has taken on a different tone. Because I am the peace lover and believe in prosperity for all, I have (so far) refused all deals and offers to swap properties in order to create monopolies. The kids have followed suit and are holding on to their streets as well, leaving Steve bereft as his wicked plans are not coming to fruition. At this stage no one has a monopoly. We are merrily going around the board collecting $200 as we pass go and paying our meagre rents along the way. I say we are in a strong and growing economy, let the good times roll. Some others have suggested that the game maybe getting a little boring and will perhaps go on a little too long if we don't start the monopolisation process. I try to explain that monopoly is life, and that it is meant to take a while..........
And then we decided, bugger the traditional rules of monopoly. If monopoly is like life, lets make our own rules. So starting last night, the official second day of our grand monopoly game, we introduced a parliament to vote on rules (laws) changes. We decided that at the end of a complete round of goes people could table motions about suggested rules variations that would then get voted on by the players. We could talk in favour of or against each motion.
Evan was the first to raise a motion. He decided that as we were all collecting $200 as we passed GO the bank was in danger of becoming bankrupt. He proposed that we cease to get paid for passing GO. That this middle class welfare must end. Steve was more radical, he wanted us to not only not get paid to pass GO, but to have to pay $200 to pass GO. Luckily Sarah and I were voices of reason. We spoke against the motion, insisting that we should just let the good times roll, because we are hard working people who deserve our $200 as we pass GO. The motion was rejected, we had the majority.
Next round, Sarah and I brought 2 motions to the floor. The first was that anyone throwing a double six should be sent directly to gaol. That motion was quickly defeated. We had more luck with the second motion: that rather than having to own a whole street, if you land on your property you are entitled to build a house. Home ownership for all! This one was passed resoundingly, with only Evan, the fascist, opposed. Interestingly, however, it was Evan who was first to avail himself of the new laws and got the first houses built on the board.
The bank started to look a whole lot more healthy with the boost to the economy that the housing boom caused. We are getting a lesson in social, economic and political theory, see I said monopoly was like life. With everyone owning houses except Sarah, we adjourned the game, with the intention of enacting more laws the next day to ensure continued prosperity for all. Who said there had to winners and losers?
The third night of the big game saw the bank in serious trouble. While we were all relatively wealthy, the bank had dropped to just $50. We had to bite the bullet and do something about it. So we enacted a law that would require tax to be paid on every rent collected above $50. At first it didn't have enough of an effect and the bank, although healthier, was having trouble keeping up with the $200 it had to pay each time that a player passed GO. There was nothing for it but to vote on upping the tax rates. This passed as did Harry's idea of taxing anyone who rolled doubles. Now the bank started to rake in the money. We maintained the $50 tax free threshold, and had a sliding scale of taxation based on how much money in rent was collected. 0% tax for the first $50, 20% tax for $51-$200, 30% tax for $201-$1400, and 40% tax for $1401-$2000. This replaced original tax rates of 5%,10%,15%,20% and 25%.
Harry's idea was that if you threw a double you paid 10 times the amount of the double. For example a double 5 meant that you paid $50 to the bank. It was an interesting lesson in economic theory. Even with a sliding scale of taxation, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The tax wasn't enough to make a dint in the rich, they just kept right on collecting their money off the poor and contributing the required amount to the bank. The bank benefited greatly and started to become quite wealthy, but the poor, who barely paid any tax, went into decline.
It seemed to show that assets are what counts, not money. If you've got assets you have a base from which to continually make money, no matter if you are taxed or not, you are still accumulating. The poor seemed to lack enough decent paying assets to generate enough income to mitigate the exorbitant rents that they were paying. So that brings us to night four. How to manage our newly developing underclass. It has been decided to try and channel some wealth back to the lower classes by introducing a sliding scale of social welfare. No longer will the really rich be allowed to access the $200 for passing GO. The poor will be allowed to access $400 for passing GO. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.....
On the fourth night we entered into our welfare state. Even with welfare for the poor, the bank just kept on getting richer. So did Evan. With everyone including himself landing on his properties, he was raking in the money and building houses like there was no tomorrow. Both Sarah and Steve fell on hard times and had to auction off properties to stay in the game. Evan and Harry, rolling in money, bid furiously for each property, with both Sarah and Steve
managing to sell relatively cheap properties for thousands of dollars.
Even with a bidding war, asset ownership continued to be a problem for the poor, so we had to introduce some new measures. The extremely poor got an extra welfare payment of $400 as they passed FREE PARKING, and we votes that they be allowed to loan a house from the bank to put on their property. Basically, if you have less than $500 in cash you are allowed to put a house on your property (if you land on it) which you can draw rental income from. You owe the bank 10% of the purchase cost each time you pass GO. After 12 passes, you can own the property outright, so are able to sell it if need be. Before that time the bank owns it, so you cannot sell it, only raise rent from it.
So entering the fifth and final night of our epic monopoly game, we are all still in the game, just. It will likely be a race between Sarah and Steve as to who loses. Evan is just so wealthy, that short of us passing some very extreme laws, there is no way that he can lose. perhaps we will need to give him a lesson in the harsh realities of a democratic system of government. 4 against 1.
Harry and I will fight it out for second place. Well that's my prediction anyway. Lets see how the end game goes, tonight, following dinner. Our last night in the scout hall.
The final night of the big game arrives. This has been like a five day test match. Again the game imitates life as the welfare state clicks into overdrive. As luck would have it, people stop landing on the richer properties, but we are paying record amounts of welfare, principally to Sarah. Evan’s wealth starts to decline and the bank is in decline too. Sarah is managing to accumulate a bit of cash, though still struggling in the property ownership department. Evan started to get restless. Economic prosperity for all was starting to be a thorn in Evan’s side. He could see Sarah getting richer and his own fortunes dwindling. He started to complain bitterly about the welfare system. Sarah argued back just as hard for maintenance of her welfare, because without it she would be dead and out of the game. Basically, no one was happy. Not those on welfare, who felt rather vulnerable, and those not on welfare, seeing all these people getting free money. Oh how true to life.
Meanwhile, I was slowly getting richer because people were landing on my expensive properties. I was too, so was able to build up my infrastructure. After repealing one set of welfare, the top up at FREE PARKING, and one set of taxation, the tax on rolling doubles, we needed to bring the game to a conclusion. Evan, being quite savy, proposed a coalition between me and him to wipe the other three out of the game. Given more time and if the luck was to stay with me, I was starting to get the feel that I might win the game. So Evan was smart in picking me to team up with. I ummmed and ahhhed and decided that seeing as it was after 10pm and this game really needed to end, I would team up with Evan. The other three teamed up and pooled their resources too. But it was no competition. Evan and I had monopolies galore and were able to cover the board in hotels. A few turns around the board was all it took for our duopoly to wipe out the minor players. Another real life lesson learnt.
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