My recent foray into the field of high finance resulted in the humiliation of me being unceremoniously removed from the board. After a series of bad moves, poor decisions, sketchy real estate deals and mortgage defaults I found myself in dire straits. A very public stint in jail further damaged my already fragile reputation and with no luck to be found or time left I had to buy my way out, resulting in a severe cash shortage. The others on the board, who I always considered family to me, were not only unwilling to support a bail out in my time of need but were seemingly pleased to witness my demise. I think one of them actually held their thumb and pointer finger at a right angle to their forehead as I bid my farewell.
As you may have ascertained by now, playing Monopoly with my grandkids is like negotiating a venture capital deal on Dragon’s Den. My life-long business experience of fostering collaboration, promoting partnering and searching for win-wins was no match for their ruthless greed is good no-guts no-glory wolves of wall street gameplay.
And although I have played Monopoly before, these diminutive mover and shaker rainmakers introduced me to some new rules I hadn’t heard of, or couldn’t even find in the rule book, but they assured me they were real and binding. Monopoly with my grandkids is not a game for the faint of heart or anyone with a heart condition for that matter. My only consolation is I survived to tell the tale and lived to play another day.
First thing I learned to do when playing Monopoly with family was to cheat as Banker.
That seems to be a popular strategy. I learned that two railroads and one utility doesn’t beat hotels on Marvin Gardens and Park Place.