In a column from Jan. 29, Mr. J.P. Baker argued that Monopoly isn’t the best board game ever made. He is correct. That distinction probably belongs to chess, or perhaps Disney Trivial Pursuit. Okay, probably not Disney Trivial Pursuit, but I have a special fondness for that game. I only mention it because once when Mr. Baker was a student of mine, his classmates concocted a scheme in which they would challenge me to a series of trials. The first of these pitted me against a group of students in a game of the aforementioned trivia contest. On the fateful day, we met in front of the bookstore and began the interrogative quest for pie. The competition was, shall we say, a trifle one-sided. By which I mean, I drew upon my considerable knowledge of cartoon princesses and decimated my opponents. The resulting shock and awe is the only explanation I can find as to why the other trials were never carried out.
Sorry, back to the point. As I said, Monopoly is not the greatest board game of all time. However, it is a much better game than Mr. Baker would have us believe. His critiques are fair and insightful, but he neglects to factor in the most interesting and enlivening aspect of the game: negotiation. He would have us believe that every game of Monopoly is the same except for those aspects governed by chance. But this says more about his lack of creativity in deal-making than of the classic game.
For example, it is a standard point of strategy in Monopoly that you should never make a deal which gives your opponent a monopoly of greater worth than the monopoly you receive in exchange, regardless of the amount of cash offered. But this rule can be subverted if you’re willing to throw in immunity or free rent on this monopoly for five turns, or offer half-price rent on all your other properties, or maybe make a deal in which you lease the property for seven trips around the board and then return it.
Once all the players recognize that deals can be more creative and interesting than mere deed or cash transactions, the strategy becomes much more interesting. Alliances are formed and broken. Deals become ever more complex. Persuasion and manipulation begin to be a factor. House rules, always an important feature of a Monopoly game, play a larger role. The group must decide whether deals can be made at any time or only during a player’s turn. Free Parking is the obvious place to start, and there are a number of options associated with it. (I like starting at $500 and doubling the amount every time someone lands on it.) Auction off 10 properties before the game starts or let players draft properties fantasy football style instead of having players buy them based on dice rolls. This will help create the kind of “asymmetrical balance” that warms the cockles of young Mr. Baker’s heart. All of these house rules inject the complexity and demand for skill that is lacking in the simpler version of the game we all learned as children. Since I am on academic leave at present, I hope that a faculty member on campus who appreciates this more sophisticated approach to the game will set up a table in front of the bookstore and invite that bespectacled anti-Monopolite to give it another go. This time, maybe the students could manage to win one.
