Emma Evans: And the primary reason for that is because the money you get when you go past GO each time, does not increase. But rents do.

And the primary reason for that is because the money you get when you go past GO each time, does not increase. But rents do.

Remember: Monopoly has a Basic Income and everyone still ends up bankrupt and homeless.

And if you cannot afford to pay the rent, you go Directly To Jail, Do Not Pass Go, Do NOT Collect $200 If you've ever played Monopoly, then you will recall how at a certain point in the game it is actually cheaper to remain in jail...where you are not charged a rent. Until forced to leave.

CAPITALISM *jazz hands*

*blows a kazoo*

this seems like something you know already but it was originally conceived as an anti-capitalist/pro-georgist board game!

Which is one of the reasons why I find the quoted poster's effort to use it to critic a kind of socialist initiative so laughable. It also makes Hasbro's own Socialist Monopoly parody (and pretty much everything Hasbro does with the brand) an abomination.

As a former homeless person I can share a personal experience: some literally prefer jail over the shelter. Dude couldn't take it anymore and hoped he got sentenced by destroying windows of the shelter. He got released a couple of hours later. The next day he stabbed someone,he got what he preferred

why is there not a board game "anarcho-syndicalist intentional community" or is there

I nominate concentration

you could get to play a character called Shevek. Or one called Dennis if you are in the mood for fun

Or most people don't pay by the actual rules because they ignore the auction that's supposed to happen when you can't or won't buy a property where you can force other players to over pay or get properties cheap.

Ah, so the only time we can force the capital class to play by the rules is in a game. Got it.

Oh the capital class will happily play by the rules when they benefit them

Whoah I did not make that connection before.

What's funny and fucked is IIRC the creator of the game, who I believe was a woman, created the game as ANTI CAPITALISM. It's designed to show the progression and evils of capitalism in a winner take all system. The number of family fights over Monopoly is legion.

I literally just told @foobly.bsky.social "it was created as a critique about capitalism but I guess they forgot to change *that* part of the game!"

I mean it's right there in the title of the game too and yet most of us, esp as kids, missed it

I think the issue that kept most of us from grasping this is that the common house rules everyone made to be “kinder” just extended the relentless grind of doom. And almost nobody followed some of the rules at all. Little neurodivergent fairness-obsessed me got soundly mocked for reading the rules

Thinking back this is one of those “why on Earth did they not have me tested?” flags

Nah, it's just changing winning from "when one person had all the money everyone else loses" to the "someday I'll own this boot" meme

Lizzie J Magie, and it was originally called "The Landlord Game." landlordsgame.info/rules/lg-190...

The Landlord's Game 1904 Patent - Ruleslandlordsgame.info

The men who bought it for the mass market made it worse and less fun, too.

Yup, Elizabeth Magie in the early 1900s. She called it "The Landlord's Game".

The game it's based on, The Landlord's Game, had a separate set of rules to make play more fun and equitable, but those didn't make it into Parker Brother's version. I think Hasbro has embraced some of the house rules, but if you play according to the rules as written, it's faster and less painful.

For example, getting money when you land on Free Parking is a notorious house rule that ends up extending the game and making it unfun.

Our change was to disallow any purchases on your first trip around the board, *and* to not require a purchase to be made. The first one resulted in a more randomized distribution of players when purchasing began.

Yep, she really got screwed over, first by the game company who stole the idea and inverted it (can't currently remember which one), and then by history. She was a Georgist socialist. (Georgeist?) They still exist in a small way.

I was trying to find the Youtube link for the Dollop episode about her but it's not there yet in English. El Dollop in Mexico did one in Spanish too. Anyway if you want to find it you can I'm sure LOL

Going even further the purpose of Monopoly, is to see that one person gets all the wealth. And then the game ends and the money is worthless, until you restart the next game and redistribute the wealth.

nor did i?? geez. my whole evening is gonna be thinking about this

It may have been a critique of capitalism, but mostly what it "teaches" is that *someone* is going to get rich, and it had better be you.

Not to be persnickety, but the Landlord Game - the original game - was a critique of capitalism. You're right about the game that Parker Brothers published (I can't remember if they stole the basic concept from the original game creator or not and just renamed it) definitely teaches what you said.

...it is exactly these kinds of insights that i have missed these last few months. another connection between Monopoly and the US: least fun game (?) i can think of. there was a whole Dinosaur Comics that feels relevant? couldn't find it tho

Somehow I remembered correctly. It can be found at www.qwantz.com/index.php?co...

Dinosaur Comics!www.qwantz.com grandma i have never disagreed with you before, but i must refuse to believe this was what fun was like when you were a kid

Monopoly is a terrible game. I don't know why anyone enjoys playing it. It's the miserable march of late stage capitalism.

It always used to start off fun, then it would just drag on. And there was always one person who was just mercenary about it, wasn't there?

I like dropping questions to the kids when we play. Like, “why does one person get to own the infrastructure like rails, water, and electricity that everyone needs? Wouldn’t it be better if we all owned it together?”.

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