Playing Monopoly

Here’s the thing about Monopoly: It’s a terrible game.

That’s not our opinion, it’s a fact; the game was originally created to show kids the futility of capitalistic systems.

Elizabeth Magie created an early version of Monopoly called The Landlord’s Game in 1903—three decades before the Parker Brothers produced their version. She offered two sets of rules: one that rewarded all players for generating wealth together, and an anti-monopolist ruleset that was intentionally dull for everyone but the game’s inevitable winner.

Oddly enough, the second version was the one that caught on, and many of Magie’s rules made it to the world-famous board game.

Imgur user elpher created a stunning tutorial explaining how to win at Monopoly, but we’ll warn you, it’s best used if you really dislike the other people in the game. Your goal, basically, is to immediately establish a monopoly, cause a housing shortage (by getting four houses on every property and never building hotels), and hold all of the other players to the exact rules of the game.

That means forcing unclaimed properties to go to a bank auction, compelling other players to give up properties in lieu of rent, and generally being a terrible person until everyone else quits in frustration.

The approach is best summed up by elpher’s final tip: “Go buy a better board game.”

article: fashionbeans.com