Monopoly, the game everyone loves to hate

     Everyone has played Monopoly. It's basically a house staple at this point in time and yet it is one of the most hated games on the planet. It shares plenty of mechanics that other games have but for some reason this particular combination of game does it so badly. I hope you aren't looking for some super insightful reasoning as to why it is actually better than people give it credit for.

It's not, it really is as bad as people say it is. Monopoly being a bad game was the point in the first place.

    Originally, it was called the Landlord's Game, made by Lizzie Magie in 1903. It was created to prove a point, to show everyone the danger of capitalism. Being fun to play was never the main cause of creation. So what in particular makes it such a bad game?

    There are three particular bad qualities that stand out. First, the high degree of randomness gives little room for skillful expression. The randomness stems from the unpredictable nature of the dice rolls and the random cards drawn when pulling from the Community Chest or Chance cards. It is a very intuitive observation that players have fun when they feel they can make meaningful choices. These meaningful choices are hamstrung when randomness can immediately undo any clever strategy.

    Second, there is no incentive to trade properties with other players. There is no hidden information, meaning all players can see what properties are held and how much money they have. Since the reward of scoring a monopoly is equal, there will always be a clear winner or loser of any deal that could possibly be made. As long as both players are thinking logically, any deal will vastly benefit one player over the other and win the game for them later.

    Thirdly, and possibly most important to everyone, when one player is bankrupt and "lost" the game can continue until the rest of the players are defeated. It is a miserable experience to watch a game continue while there is nothing more you can do to change the outcome. It would be the same if a hockey game ended when a team scored two goals over the other team. In other good games, there is always the possibility of recovery. In monopoly, this chance is absolute zero.

    There are plenty of other, better games to play out there. Many of them do not suffer from the same, purposely built, flaws that Monopoly embraces as key features. Please, do yourself and your loved ones a favor, broaden your horizons beyond Monopoly and do your research to make sure it wasn't made to show the evils of capitalism.

“Making Monopoly: A History of the Origins of America's Favorite Board Game - The Strong National Museum of Play - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/making-monopoly-a-history-of-the-origins-of-america’s-favorite-board-game-the-strong/ZgLSngw0ZZDFLQ?hl=en.