Monopoly the multi-player, board game has a simple turn cycle. You roll the dice, move your token, and take action based on the underlying spot on a square board. This square of four sides with 40 corresponding spaces is the game loop. The loop starts at Go -and each passing of the starting square marks an increase in intensity.
How does each loop advance the game? With each trip around the board, the score changes. Depending on the luck of the roll, people will have a chance to acquire new properties or they'll be subject to rent by other players. The rent is a simple transfer of wealth from one player to another.
A roll can have a maximum of 12 - double sixes - and the average roll in dice is seven. With 10 spaces on a side it takes approximately 5.71 rolls to move around the board or 40/7 rolls. If you can make it back to the start with enough money to continue, you'll receive $200 in order to continue. This $200 becomes worth less and less as time acts as built in economic inflation. That is, the cost of each trip around the board increases as the rent for owned properties can be increased by player enhancements.
Luck and a basic understanding of debt management will keep your head above water.
Experienced players quickly realize one fact. There is a finite number of opportunities to invest. When you get the opportunity and you have the ability to finance the investment, you should. Once all the properties have been acquired - the game is effectively over. It's easy to tally a point total for investment value and realize that each trip around the board will advance or deplete each players wealth based on that score. If one player has a monopoly of spaces -- and others do not, the monopoly holder has a distinct, winning advantage.
With a game and points and loops as context - how might we apply lessons learned in a game to real life? What insights can we derive about cash management? Can we buy insurances that may keep us alive? Should we break rules and negotiate with other players to increase our quality of life?
There are many life lessons presented randomly through cards in a shuffled deck. Some benefit you and others cost you. One can learn to not invest all their money in case an emergency like a trip to the doctor costs them too much. A famous quote remembered by players old and young and especially those who have ever lost a source of income and felt the financial stress will remember: Do Not Pass Go - Do Not Collect $200.
How does each loop advance the game? With each trip around the board, the score changes. Depending on the luck of the roll, people will have a chance to acquire new properties or they'll be subject to rent by other players. The rent is a simple transfer of wealth from one player to another.
A roll can have a maximum of 12 - double sixes - and the average roll in dice is seven. With 10 spaces on a side it takes approximately 5.71 rolls to move around the board or 40/7 rolls. If you can make it back to the start with enough money to continue, you'll receive $200 in order to continue. This $200 becomes worth less and less as time acts as built in economic inflation. That is, the cost of each trip around the board increases as the rent for owned properties can be increased by player enhancements.
Luck and a basic understanding of debt management will keep your head above water.
Experienced players quickly realize one fact. There is a finite number of opportunities to invest. When you get the opportunity and you have the ability to finance the investment, you should. Once all the properties have been acquired - the game is effectively over. It's easy to tally a point total for investment value and realize that each trip around the board will advance or deplete each players wealth based on that score. If one player has a monopoly of spaces -- and others do not, the monopoly holder has a distinct, winning advantage.
With a game and points and loops as context - how might we apply lessons learned in a game to real life? What insights can we derive about cash management? Can we buy insurances that may keep us alive? Should we break rules and negotiate with other players to increase our quality of life?
There are many life lessons presented randomly through cards in a shuffled deck. Some benefit you and others cost you. One can learn to not invest all their money in case an emergency like a trip to the doctor costs them too much. A famous quote remembered by players old and young and especially those who have ever lost a source of income and felt the financial stress will remember: Do Not Pass Go - Do Not Collect $200.
Because Monopoly is a fixed system the above is true. I think the greatest lesson that one can learn from this game is that life is not a fixed system.