Kid Stuff: Monopoly

I love Monopoly. I don’t always have the patience to play a game that can go on for a couple of hours. But when I do, like on a rainy day, it’s great fun. Of course, our games never approach the record, which is 70 straight days. Shoot, some nut even played for 99 hours in a bathtub!

There’s an almost infinite number of licensed versions of the game, and probably even more unlicensed. Do a Google Image search for Monopoly, and you’ll see what I mean. Hasbro, which owns the game now, says it’s produced officially in 37 languages.

Some interesting Monopoly facts:

• The diecast metal game pieces were first used in 1937, but were changed to wood during World War II.
• Neiman Marcus once offered an all-chocolate board for sale (“Uh, you owe me $150, I ate the Electric Company.”).
• As you know, the game’s streets were based on real streets in Atlantic City; Illinois Ave. is now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

One thing worth considering – Monopoly is a little out of step with today’s “everybody wins” mentality. Here’s a game that’s built on hoarding all the money possible and laughing with glee when people go bankrupt. I wish Monopoly many long years of success. It may be the last place in America today where it’s still a good thing to accumulate wealth.