I grew up playing Monopoly with my family, primarily my dad and brother. I can recall that the games could last days, even weeks that we had a partially finished game strewn around the floor. I can also recall countless times that I would cry. Cry because it just wasn't fair! I felt picked on at times by the trades that would occur which would ultimately see my demise.
As an adult, those memories flood back so when my son was little, I was more than excited to find the Pokemon version that had different doubles rules. Rules that no longer made trading properties necessary. A toss of the die would determine the fate of your ownership. Double sixes allow the roller to challenge an opponent for unsecured properties. No more bartering. No more trading. No more begging. No more bantering. Bliss.
I am sure that some if not most people feel that the trades are what makes Monopoly fun. I obviously am not one of those.
Saturday night I met the bf's brother and his fiancee for the first time. We had tried to play Monopoly on the Wii but with only two remotes, it wasn't possible for the four of us to play. After a failed attempt at finding open bowling, we went back to their house to play the board game version of Monopoly. All was fine, until the last property was sold and no one had any sets. His brother than decided to offer me ridiculous trades - he would give me Oriental Avenue (lt. blue) for Pacific Avenue (green). No. And his offers to me, all three of them continued in that fashion. All which I declined. Apparently irritating him, he decided to trade the bf a Baltic Ave (dk. purple/brown) for a Railroad. Of course the bf traded and the brother didn't even own a Railroad! So then he traded the RR to his fiancee for Tennessee (orange) which he only had one orange and thereby gave her all four railroads.
The trading transactions were ridiculous. When he and I could have made legitimate trades to both secure sets, he refused. And I got irritated. My irritation only escalated when the brother couldn't figure out what was going on repeatedly, whose turn it was, what money went into the bank, etc. Finally, I had enough. We all had several thousands of dollars and the game was going nowhere. So I quit.
Like a big baby, I quit. Of course I had to go to the bathroom too, but we had been playing for over 1.5 hours. Clearly I was the only one that was irritated since the bf and the fiancee were making money off of their ludicrous trades. In the bathroom I noticed that my neck was red and my face heated. I thought about asking the bf to take me home. I left the bathroom and went back into the kitchen. I played with the dog and watched as they put the game away.
In a way, I felt childish. I felt like I was being a poor sport. I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about it. I am sure I could have handled it better. I didn't throw my money or properties across the table. I didn't yell. The game was going nowhere.
But the bottomline for me...wasn't that I'm a poor sport. The bottomline is that one of my core values is fairness. It wasn't that I couldn't control how others play the game or that it was differently. It was the fact that what was happening wasn't fair. And even if the trades had been with me, I still wouldn't have made them, unless they were fair.
Why is it that I have such strong opposition, even in games, against the unjust and the unfair?
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