[justjim]

I grew up playing monopoly on our front porch in a small Midwest town in Illinois. I won many more monopoly games than I lost. The game taught me a lot about how to accumulate property and what was needed to win. Interesting enough every game was a bit different. We all started with the same amount of money and depending on the roll of dice had the opportunity to purchase various properties or pass on purchasing certain property. The roll of the dice (life’s ups and downs) often determines what property you have the opportunity to buy. It didn’t take long to determine if you were going to win the game you must purchase whatever property the roll of dice allows you to purchase. Sometimes it was the lower priced property, sometimes the middle price, and sometimes the Boardwalk/Park Place type properties. You must (if you wanted to win the game) purchase whatever the roll of the dice allowed you the opportunity to buy. Interesting, it was possible to win the game with any of the monopoly’s regardless if it was the low priced property, medium priced property or high priced property. A number of life’s financial lessons can be learned by seriously playing the game of monopoly. BTW, we usually put a time limit on the game. Attaching a certain political philosophy to the game of monopoly is a bridge too far for me to cross. I will take the “high road” and go around that bridge.