Yesterday I spent the afternoon at a friend’s house playing games. There were nine of us so we divided into smaller groups. A lot of little games were played. But I brought my 30th anniversary Monopoly set, with wooden houses and hotels, and pewter tokens, and clean, unwrinkled money, all in a decorative tin box. So three of us played Monopoly. Which got me thinking about it and games in general.
Growing up, I learned Monopoly (which for some reason I insisted on pronouncing with the accent on the 3rd syllable) at an early age, like 4 or 5. And they didn’t have Monopoly Jr then. I learned on the full blown original version. It taught me counting, and subtraction (how to make change from $500 for a $260 property purchase) and negotiations. But soon my siblings were gone from the house (Sis had her own place and Bro was in college) and my folks didn’t really like to play that much. In high school, I joined a sort of Monopoly/Risk league. We’d play one game or the other at the youth center*, when the weather wasn’t nice enough for Frisbee-ing. I got to play in college a lot as well. But yesterday was the first time in well over a decade that I played Monopoly live (as opposed to on my computer).
As a kid, I had lots of games: Mr Tipit, Operation, Parchesi, Trouble, Headache, Clue, and others which I cannot recall. Most of them were (and most kids games still are) just silly little diversions with colorful pieces that lasted 30 to 45 minutes. But Monopoly. Ah, Monopoly. My favorite of all time (next to poker, of course - although, forced to choose… hmmmm). Apparently I have a ruthless business woman living inside me because she comes out, loud and clear, when I play. Cousin likes to play a friendly easy game “Oh, you need this for a monopoly? Here, just let me have that one and we’ll be even” Feh, I say, Feh! Although, when time constraints are an issue, I will concede to divvy up the properties at the beginning, then let the trading commence! (insert evil, hand wringing, smiley here). I have a trick to winning which has yet to fail (even if sometimes it takes longer than others): Acquire Baltic and Mediterranean as early in the game as you can, and build hotels on them as quickly as possible. This strategy has worked for me every time I employed it.
A lot the games I play these days are Mind Games Winners. Once a year, a group of Mensans get together and play and review new games - some from established developers, some from first time inventors - awarding a seal of approval based on ease of learning, playability, and enjoyment. Some of the winners are games you may have known for years, like Set, Scattegories, and Magic The Gathering to name a few. Others live a brief life at Mensa Gatherings and then disappear into obscurity. I have yet to attend a Mind Games conference, because it usually coincides with competition weekend (or is very close to it) and is often in the mid west or on the west coast. But if it’s ever on the east coast, north of the Mason-Dixon line, I will be there. Nothing against the South per se, I am just not a big fan of flying lately. But I digress.
I like word games, strategy games, dice games, card based games, and thinking games, but many of my favorites are usually easy to learn, fun to play, don’t require a great deal of brain power (because I usually play at Mensa gatherings, and am therefore usually quite tipsy) and, most of all, are colorful. (“Oooo! Pretty!”) But given half a chance (that is when I can find someone else who loves it as much as I do, and there’s no poker game), I will play Monopoly, no matter how many Mike’s I’ve had.
Oh, and yesterday? I won. 
- dayum. I could write a whole OP about that place. Next time.
When he was 5 years old, he was the fourth person in the old ladies’ peanuckle (sp?) game, and he finds counting cards at blackjack easy as long as it’s played with not more than 2 decks in the shoe, which gives you an idea of how lethal he can be at games. So he’s on his own since I can’t find anything except Jeopardy! that I can beat him at!!