The girls happily set up the game and let me know I would probably choose Cinderella as my pawn. So I did. The pawns were very cute, all Disney characters of course, and the houses and hotels were cottages and castles instead.
The girls informed me we couldn't buy anything until we went around the board once. I patiently complied...although I can't say if I know for sure if this is a real rule. It must be, because I remember playing with this rule many, many times. (I don't like that rule)
Paige was the banker and the property dealer, so she had a lot on her plate. The girls were passing on a lot of opportunities to buy, but we didn't hold any auctions. I didn't mention it. I, on the other hand, was happily snatching up every property I could get my hands on and running low on money. Paige's money pile was growing like weeds.
Soon, Shannon walked by and told the girls the key was to buy up anything they could. Boy, did the game start to take a twist. Paige landed on Park Place. She bought it with a $500 bill and was happily giving herself $250 in change. I had to explain that her change was only $150. She didn't believe me ;) so she double checked with Shannon. In all the excitement, she forgot to collect the property card. The next time she landed on it, she tried to buy it again. I had to tell her the whole story about the payment and change before she realized she really DID own it. Oh, kids....
During this time I was boiling a couple of hot dogs for breakfast. Yes, that's right. Paige landed on Free Parking at some point, collecting the $500 the girls added to the pot at the beginning and whatever tax money had been paid in. I asked the girls if they were going to replace the $500 from the bank for the next lucky winner. They reluctantly agreed. "I guess so." they said.
Quite a few times Paige accidentally paid for things with the bank's money instead of her own, and while I truly believe it was an accident, boy was that girl loaded. You are wondering why I am not mentioning the friend. She wasn't too interested. She was laying on the floor a lot, playing with my pets, picking lint off her pants, basically not paying attention. Classic bored kid behavior. I made a trade with her so she would have all 3 orange properties and I would have all 3 red. Paige had the 2 purple properties at the beginning of the board and was purchasing cottages for them, and eventually a castle! She was NOT following the even build rule, which I read to her from the book, but let her do what she wanted anyway. She had her castle on one property and nothing on the other. And yes, I came around quickly to a $450 burn. She took a risk and it paid off.
Around this time, her friend seemed bored to tears and I was about out of money. Paige had around $50,000 and a huge stack of properties. Her friend said she wanted to go back to the other house and I told them we could just call Paige the winner and end the game early. "Really?", Paige asked. She was delighted.
Do you like Monopoly? I want to know what rules and adaptions you use when you play with your family. Do you go around the board once without buying? Add money to Free Parking? Have you ever even thought about the even build rule? What about auctions and trading? Do you usually finish? Feel free to comment on anything and everything about Monopoly, one of my favorite games.
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