Parker Brothers Monopoly

There was a time from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s that I was the King of Monopoly in West Hollywood. Each game consisted of six to eight players and in one stretch, I won over forty games in a row! Naturally, I became the target in each game and other players regularly colluded to beat me, such as by selling out their hot properties to a friendly rival at giveaway prices or even trying to sneak a monopoly card into the hands of another player in order to strengthen his play against me. Amazingly, such tactics never succeeded and I always won games against cheaters.

My point is that it is really not hard to win at Monopoly, the game. The rules are defined, the initial capital is equal, and the true property values are there to be seen. But due to personal biases, quirks and self delusions, most players are unable to make those accurate valuations. What it boils down to is that Monopoly, as well as Texas Hold’em Poker, are not games of dice, cards and chance as much as they are games of people and perceptions. And the players with the best perceptions of the real odds, and the people at the table, are consistently the winning players.

Which brings me to the current economy in the United States with attention to real estate, banking and the stock market and how they relate to the game of Monopoly. They don’t.