Skip to Content
 

Monopoly's hidden secret

4 replies [Last post]
Wed, 05/31/2017 - 12:03
spaff
Offline
Joined: 11/05/2015

Most of us like to bash Monopoly, or pontificate on how to "fix" it.

But consider the genius of this:

A looming design challenge in every game is to keep players engaged. If, on another players turn, players don't have anything to do, they get bored and have a poor experience. Downtime, AP, the like, are all problems.

How did Monopoly solve this?

The best things that happen to a player happens on OTHER players' turns. Not just some things, mind you, but the BEST things, the game winning things, (collecting rent)

In fact, you win the game on OTHER players' turns.

And the longer the game goes on the more acute this is.

Players are constantly engaged, in increasing amounts, through the entirety of the game (minus the player elimination). It's not so surprising it's maintained it's popularity. What other games do you know that accomplish this?

Top
Wed, 05/31/2017 - 12:17
#1
The Odd Fox
The Odd Fox's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/19/2017
Interesting gem!

Thanks for sharing! I had my doubts when I read your title but I think you are right. There' something to learn from this aspect of the game!

Top
Wed, 05/31/2017 - 13:59
#2
bluesea
bluesea's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/28/2008
This is the most fair

This is the most fair analysis of monopoly I've seen:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeLPNVmzerg

The video introduces the interesting idea that the procedural rhetoric design aspect baked into the original design is lost on our wealth- and fame-centric society.

A bgdf discussion thread on procedural rhetoric would make for a good read.

Top
Thu, 06/01/2017 - 11:01
#3
tikey
tikey's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/31/2017
Thanks for sharing that

Thanks for sharing that thought. It certainly is an interesting way of dealing with downtime. It this scenario your turn is just setting things up for the things that will happen to other players and reacting to what happens to you. It'd be interesting to think how to design a game with this in mind.

Top
Thu, 06/01/2017 - 16:40
#4
MarkJindra
MarkJindra's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/24/2014
It's all about the dice ;)

Lords of Waterdeep is a worker placement game that has a system where you purchase a new location for the board that players can place their worker on. When someone does place a worker there the person who built the location also benefits. The randomness comes from mission cards and not dice in this game.

Aquire is another game that has many things happen on other players turns. Players buy stock in hotels that you have created and can add onto that hotel or even play a tile to merge two hotels. This causes all players to participate in that action (if they own stock) in either hotel. The randomness comes from drawing face down tiles not dice here as well.

When people talk about Monopoly they rarely say that paying when you land on a space is the "bad" part. Usually the site the complete lack of any way to mitigate the roll of the dice and it is the "roll-and-move" part they primarily dislike. Well that and "player elimination" but at least once a player goes bankrupt it usually only takes a few more turns for the game to snowball and end.

=MJ=

Top
Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut