Santa brought the kids a couple of boardgames for Christmas.  Monopoly Junior has definitely gone down a treat…..I myself was a little disappointed to see the game theme is parties as opposed to properties, but I guess for 5+, that makes sense.

I recalled my Monopoly playing days with my brothers when we were growing up.  It always started off as fun, but slowly, it turned into to all out warfare as, inevitably one person had a ‘monopoly’ on the expensive properties, and was raking it in with every throw of the dice.  My children would be different……..

Party Monopoly sounded so much more sedate, so much more civilised; the perfect introduction into the wonderful world of family boardgames.  For over an hour, they played happily together, and I was feeling rather smug about having hinted to Santa about what seemed to be the perfect choice of board games, though I was not willing to relinquish the reins of the banker role to one of those little mites….

Unsurprisingly, as time passed, the kids were losing interest and the game was becoming more like ‘Monotony’ rather than ‘Monopoly’.  So, I tried to liven up the game, inject some energy into the flagging enthusiasm.

I now fear I have created  Monopoly Monsters!

Bankrupt DD was a permanent fixture at Mummy Banker’s door, looking for a line of credit.  Her approach was remarkably similar to that of Greece’s approach to its debt; borrow now, don’t pay interest, don’t repay the capital, and still collect $2 when you pass go.

Property….errr….I mean, Party Magnate DS2, was literally laughing at and all the way to the bank.  I think he had more money than the bank!  Secretly I was wondering how I could get him to hand over some cash to re-capitalise the bank without any future repercussions for the bank.  But DS2 watched every $ like a hawk…., and even demanded collateral before handing over anything on loan!  A 5 year old who understands the basic principles of banking.  If a 5 year old can do it, it really begs the question of how elected governments around the world messed up so badly in the recent Global Financial Crisis.

DS1, on the other hand, had gone rogue.  Each time someone landed on his ‘party’ he would yell in a ‘show me the money’ type voice, ‘Pay the Price Baby, Yeah!’ as he outstretched his little hand for his ‘rent’.  As the game wore on, he became more animated with his ‘rent’ demands.  He might do a little dance, shake his derriere, and be ‘so in your face’, I was willing to ‘OK’ the slap his attitude deserved!

Seriously Santa, what were you thinking?????  How could you do this to us??  Back to Scrabble it is…..