Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect 200 – A walk down Monopoly Lane

One of the best things about the Christmas season, in my opinion, is that there is a lot more board game and card playing. Some favorites in my family are Apples to Apples, Scrabble, Gin Rummy, Cribbage, Mexican Train Dominos, and Monopoly. We’re particularly serious about our gin rummy, holding full scale tournaments at family reunions.

It got me reminiscing about playing Monopoly as a little girl with my grandpa in Wisconsin. My brother and I would set up the board in my grandparent’s cozy den and I would choose the dog as my playing piece every time. Ryan picked the race car (adrenalin junkie in the making) and Grandpa alternated between the battleship, horse and rider, and the top hat (Navy man, classic Western film lover, and stylish gentleman, naturally). I’m not sure what the dog says about me, but as a little girl, it was the cutest little guy of the bunch. For the record, my younger sister Nicole wasn’t around yet, but once she got in on the action, I seem to recall little trolls and outsiders sneaking onto the board (outside-the-box thinker that one is).

To this day, I laugh about playing Monopoly with my grandpa because he showed no mercy, not even to his cute little granddaughter. He is a wise and savvy businessman and he played fair, but tough, no matter whom his competition was. It was all good fun for me until he wiped me clean of my money and I found myself eliminated from the game. As I said, there were no exceptions to the rules for cute granddaughters.  I would whine that it wasn’t fair and cry tears of envy because Ryan was still in the game.  “That’s the game my dear,” Ralph would say, “Someone has to win and someone has to lose.”  With that, they would go on playing and I would put my little dog back in the box and mope around until Grandpa inevitably won, with his empire of hotels across the board.

Of course I went on to improve over the years, beating Grandpa cool-handedly in various games, though I don’t think I ever actually beat him at Monopoly. He’s the king. And I still marvel at his knack for knowing what cards are in my hand in gin rummy.

I love you Grandpa. Thank you for teaching me the value of a dollar, how to lose gracefully, and to always respect my opponents.

And for consoling me after my losses 🙂