Monopoly board game players can now pay for properties with debit
cards. Game makers Parker have phased out the standard multi-coloured
cash in a new version. Players will instead use a Visa mock debit card
to keep track of how much they win or lose. It is inserted into an
electronic machine where the banker taps in cardholders’ earnings and
payments. Parker said replacing of cash with plastic showed the game
was moving with the times.
Here is the link, with echoes of Fischer Black and Neil Wallace. Here is another account.
Of course Monopoly is the most economically illiterate board game of them all.
If I land on BoardWalk, I just have to pay them all that money. WTF? I’m going to Connecticut Ave., this is some bullsh*t.
If Monopoly is going electronic, how am I supposed to cheat? Anyone who’s ever played against their siblings knows that cheating is just part of the game…
This would defeat any strategy based on knowledge of players assets. I don’t think this will be popular.
Oh, and Monopoly is also a great tool for teaching about Markov processes. Working out the transition matrix and corresponding asymptotic distribution is a great exercise for people who are just starting to learn about discrete stochasic processes.
All I say is: booooo!
Everyone reading this blog should immediately give up their monopoly board in favor of ‘Puerto Rico’ or ‘Settlers of Catan’.
Much more market based, and much more fun.
…they still sell the old version…not to mention it’s like $15 cheaper.
“I’m so old that…”
I find myself saying this now and again to my students, and now I have to add another one to the list:
“I’m so old that I remember when you played Monopoly with actual paper money.”
Sigh.
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