I was invited to partake in a game of Monopoly, where one of the protagonists was a 10 yr old.

Now, there is a fairly good reason I haven’t played Monopoly with children for something like 20 years. I’m a parent who doesn’t let kids win.

Some other parents disapprove, but I’m firmly of the belief that my kids will beat me at all things effortlessly in only a few years time, so I am holding on to dominance as long as I can.

And hopefully teaching them how to lose graciously in the process.

Anyway…

This Monopoly game started well. The 10 year old was off to a good start, retaining wads of cash. The cockiness was apparent, with $5 donations being offered to compensate for the suffering of the adults.

As the game progressed, the Mother started to suffer fiscally. The 10 year old displayed loud faux sympathy (the mother was well regarded after all). Note: there is a chance that the sympathy was genuine. I’m not yet sure.

I had to keep quiet and careful as I am highly competitive and have a tendency to go for total domination. This strategy didn’t really serve me well.

The mother was cleaned out.

The 10 year old was cleaned out.

It ended in tears and anguish.

The glorious victory was muted. Kind of like receiving coal from Santa.

It’ll be another decade before I play again. So not worth it.