Few things in life are inevitable: death, taxes, and Monopoly at Christmas. In the wake of the festive season, my family regularly gathers without fail to play the iconic property-focused board game as a way of working off our Christmas dinner. However, this year, things took an unexpected turn.
In the middle of the Herefordshire countryside sits an old stone farmhouse, hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the world; you couldn’t be further from most video games if you tried. However, just when I thought we couldn’t get more off the grid, Storm Henk ripped through the countryside, resulting in a fallen tree taking out all our power. The emergency response by my extended family consisted of cooking all the bacon we had in the fridge, phoning the National Grid, and dusting off perhaps the oldest box of Monopoly I’ve ever seen to help pass the time.
The game that followed was hosted in a dark and cold room, with my brother, cousin and I all vying for the top spot on the property market. Unfortunately, as it is with most Monopoly games, the winner was pretty much decided on the second run around the board, after my cousin successfully grabbed up all the money in free parking, which I have only recently found out isn’t a rule but a long con that my cousin has been pulling for two decades. Thanks to this, they nabbed most of the lucrative and expensive green and yellow properties located at the last stage of the board, and every desirable card from the community chest (I’m not bitter at all).
With nothing else to do, we settled in for the long haul. However, despite collecting all the cheap pink houses that are located after the first corner on the board, as well as Mayfair and Park Lane, I couldn’t hold on for long. After some confusing trades and my cousin spending most of his time convincing everyone else that we still had a shot at winning, I threw in the towel at the four-hour mark and retreated to the fireplace, forsaking capitalism for warmth.
A change of pace
At this point, losing at Monopoly is second nature to me; I just don’t have what it takes to be a multi-millionaire landlord, but we still had several hours of the day left to kill with no power and no desire to venture outside into the sideways rain and gails.
There are plenty of fantastic alternatives to Monopoly in the best board games list, but I didn’t have the strength to teach my family a new game at this point, and I knew the military board game Risk would just turn the Cold War over our Monopoly game hot. Sitting through two or three practice rounds only to find out someone wasn’t listening isn’t the best way to spend the holiday season. But Christmas is wrapped in all sorts of trials, which I try to overcome, so I wasn’t prepared to go down without a fight. This is where Monopoly Deal, saved the day.
While you probably won’t make any friends, you can rely on the fact that it will be over relatively quickly
For those who haven’t played it yet, it’s a fantastic version of Monopoly in a bite-sized card game package. Instead of being a drawn-out experience, Monopoly Deal is fast-paced, strategic, and just as infuriating. While you probably won’t make any friends, you can rely on the fact that it will be over relatively quickly, unlike its board game counterpart.
This meant that my family was able to enjoy short and sweet sessions between the chaos of trying to save the Christmas dinner leftovers from going bad and making sure no one got hit by a live wire while trying to clear the tree away. The rules are also simple, and the cards are easy to read, meaning family members of all ages were able to join in on the fun. What started off as a stressful and messy day actually ended up being quite a lot of fun after we gave something new a go. Next year, I may even keep an emergency deck in my back pocket just in case another natural disaster crashes the party.
For more family-favorite tabletop games, check out these classic board games as well as the new Dark Souls: The Board Game, which is available to play right now.
