Take a ride on the Reading!

While I like them as a concept, I don't care for many board or card games because I'm traditionally not very good at them. While it's not supposed to be about winning, it's supposed to be about fun, it's not very fun to go into something where I feel like I don't stand a chance. I like simple games likes Sorry, Uno, snakes and ladders. Games with no strategy to them. I really hated Settlers of Catan, though I feel I gave it a very fair chance. Monopoly is another one I hate. Monopoly and I go way back. It was one of the few board games we played in my family, along with Battleship and Scrabble. There's just something about Monopoly that brings out the worst in people.

Recently I've been playing Monopoly with Brody, and I don't mind it. We're not at the stage of making deals and trading properties. That's the element I don't like. There are some matters in which I'm not very smart, and the wheeling and dealing of property trading is one of them. I'm also very poor at doing quick math in my head. In the past I've always just been taken advantage of which is what soured me on the game. But playing with a six year old who really takes the game at face value isn't bad at all. We just roll the dice, buy or pass, pay rent, and keep going around the board until bedtime.

Although I've hated Monopoly with real people, I have conversely always enjoyed it electronically. I used to have a PC version of it that I got out of a box of cereal (prizes sure have changed since I was a kid), along with The Game of Life. I like playing against the computer because I never feel dumb. The computer doesn't judge me when I make an unwise decision. I also expect computers to have the advantage, so I don't feel bad when I lose and I'm a little extra chuffed when I win. I was asking David if they make Monopoly for the DS or PSP that I could maybe play on the bus. He didn't think so, but did find Monopoly for the XBox 360 for $20 at London Drugs.

We were up until 1:30 in the morning playing Monopoly. I was bankrupted early and the computer player was a filthy cheater, but overall I enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed the 150 gamerpoints I got in one sitting.