Monopoly and Real Life

So yesterday, a couple of close friends played Monopoly. We had previously played once, about 3 months ago. It was a very fun experience, partly because it had been a long while since any of us played, but also because it was extremely competitive. Yesterday's session was just as competitive and very fun.

The reason why it was very fun, was due to the very interesting dynamics at play. There were 5 or 6 of us, depending on how one looked at it. One of the players was constantly absent from the table, and made the rest of the players play his turn. He gave up any property he happened to land on, putting it up for bidding, eventually quitting the game altogether. The other 4 opponents, were actually 2 couples. I was pretty much the lone one out, which made my role important somewhat, as a potential deal breaker. All these combined with our life experiences as working professionals, made the game extremely satisfying.

I thought the outcome of the game gave some very interesting insights and lessons.

1) I realised everyone was fiercely competitive. In the format that we played, we explored very interesting payoff scenarios and deals. For example, we developed complex deal structures, whereby we were willing to give up cuts of profits, in exchange for investment in housing, or free passes, or combinations thereof. There were intricate relationship and under the table wheeling and dealing which made the payoff scenarios very interesting. It must be the RI/RGS/RJC/HCJC competitiveness that has been burnt into us.

2) Steady, interest / dividend bearing instruments, often give the absolute best return when measured over a long period. For a long time, whoever controlled the railway spots tends to enjoy the best income streams, despite not having any spectacular payoffs. This mirrors real life somewhat --> bonds and index-linked funds historically have performed well but time period must be appropriately long.

3) Leverage can kill you. Some of the more daring players among us, went for very dangerous maneuvers, borrowing from other players to build up massive properties. Highly leveraged, they hoped for that one big payoff. However, it was very much hit and miss again, and when the dice did not cooperate, their poor cash positions did them in. Side moral of the story: Buy OCBC stocks.

4) Angel investing in a diversified portfolio works. One of us in the first game, started the concept of angel investing, where although he owned no property, he kept punting others with little bits of cash, allowing them to build up property, but also negotiating for small cuts of the profits. Eventually although he held pretty much nothing, he was reaping in profits everywhere.

5) You can't beat the market. The one friend before he quit the game altogether, although he did absolutely nothing, bought no property, dealt nothing at all, was the richest guy before he quit.

I look forward to the next round of Monopoly. :)