* sigh *
Our family Monopoly game night circa 1975.
{ p.s. I jacked this family photo from Google Images to represent my own family in the 70’s … which is super close to my actual family .. except we were two sisters and not brothers and my dad had a mustache with an army crew cut and never drank coffee and my mom had super long, hippie hair, and that bottle of Crush was most likely a beer … buuuuut, you get the idea }
AND
it wasn’t as serene and happy as this photo depicts.
Picture the four of us hunkered down over an unlit coffee table in the middle of our orange shag carpet living room floor. My dad was focused and ruthless playing Monopoly against me, age 7, and my little sister, age 5. Occasionally, he’d call over the neighbor boy, age 11, just to throw in a bit of a challenge. He ALWAYS had to be the dog, and for some reason I always got stuck with the crappy wheelbarrow. My sister never lasted the grueling two hours it took to slaughter us and I’m pretty sure I learned all my math skills from playing this game. As painful as it was to watch my dad take so much pleasure in the brutal win against his two young daughters, it is one of my most cherished memories.
And games to date.
BUT .. I’m not so sure how I feel about eliminating the classic “iron” token and replacing it with a “kitty cat” token.
Unless you live under a rock, or avoid all news and social media, you probably heard the announcement yesterday. But why the need to alter a classic like Monopoly?
Some researchers say, “the iron is a symbol of old-fashioned labor & core manufacturing…”
ooooo. kay.
so?
And the cat is ” a symbol of happiness, relaxation and the simple love of the feline, ” not to mention it got the most votes on Facebook. Which does not surprise me one tiny bit … did you know there’s over a million funny/cute/fuzzy cat videos on YouTube and more added every second?
Sorry … getting a bit off topic here.
Monopoly, since it’s inception in 1935, has sold over 275 million games.
There are 1,170 different (known) versions.
But, thanks to my dad, mom, my sister and the neighbor boy, I’m partial to the classic version. I’ve introduced this version to my own kids and anything else would just feel phony … but my daughter is BEGGING for a cat version… so anything is possible I guess.
Someday, this version won’t even exist anymore but until that day comes, you can almost always find a version of Monopoly at all of our Stuff Etc locations.
And I think tonight is going to be a Monopoly night!
{ Guess who’s the DOG now, Dad! }
Happy Weekend!
xoxoxo
Stuff Happens 