Monopoly

Have been playing the Monopoly boardgame with Isaiah quite alot these days. It's quite addictive, I must admit. Even though the game has existed for very long, it still has a mesmerising effect on its players. It's lots of fun because we can laugh and laugh over players being sent to jail all the time (born jailbird~!), or having to declare bankruptcy just to pay the rental of a hotel they land on without fail every round for the past 10 rounds.

But even playing a game like Monopoly can be very educational & inspirational. These are what I learnt while playing the game:

x Our life is determined by the choices we make. Do you want to buy that site that you land on? Do you want to start building houses? Do you want to control the power & water supply, or for that matter, the railway systems? All these will determine if you are going to be rich or poor later on.

x Be a decisive person. If you want to buy, you buy. Don't be undecided now and then regret it when your opponent gets to buy it later on. If you don't want, don't be a sour face when your opponent gets to purchase it. Be a real sport! Only when you are decisive can you be a person without regrets.

x Always plan, never go by see-what-comes-my-way. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you always make decisions on an adhoc basis, you may well lose sight of what you are really going for. If you buy every single site you land on, you will most likely not have enough money to buy what you really want later on. Then you will never fulfill your calling to be a millionaire.

x Show off your confidence. When you have faith and are confident in what you do, you are more likely to succeed. Self-fulfilling prophesies are always at work. If you repeat in your heart 5 times for a certain number to appear, your dice will have a 1/6 chance of showing that number. (ha~) And it's likely to freak your opponent off.

x Laugh alot! When you are joyful even in times of defeat or cashflow problems, your opponent will be wondering what kind of tricks you have up your sleeves and become very paranoid. That's when they will leak faith and start landing on all your sites. Their cash will also then all flow to you.

x Psycho your opponent. This works only on stupid opponents. Psycho them to buy lousy and worthless sites. Psycho them not to buy sites you are eyeing. Psycho them so that they believe they are born jailbirds and will end up being sent to jail all the time. This is the power of words.(but don't use this in your personal life. It's bad.)

x Be of good cheer. Life goes in cycles. You will not always have to go through the valleys (places where every 2 steps is a site that belongs to your opponent). Mountain-top experiences will happen (when you get to draw a Chance card and it tells you the bank will pay you back $200 due to bank error). After some time, you will get to receive some money when you pass through 'Go'. The truth is you can't be poor all the time. Period.