The fundamental belief behind Monopoly is lack of money. Since the money supply cannot increase, the players can win only by taking money from other players. The only way to get more money is to take it away from others. This means that Monopoly is a zero sum game based on competition.
This fundamental reality of Monopoly is that one player wins while the others lose. This reflects the experience of the Great Depression. Thousands stood in breadlines while a few people became very rich.
Monopoly does not allow players to help each other. The rules forbid partnerships and loans between players.
As a result, Monopoly teaches you that you are on your own. Your goal is to force other players to go bankrupt. As a player, you learn that helping someone else might cause you to lose the game.
This game teaches that fierce competition is the only way to create wealth. This is the way the world is. You will succeed only at the expense of others.
Monopoly simply reinforces the fundamental belief that the road to success is paved with the bodies of your competitors. It is a belief that is deeply embedded in our consciousness about what it takes to make money and what it takes to succeed in business.
What kind of success model is this game based on competition for a limited money supply? You don’t have to look any further than the statistic that 96% of the population will reach 65 without enough money to be financially self-sufficient. Instead of congratulating the 4% who somehow manage to create financial freedom for themselves in this economic system, you need to ask: Why do so many lose the money game?
The short answer is that our economic models teach competition for limited resources as the foundation of wealth. The model itself demands that almost everyone must end the game broke.
Attempting to create wealth according to the Monopoly model is a lonely struggle in a highly competitive game. There is always a winner in Monopoly. You might be the one to win. It is much more likely that you will be one of the majority of those who lose.
As a model for creating wealth, Monopoly is stuck in the mindset and money beliefs of the Great Depression. In the Monopoly game, the winner amasses money but does nothing to create money through transactions.
It’s time for a new game with a new understanding of money. The fact is, you’ll make more money in transactions than you will in takeovers. It’s true that the business world is still full of people who treat business as a zero sum game. But the Great Depression ended more than sixty years ago. Mr. Monopoly had it wrong when he thought that winning meant driving competitors out of business.
When you take off the Depression era Mr. Monopoly glasses, you can see a new vision of money and business. Money is not currency. Money is an idea, and the only limits to money are the limits of your vision. With this vision, you’ll see that you will make more money in transactions than takeovers. In this era, the most enlightened business people understand that you will make more money in joint ventures with others than you will by competing against them.