Landing on Boardwalk

Imagine:

You own half the properties on the board, have mortgaged half of them to put hotels on the Pennsylvania Avenue properties, and just landed on Boardwalk, with a hotel on it. Suddenly, you're broke.

Are you out of the game?

Not a chance. The "banker" is going to come to your rescue. He's going to buy all your bad debt from you (why you ever built a hotel on Baltic you'll never know, but you can finally get rid of that turkey now). And you'll get to keep Pennsylvania Avenue.

Your good friend the banker is going to make sure that you'll survive, telling everyone that if you don't all the other players will be hurt. Sure, they'll have to sell their own houses to help cover your bills, but they aren't the banker's golfing buddy.

Then you'll be allowed to move immediately to GO where house rules allow you to collect double your regular salary. Oh, the banker is out of money? Don't worry, he'll just run over to the xerox machine and make more.

He's also going to demand that all the other players on the board pony up $7,000 (per taxpayer) to help you pay your bills, but you get to keep your salary and you'll also get a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card. Never mind that the cost to the other players drives two of them into bankruptcy, they're "little players" and don't count. You'll still be in the game. What do you care?

It's only Monopoly money.

If only that were true.

-- Kelly Everitt