Both of those things are part of the joke. Monopoly is a parody of capitalism, intended to make you hate rich people. The luxury tax is tiny, reflecting how there’s no real cost of living for rich people. Rich people can “go to jail”, but it’s trivial to get away again.
Jail and prison are often used interchangeably as places of confinement. If you want to be specific jail can be used to describe a place for those awaiting trial or held for minor crimes, whereas prison describes a place for criminals convicted of serious crimes.
You said:
Jails are temporary holding areas until you get to see a judge. Which means you could still be innocent at that point.
You can be convicted and in jail, which makes perfect sense in Monopoly, since it’s generally for a shorter period of time. They are both synonymous for the purpose of imprisoning somebody but different on how drastic the crimes you are behind bar for. In my opinion you should be in jail for minor crimes and not put in prison and it’s perfect for Monopoly.
While key differences exist between jails and prisons — jails typically house people awaiting trial and those serving short sentences, while prisons confine convicts long term — the Justice Department’s study remains illustrative of life behind bars….
Yep. That’s the right definition. Not what you said. You said jail is for innocent people. You also said the definition doesn’t differ no matter where you are and the link clearly defined the US can have a different interpretation (see interchangeable use).
Fun fact: Monopoly originated from “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by Elizabeth Magie, an anti-monopolist who designed it to illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land ownership.
It also had a second rule set where a land value tax was implemented, and the winning condition was when everyone made a minimum amount of money.
A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land without regard to buildings, personal property and other improvements upon it.[1] It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation tax, split rate tax, or a site-value rating.
Some economists favor LVT, arguing it does not cause economic inefficiency, and helps reduce economic inequality.[2] A land value tax is a progressive tax, in that the tax burden falls on land owners, because land ownership is correlated with wealth and income.[3][4] The land value tax has been referred to as “the perfect tax” and the economic efficiency of a land value tax has been accepted since the eighteenth century.[1][5][6] Economists since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have advocated this tax because it does not hurt economic activity, and encourages development without subsidies.
LVT is associated with Henry George, whose ideology became known as Georgism. George argued that taxing the land value is the most logical source of public revenue because the supply of land is fixed and because public infrastructure improvements would be reflected in (and thus paid for by) increased land values.[7]
It’s just a stupidly good tax policy, and we should be implementing it in more places.
And we only play half the game. Public Housing is supposed to be on Free Parking, the same way Just Visiting is on the Jail space. Once you’re bankrupt you go to public housing until all but one player is there. Then you start the Prosperity portion of the game, and everyone wins. Just like communism done properly.
There was also a much less popular version of the game called Finance! Basically the same rules as Monopoly, but with a completely different skin on the board.
There is a Public Assisstence board game from the 80s. We had one when I was younger. I can’t tell if it was a “anti-welfare” game or just making fun of the whole system. I grew up pretty poor, so I always assumed the latter as a kid. Since the welfare track was easier from what I remember, now I’m not so sure, lol.
I remember that game. My dad got it from a very conservative/racist family member - with a note that read something like “too bad I’m white and have to work for my money.”
Not only can rich people go to jail, it’s actually beneficial to be locked up there after a certain point and the board is all bought up and filled with hotels. Can’t lose your cash to other players if you never move around the board 😌
Monopoly is literally capitalist propaganda. Parker Brothers basically stole the game from its creator and then offered $500 for the rights. They modified the game to be more focused on owning everything.
Cautionary Tales has a great episode about Lizzie J. Magie and how she originally created the Landlord’s Game.
How is it capitalist propagarda exactly? Parker Brothers might have screwed her over, but it’s impossible to come out of a game of monopoly feeling more symphatetic towards landlords than when you started.
A single person can and should own everything and it’s too bad if you don’t
Owning property is a zero sum game
Only one person can win when it comes to property ownership
Owning property is the only way to power
It’s propaganda because the system doesn’t have to work like this. We’re just told that we have to deal with it, but there’s plenty of resources to go around for everyone to live a comfortable life. Life doesn’t have to be a zero sum game.
The game is (still) a satirical version of the real housing market, and anybody with half a brain gets the impression of unfairness after a game of monopoly. This is unrelated to the fact that parker brothers is making a lot of money with the game
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