Comparison Of Monopoly And The Gilded Age

I love Monopoly and have played many very intense rounds of it. The game we played on Friday was rather mild due both to time constraints and the gentle personalities of the people with who I played it. Therefore, to properly reflect on the connections between Monopoly and the Gilded Age, I am going to pull memories from more competitive games I’ve played as well. Monopoly is clearly centered around the Gilded Age, seen first with the very name of the game. Monopolies were first created during the Gilded Age, first by John D. Rockerfeller and then other entreprenuers tried to follow suit. This is proven by the fact that no legislation existed to restrict them until the Gilded Age, because none had been previously needed. Monopolies, also …show more content…
In previous games though, a major part of playing was the creation of corrupt (and not allowed) deals and partnerships. I’ve been in situations where a player sold a property to me in exchange for discounted rent whenever they landed on it. I’ve also been in games where people went back on their word after making a deal. These partnerships, while they don’t happen in every game, are very similar to the Gilded Age strategies. Rockerfeller had a deal with Vanderbilt that he would fill only Vanderbilt’s trains with oil and then went and supplied Scott’s trains with oil as well. This sort of backstabbing, competitive spirit is often brought out by the playing of monopoly and I really relish it and was thus disappointed when our players were pretty ambivalent to rent and competition. This also could have been fixed if we had had more time to …show more content…
All the business tycoons of the Gilded Age pulled themselves up by their bootstraps through a combination of wits, determination and sheer luck. For example, if Rockerfeller had not had the near accident with the train, he may not have gone into the business meeting with Vanderbilt as confident as he did and thus would not have gotten a good business deal. Similarly, Monopoly is very dependent on luck. Sure, the railroads and utilites are the best properties to get but first you have to role the die and land on them. Late in the game, roling the right number could be the difference between bankrupcy and staying in the game if a whole row is controlled by another player who has built houses and