Monopoly always seems like a good idea until you’re knee-deep in properties, hotels, and fake money. For many, the problem with Monopoly is that the game can go on for hours. But take heart. In 2010, Daniel J. Myers, a professor of sociology at Notre Dame University, told Robert Siegel’s NPR listeners that a two-player Monopoly game can be over after only four turns, nine rolls of the dice, and 21 seconds of fast-paced play. Here’s how it could happen: One player zips around the board quickly, buying up Boardwalk and Park Place, and putting three houses on Boardwalk. The other player gets a Chance card that sends them to Boardwalk, but he can’t pay the rent. Game over.
Go directly to jail:
- Professor Myers told NPR that he and his son were looking for ways to shorten the time it takes to play, when they hit on this scenario. Statistically, it would happened once every 253,899,891,671,040 games.
- Hazel Reynolds, founder of Gamely Games, calls playing Monopoly a “miserable experience,” adding: “It is nostalgic to think about (playing Monopoly), until you start playing.”
- Professor Myers and his son next plan to calculate the shortest possible time it takes to win the strategy game Risk