Monopoly was developed by Lizzie Magie in 1903 and was originally called The Landlord’s Game. It was designed as an educational tool to illustrate the evils of monopolising landholdings. The details of the game were refined by Charles Darrow, and it was he who changed the name to Monopoly; he sold it to Parker Brothers who popularised it and it has since sold over 275 million copies!
As a game, it can be a lot of fun for families and friends. However, it’s not simple, (as you would be well aware) with a complex set of rules encompassing the purchase of properties, the combining of similar properties to allow the building of houses and the subsequent charging of rent to other players who land on squares owned by you. There is a bank to finance purchases and to offer mortgages to those unable to pay rents, so as far as possible, it replicates the actual world of real estate.
For negotiators the game provides many valuable lessons.
Patience is rewarded over the long haul:
Some games can last three hours or more and some players use time as weapon. They deliberately slow down the game, agonise over ‘buy and sell’ decisions and frustration festers in other players over the slow rate of process. (My sister was a seasoned expert in this one!) This impatience can often lead to poor decision making - just to get some sort of conclusion to the game. (I always took the bait!)
In negotiating, some people deliberately run down the clock, especially if they are under time pressure and they look to extract last minute concessions from you. Strong negotiators don’t let their frustrations show and make sure they allow plenty of time - then plus some, to get a deal wrapped up.
The importance of having a plan:
Sun Tzu famously said in the Art of War that ‘strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.’
There are a number of possible reasons to play the game besides the obvious one of winning. It may be just to have some fun on a rainy afternoon, it may be to teach your children the rules the game, or just a way to enjoy the game and to be gracious in winning and losing.
These higher level objectives are your strategy. The tactics you choose directly from these high level objectives should not be in conflict.
If your objective is to have fun, then it doesn’t make sense to get crabby when another player won’t sell you Park Lane!
If you plan to win, then building three houses as soon as possible, is seen as optimum; railway stations are preferred to utilities because there’s one on each side of the board.
Make realistic proposals:
The purpose of the game is to aggregate properties before you can build houses, therefore making proposals to other players that are capable of acceptance, creates momentum and increased interest in the game.
Highly skilled negotiators know that unrealistic proposals only encourage unrealistic counters and waste precious negotiating time.
Accept realistic proposals:
Some players seem to adopt a strategy of rejecting all proposals, no matter how acceptable. This is particularly true of ‘dress circle’ properties. They are victims of the endowment effect, where people value things they own at 2.5 – 3 times more than what they would be prepared to pay to acquire it.
Negotiating is a trading process like monopoly and depends on people being willing to trade.
So enjoy your next game of monopoly and keep reflecting on even more lessons negotiators can glean from the game.
Happy negotiating!