4 ms·

I had a similar experience about a decade ago. Went over to a friend's house for to play some classic board games. He brought out Life [1], and I was immediatel

I had a similar experience about a decade ago. Went over to a friend's house for to play some classic board games. He brought out Life [1], and I was immediately angry at what they did to that game. Instead of cash, each player now had a Visa-branded "debit card" [2]. To deposit or withdraw money, you inserted your card into a little card reader thing and entered the amount. My anger was actually for two different reasons! First, for similar reasons as explained in the article. Maybe I was being a bit "too nostalgic", but I also thought it was gross to start advertising payment networks to the kids who'd be playing this game. But I was also mad because one of the things I like to do with these games is brazenly cheat at them. Steal from the bank, evade taxes, etc. I have a reputation among my friends for this and so I have been banned from banking within Monopoly, Life, etc. Because of my reputation, everyone was happy about the new payment system, and even happier that I was mad about it. They thought I was no longer a threat. BUT! The "debit cards" used in this game weren't mag-stripes or chips or anything fancy. They just had raised bumps on them that actuated contacts in the card reader. After looking at my card for a while, then at Bob's—I guess I'm "Alice" in this story—I realized I could modify my card to look like his if I inserted a cocktail sword [3] into the slot right along with my own card. The card reader then saw Bob's card instead of my own! I stole so much money that night, and struck a blow against The System in the process. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Life [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Life:_Twists_%26_Turns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Life:_Twists_%26_T... [3] https://cocktails.fandom.com/wiki/Cocktail_Sword https://cocktails.fandom.com/wiki/Cocktail_Sword

jhbadger 2y ago
It also sort of defeats the small educational value for children that Life, Monopoly, and other board games with physical money have -- that is teaching basic math skills involved in making change (even if physical cash is becoming less common in everyday life).

jhbadger 2y ago

It also sort of defeats the small educational value for children that Life, Monopoly, and other board games with physical money have -- that is teaching basic math skills involved in making change (even if physical cash is becoming less common in everyday life).