Page 96 of Cryptic Curse

I roll my eyes.“Icould.If people landed on it.”

“Exactly.”He points at me with the car token he insisted on using.“But they don’t.Not enough.And it costs too much to build on.”

I look down at my tiny empire—Baltic, Mediterranean, and now the crown jewel.Boardwalk.“Yeah, but it’s cool.”

Ted chuckles.“Cool doesn’t win the game.You want to know what does?”

I nod, even though I’m not sure I want to hear it.Ilikegoing for the big flashy stuff.

“Orange and red,” he says, tapping the board.“St.James Place, Tennessee, New York Avenue, Indiana… People land on them more.Statistically.Plus, houses are cheaper to build.Three houses on each, and boom—you’re bleeding people dry before they ever get to your precious Boardwalk.”

I stare at the board and then back at him.“So you’re saying I’ve been playing it wrong this whole time?”

“Not wrong,” he says.“Just flashy.It’s like going all-in on one big move when you could’ve won with a dozen small ones.Like the meter drop.”

“Say what?”

“The meter drop.In a cab.”

I’ve never ridden in a cab in my life.We always have our own driver to take us places.“Meaning…?”

He smiles, shakes his head gently.“Say you drive a cab.Every time you get a new fare, you start the meter.That first minute costs the most.It cost several bucks just to get in the cab, and then less for each minute until you reach your destination.”

“So the first minute costs more.That means you make more with smaller fares.”

“Exactly.Several smaller fares will earn the cabbie more than one huge fare for a ride that takes an hour or more.”

I frown and pick up my dice.“That’s pretty deep for Monopoly.So you’re saying it’s the same concept.”

Ted laughs.“Right.It’s Monopoly.But it’s also life.”

A few rolls later I land on Illinois Avenue—one of Ted’s rents—and groan as I hand over another wad of fake money.“This is rigged.”

Ted grins, all smug like he planned it.“It’s not rigged.It’s math.And strategy.Told you—reds and oranges.They’re the sweet spot.”

I shake my head, staring at my sad little lineup of unimproved properties.“Fine.Next time I’ll try it your way.”

Ted leans forward.“You want to know another trick?”

I nod.Of course I do.

“Never buy hotels.”

I blink at him.“What?But that’s the whole point.You build houses and then hotels.That’s how you win, right?”

He shakes his head.“That’s how theywantyou to think you win.But here’s the deal—when you build a hotel, all the houses that were there go back into the box.”

I scratch my head.“Okay…?”

“And if you’ve got four houses on a bunch of properties, and so do I, and you upgrade to hotels…guess who gets all those houses you just returned?”

I freeze.“No way.”

He nods, grinning like the devil.“Way.There are a limited number of houses in the game.If I can’t get enough to build, I can’t level up.So if you use up all the houses, you choke out everyone else.”

I glance down at the board and then at his red properties—stacked with houses like little rows of doom.“That’s fascinating.”

He grins.“That’s Monopoly.”