When I look back at my child-rearing years, one of the most enduring emotions I felt — besides intense love and sleep deprivation — was absolute dread when my kids brought out the Monopoly set. Monopoly on it, because I immediately realized two things:The game was unlikely to end before their bedtimes, and possibly not within my lifetime. Maybe it’s the human inclination to not only keep up with the Joneses, but to really rub the Jones’s noses in it that brings out the competitive killer in Monopoly players. Either way, the goal of this game, according to the rules, is to win by ending with more money and real estate under your control than your opponents. And by “end,” the instructions mean driving the other players to bankruptcy, which is always a cheery way to wrap up a family get-together.

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Persons: —, H.L, Mencken, wife’s, ” Organizations: Monopoly