Monopoly is a zero sum game based on competition, based on a limited money supply. Since the money supply cannot increase, the players can win only by taking money from other players.

This fundamental reality of Monopoly is that one player wins while the others lose. This reflects the experience of the Great Depression. Thousands stood in breadlines while a few people became very rich.

The rules of the Monopoly prohibit partnership. You cannot create joint ventures. You cannot loan money to another player. You cannot borrow money from another player.

The psychological effect of playing this highly competitive game is that you are a solo player doing whatever you can to force the other players to go bankrupt. The last thing you want to do is to help someone else stay in the game because that person might go on to drive you out of the game.

As an economic model for creating wealth, Monopoly teaches that competition is the way of the world. It reinforces social models based on competition, and the idea that success is a lonely climb over the heads of others.

This belief is deeply engrained in our shared consciousness about money and success. The game of Monopoly reinforces a common belief that the only way to win is to defeat your competitors.

What kind of success model is this game based on competition for a limited money supply? You don’t have to look any further than the statistic that 96% of the population will reach 65 without enough money to be financially self-sufficient. Instead of congratulating the 4% who somehow manage to create financial freedom for themselves in this economic system, you need to ask: Why do so many lose the money game?

The short answer is that our economic models teach competition for limited resources as the foundation of wealth. The model itself demands that almost everyone must end the game broke.

What happens when you attempt to create wealth in business according to Monopoly Money Rules? It’s a highly competitive game and a lonely struggle. You use your own money and do it alone. Will you succeed? Maybe. You might be one of the lucky few who manage to do it all yourself. More likely, you will end up as one of the casualties of those who tried to start a business but never made enough money to succeed.

Monopoly reflects the mindset and money beliefs of the Great Depression. In the Monopoly game, the winner acquires more money by taking it away from the other players, but the winner does nothing to create more money through transactions.

Mr. Monopoly had it wrong when he thought that the only way to win was to drive competitors out of business. It’s true that business is full of “black knights” and hostile takeovers from people who still treat business as a game that allows only one winner. But the Great Depression ended more than sixty years ago. It’s time for a new game with a new understanding of money. The fact is, you’ll make more money in transactions than you will in takeovers.

In this era, the most enlightened business people understand that you will make more money in joint ventures with others than you will by competing against them. When you take off the Depression era Mr. Monopoly glasses, you can see a new vision of money and business. Money is not currency. Money is an idea, and the only limits to money are the limits of your vision.

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