A house rule I made up during Monopoly ruined our vacation night
Editors' DilemmaOctober 28, 2026· Be the first to vote
A story made up by our editors to get the debate going, not a real account.
My side
Every night on our family vacation, we play a big board game where you buy streets and build houses. I’m always the banker. One night, the game had been going for two hours, and it was late. To speed things up, I announced a new rule: fine money goes in the middle of the board, and whoever lands on Free Parking takes it. Lots of families play that way. Bad luck: I’m the one who landed on it right after. My brother-in-law yelled conspiracy, swept the bills off the table and went to bed. The kids thought it was awesome, but breakfast was frosty.
Their side
My brother-in-law explains that you don’t change the rules mid-game, especially when the banker is the one changing them. He’d been winning for an hour, and the new rule flipped everything in one turn. He admits he overreacted, but he says he’s tired of me “laying down the law” at every game, and has been for years.
So, who's wrong?
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