Mindfulopoly: “The Wellbeing Boosting Resilience Building Game”
[Updated in November with additional board images]
Recently my daughter asked me, what felt like a simple question, about Monopoly… 🎩
“What’s it all about Daddy?”
Remembering how fascinated I was as a child too but also conscious of how obsessed we can become about owning things…I took the opportunity to share, what I hoped would be a balanced view. A bit of wisdom, about ‘owning stuff’ and the value in ‘letting go’. That collecting more and more things in life wasn’t always good for us and didn’t always make us happy. And that Monopoly is a really good example of all of this happening on a fun board game.
“It’s about collecting money, buying streets and charging rent to people when they visit your street. You try to hold onto these things while others lose their money…they try to do the same as you and the person who can ‘hold onto the most’ wins. It’s a long game but lots of fun!
“Make yourself rich, bankrupt everyone else”, felt a bit harsh for a 5 year old!
“But why?” she asked.
Why indeed! Later I looked up the history of Monopoly and read the intriguing story of Elizabeth Magie (designer, writer, feminist and arguably original ‘inventor’ of Monopoly) who created the The Landlord’s Game...which also came with anti-monopolist rules!
So I continued…
I guess it’s probably not the best example of being kind to others. Most people are left unhappy in the end! And really, you can never keep all this stuff in life. We buy and sell houses. So we can never really ‘hold onto’ anything.”
But that’s when she gave me the real message…
“You can’t even hold onto yourself…because eventually, you die.”
So literally true. I was lost for words! But fully understand her meaning.
When we crave, want more, or hold onto things, we rarely feel happy or satisfied. There’s always more, we ‘could have’. And it is very easy to miss life going on around us. We seek an ideal life, instead of a fully lived one. And we search for meaning in possessions, instead of happiness and vitality in human connection. Sometimes it takes the wise words of those who have lived less but live more ‘now’, to see what really matters. To see that ‘letting go’ of stuff, can be the most liberating of all life’s games.
So, when a friend then challenged me to create an alternative version of Monopoly, with health, sustainability and wellbeing at the heart, I couldn’t resist making this first draft of something very close to home…
Mindfulopoly: The Rules
[Rules, deed cards, choice and compassion chest cards are part of version 2]
The Deed Cards
The Board
Compassion Chest and Choice Cards
For now it has a shortened board, altered street names, images, corners and cards and comes with a mindfulness and wellbeing theme. You collect mindful minutes instead of money and choice cards instead of chance.
The ‘game objective’ is not quite finalised (version 2 updated above) but likely focused on ‘investing in mindful behaviours’ and spreading the mental health and wellbeing benefits far and wide. Any additional ideas for rules, characters/tokens or deed cards, are very welcome! And here’s s the full list of….
🟦 Streets 🚂 Stations 💡 Companies 🗃 Cards
Streets
🟫 Old Kent Road = Non-Judging Road
🟦 The Angel Islington = Acceptance is-in-town
🟦 Pentonville Road = Patience Ville Road
👛 Pall Mall = Trust Mall
👛 Northumberland Avenue = Beginner’s Mind Avenue
🟧 Bow Street = Letting Go Street
🟧 Vine Street = Kindness Street
🟥 Strand = Generosity
🟥 Trafalgar Square = Curiosity Square
🟨 Coventry Street = Empathy Street
🟨 Piccadilly = Equanimity
🟩 Oxford Street = Gratitude Street
🟩 Bond Street = Self-Compassion Street
🔷 Park Lane = Non-Striving Lane
Companies
💡 Electric Company = Energetic Company
💧 Waterworks = Resilience Building Works
Stations
🚂 Kings Cross Station = Intention Station
🚂 Marylebone Station = Awareness Station
🚂 Liverpool St Station = Reflection St Station
🚂 Fenchurch St Station = Attitude St Station
Corners
➠ GO = Collect 200 mindful minutes as you ‘Let Go’
🚘 Free Parking = Free Park Time
👉 Go to Jail = Go to De-Stress
⛓ In Jail = De-Stress
Cards
❓ Chance = Choice
🗃 Community Chest = Compassion Chest
Taxes
💸 Income Tax = Attention Tax
📵 Super Tax = Doom Scrolling Tax
Ok, so you definitely won’t ‘hold on’ to every street, own Park Lane OR walk away having bankrupted up to 7 people! But you will probably become a calmer, happier and more mindful human…feeling more compassionate towards others too. At least for about 200 mindful minutes!
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Have a wonderful day!
Derek
Waking Waves
📧 hello@wakingwaves.com
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