Our friend Ben Reierson in Melbourne, Australia asked what kind of board games rich people play?
He went on to suggest that when the super rich play Monopoly perhaps they should start with the railroads and hotels they already own in real life, and add a few zero's to the money values to bring the game up to date!
After that hearty laugh, I don't even know where to start. Do roulette tables in Monte Carlo and poker variants aboard a luxury yacht count as board games, Ben? I know for sure my employers participate in those particular activities.
In this house, at the far end of the library, there's an antique wooden card table, with a leather top of course and two comfortable wing-back chairs. Sitting there on the table is a deck of gold-edged Louis Vuitton playing cards, which as far as I can tell have never been touched or shuffled. But there's also an antique mahogany chess board with carved ivory chessmen, exquisitely intricate in detail at God knows what price.
Ever since I've worked here there seems to be an on-going game at this table between my employer and one of his old cronies. These two old buzzards will take their gin and tonics to the table and sit there for awhile, sometimes actually making a move on the board, sometimes just picking up one of the chessmen as though to examine the artwork, then sitting it back down in the same place. Except to touch it up with a feather duster now and then, we in the house staff are extremely careful not to ever disturb the board or the chessmen's positions.
Unfortunately to say, considering the topic, that's about it as far as parlor games around here. However, while you might not often see the rich clustered around a board game, that certainly doesn't mean they don't own them as investments. Take a look at this awesome webpage. You can find a cheap Trivial Pursuit for about $6,000; a Backgammon for $1.5 million, a Monopoly game for $2 million, and a chess set encrusted with gold, diamonds, rubies and pearls for a whopping $10 million dollars!
It seems to me that all the fun and challenging new games that Ben's talking about requires a kind of intimacy among friends that allows for mistakes, laughter, disappointment, loss and failure all in one game, and it's not within my experience to see the stuffy old-guard rich open up like this. A slow never-ending chess games is about the best they can come up with, at least around here.
Anyhow, sorry for the disappointing answer, Ben. It's entirely possible that the younger rich might actually be able to sit down and concentrate on a board game. But somewhere in the back of my mind I kinda doubt it. They're all so busy running around the world in their jets and helicopters, from one high society event to another, where is there time for such idle-time fillers? "You wanna go to Rome and grab a pizza?"
Going out on a limb here, I'm inclined to think that board games are designed for us non-rich poor folk who can't afford to jump on our jets and run around the world in a moment's notice. And I'm aware of how horrible and crappy that must sound. Anyone with more upbeat or enlightened information can hit me right back in the comments below. But these are my observations, from my perch among the old guard.
As always, thanks for stopping by tonight,
Andrew
My friends and I play board games all the time and our parents are rich. Like you say they don't do games, so I see your point. Maybe it's just a generational thing but we love them (the games, not our parents). Don
ReplyDeleteHa! I see your point too, bad boy! Thanks for stopping by, and for the laugh!
DeleteAndrew
No apology necessary. This is definitely not disappointing; it's just the way it is.
ReplyDeleteI think your point about a lack of intimacy and willingness to open up and have fun is very telling. It sounds like a life full of formality and tediousness oftentimes.
I may argue against your idea that board games are typically for the idle and poor(er), however. At least the modern type, which are probably more accurately labeled as party games. Many are great at stretching your mind in new directions and stimulating social interaction. I've certainly looked at some friends in new ways after some animated rounds of 'cards against humanity'. But there are a lot of that are much more strategically deep.
Anyway, thanks for the insight as usual.
Thanks so much for your perspective, Ben. I'm sure you're more in touch with the real world than I am, living here in my cocoon, and I'm aware how much fun these probing, introspective party games can be. But honest to God I can't imagine this old guard crowd taking the risk to play Cards Against Humanity or even it's tamer forerunners like Apples to Apples, Truth or Dare would be out of the question, and Spin the Bottle unthinkable! Ha!
DeleteI'm partial to word games myself, a never-tiring fan of Scrabble, as well as Kangaroo Word games. Not to sound like an idiot, but do people in Australia actually play that game, considering all the 'roos down there?
Andrew
I had never heard of a Kangaroo Word before, so I guess not. :) However, looking up the entomology of the term, I guess it doesn't originate in Australia it's just named as such because the word carries the synonym inside it.
DeleteMy experience with Australian slang tells me that if a word can be shortened here, it will be (ex Kangaroo = roo, breakfast = brekkie, afternoon = arvo). However, once sufficiently short, it might be made longer again through rhyming slang (ex. hit the road = hit the frog and toad). Basically the whole damn country is playing a word game constantly!
Kangaroo words are tough and tricky, Ben. Not only must the synonym, called a Joey (just like a young kangaroo in its mother's pouch) have the exact same meaning, the letters have to be in correct order, although not necessarily next to each other. Thus in the word 'observe', you can find the word 'see'. In 'applauded' you can find the word 'lauded', which happens to be in both correct order and next to each other. In the world 'masculine' you can find two Joeys, 'male' and 'man', which bumps up your points, depending upon the widely-varying rules you're playing by. Likewise, in the twin-Joey word 'container', you can find the words 'can' and 'tin'.
DeleteIn any case, I'm wondering that since Australians call kangaroos 'roos' down there, if the very word kangaroo is not a kangaroo word itself? At least under Australian rules. Ha!
Andrew
You make ever topic interesting !!!!!KEK
ReplyDeleteYou're always so kind, KEK. Thanks for reading and stopping by.
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