Boardflip Benefits
Monopoly Makes Everyone Angry — and That Might Actually Be Good for Your Kids
A new advertising campaign from Hasbro says the all-too-familiar Monopoly rage can teach children valuable anger management skills
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We’ve all had those nights where an innocent game of Monopoly ends up making most of us want to fight each other, but according to a new study, that might actually be good for kids.
Hasbro, which publishes Monopoly, recently commissioned research about its best-selling board game and found that eight out of 10 people fight during a game of Monopoly. This probably doesn’t surprise any longtime players — the board game has a unique ability to raise anger levels, start arguments, and end up flipped over — and that’s part of the fun (especially when you’re winning). But that Monopoly rage might have some real benefits, other than spicing up weeknights at home. Namely, childhood development.
By working through anger and arguing in a safe environment while playing Monopoly, kids are able to “practice” those emotions and resolve conflicts, learning skills to be applied outside the living room on game night.
Using this data on childhood development, Hasbro has started an advertising campaign for Monopoly in Belgium. The campaign, developed by Amsterdam creative agency KesselsKramer, sees five different posters featuring a portrait of a frustrated child and a lesson that the child is learning through Monopoly. These lessons include things like “For learning to let go” and “For dealing with a setback.”
“Monopoly can teach you a lot about how you express your emotions and how you deal with disappointments,” says KesselsKramer. “Therefore, throwing the Monopoly board across the room has the potential to strengthen your relationship with your family.”
First published in 1935, Monopoly is one of the most popular boardgames in the world with over 275 million copies sold in 37 languages, as of 2015. Although some have a love-hate relationship with the game (maybe for its unique anger-inducing powers) Monopoly is an essential part of any board game collection — and, according to Hasbro, a great device for letting your kids experience some healthy frustration. Pick it up now at Amazon starting at just $16.