My father loved games. He loved Scrabble, Gin Rummy and he'd even play endless games of War with all five of us kids. But most of all, he loved Monopoly. If you looked even slightly bored, he'd look over at you and say, "Time for some Mono-poly?". There was always a taker for that question.

My father was a rule follower. There were no variations on the rules for anything in life. So, of course, all five of us learned to play Monopoly by the book. But later, when we got older and played with our friends, that's when rules got bent a little bit.

My favorite variation was the Free Parking Money. In the real rules, it says it's just resting place. But my best friend changed it up. Every time you paid for something for a Community Chest Card or a Chance Card, you put the money in the middle of the board. Whoever landed on Free Parking got the money. My dad was horrified by the change and so were my brothers. I wasn't. I thought, "Hey! That's cool. Just like real life, you never know when you'll find money in a parking lot!".

The rules say you can't borrow money from other players, but the same friend who liked the Free Parking Money, liked to make the game last a long time and would lend everyone money who needed it. Basically, as we got older, she was like that with real money, too.

Once again, my father was unhappy with the change.

I tried to lend him money to buy his favorite property, Boardwalk and he said, "You can't lend me money! Only the bank can loan me money."

My answer was, "Yes, but I won't charge you interest. You are my father. A person doesn't charge their father interest. It's a better deal. I think you should take it."

He just shook his head and passed me the dice.

There was one area of difference for me and my best, Monopoly-playing, rule-changing friend. She didn't like the jail thing. She removed all the Get Out of Jail Free cards from the game and blacked out the jail space with a Magic Marker.

"What did you do that for?"

"No one just gets carted off to jail for no reason. I didn't like it. There is no jail in my game."

Being my father's daughter, I was horrified. Changing the rules was okay but blacking out the jail space? I couldn't live with that.

"So, you want to be banker?" she asked.

"No. I can't play this game with you any more."

"What if I give you more money than I get?"

"No, I can't play without the jail space. It's wrong."

We agreed to disagree. We played with Barbie Dolls the rest of the winter.

To some extent, I am, like my father, a rule follower, only not such a rigid rule follower. I still play Monopoly with the Free Parking rule but I never try to lend anyone money and the jail space is not blacked out on my game.

Learn more about this author, Kat Apf.
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