Monopoly, Money, and You: How to Profit from the Game’s Secrets of Success

EXPECTING THE EXPECTED

They believed Daimler was a fortune hunter, but when he picked “Bank Error in Your Favor—Collect Two Hundred Dollars,” he used the capital to start an Internet company, for which he was offered six billion dollars, although he refused to sell unless the buyer threw in at least one “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

—WOODY ALLEN, COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR, NEW YORKER, JANUARY 24, 2011

While the likely outcome of each roll of the dice is a probability, there is also a category of random game events that provide certainty, much like the inevitability of death and taxes. I’m referring, of course, to the card decks and their messages. There ...