[DanielBMarkham]

Agreed. I've found the best way to play games against friends is to disconnect my competitive spirit and anlytical mind and just sit back and enjoy the conversation. I have fun, and those folks who are hyper-competitive get another "victim", so it's good for everybody.

[DanBC]

That, however, means a monopoly game can easily last 5 hours.

The only way to play monopoly is to be brutal and eliminate everyone as quickly as possible.

(Ignoring the best way to win is to not play, and play any of the very much better games)

[DanielBMarkham]

Really? Maybe a couple of hours. I just buy whatever I land on. Others usually follow suit and fairly quickly the board is divvied up. Then it's horse-trading and luck.

I think that with a few simple heuristics the game moves along quickly enough. I have family members who are so nice they try to prevent doing things the other players don't like. These games take forever. Geesh.

I haven't played in quite a while, so I may be remembering the game moving along faster than it actually does.

Side note: we've been playing Machi Koro at home over the last few weeks. Very simple concept, mostly luck, and interesting enough for a somewhat fun 30 minutes or so.