How to gain early control and a lasting edge in Monopoly (part 7) — When playing with friends and family, I prefer to avoid house rules. It just makes for a better experience. Now, I’m not here to bash house rules. I want you to understand how a house rule will change the game. How you can adapt to win. Let’s look at the…

How to gain early control and a lasting edge in Monopoly (part 6) — Who taught you how to play Monopoly? For me, it was a combination of family and friends. In middle school, my brother and I played many games with my best friend and his sister. We didn’t actually read the rules. …

How to gain early control and a lasting edge in Monopoly (part 5) — The most common Monopoly house rule is to award players with free cash when they land on Free Parking. I’ve played with groups that put Luxury Tax, Income Tax, and fees from Chance and Community Chest cards into a pile on the board. When a person landed on Free Parking…

How to gain early control and a lasting edge in Monopoly (part 4) — Wait, Monopoly has a magic number? Why, yes! $200 is the magic number that appears all over Monopoly. You earn $200 for passing GO. You pay $200 for landing on Income Tax. Railroads cost $200. Four railroads earn $200 rent. Houses on green and dark blue properties cost $200. Boardwalk…

How to gain early control and a lasting edge in Monopoly (part 3) — Who doesn’t like free cash? Everyone loves Monopoly’s GO square. The GO square (yes, the “O” is capitalized) is a crucial engine for the game of Monopoly. GO enables players to build houses and hotels. Each player starts with $1,500 cash. That’s enough to buy a few properties. …

How to gain early control and a lasting edge in Monopoly (part 2) — This is my number one strategy to winning Monopoly against my iPhone. While it’s easy to understand, it can be difficult to execute. Keep reading, and I’ll show you trading tricks that make this possible. Before we go there, let’s talk about the iPhone interface. Computer opponents Hasbro engineers did an excellent…

Gain a lasting edge in Monopoly versus your friends and your smartphone (part 1) — Did you learn Monopoly as a kid? I did. Stacked near Clue, Risk, and Ker-Plunk, I thought Monopoly was about luck. A property game with cards, dice, and all the skill of Chutes and Ladders. I was wrong. Yes, luck plays a role in Monopoly. …

How to harness your Muse with habit and hard work — Where do writing ideas come from? To describe the writing process, writers use ideas rooted in myth. The Muse Writers and artists speak of “The Muse” or of a personal muse. A mystical force who inspires their work. The Muse originated from Greek mythology. The Greek poet, Hesiod, wrote about nine Muses…

A string of stories to help you overcome creative blocks — Welcome to a new collection of stories on how to get your writing unstuck. My goal is to make a place where you can collect sparks to push your work forward. Each post will begin with the phrase “How to Hack Writer’s Block,” followed by advice you can act on…