Two rule change mechanics? That's all?
I guess the most valuable point here is how most players just aim for getting more cash when they forget it's simply an eliminator game. The same could be said over how I see everyone play Cutthroat Kitchen by trying to be the "best chef" when in reality they just have to not be the least best.

Stars for the history lesson.

With the exception of chess I've always hated board games, and make up fake excuses to get out of things like board game nights even if it's with some person I'm trying to date. Also I don't really like this guy that much. He's like this weird combination of Ira Glass and Bill Nye but talking about outdated memes like "can you do a starfox barrel roll in space" and stuff that nobody who watches PBS cares about.

I knew a lot of the cash infusions made Monopoly unplayable, but I didn't know that the hotels were an official game-breaking change.

I have a bunch of board game nerd friends, maybe I'll suggest we try to play by the old rules to try it out. It'll probably still be terrible, but at least it'll be shorter than a standard game.

The best way to play Monopoly: allow yourself to lose early, while your older sibling who can't stand losing slogs it out all afternoon.

Play Catan (formerly known as "The Settlers of Catan"); it's actually fun and it doesn't require you to sit for hours until n-1 people have been eliminated.

Or of course, the Cones of Dunshire.

I remember trying to explain to my roommates that their Monopoly game was taking eight hours because they refused to remove any money from the game economy. Because everyone knows that when you find free parking, it also comes along with several thousand dollars in cash.

drunken strip Monopoly

Yes, monopolies are bad... except when that monopoly is controlled by the State! Then monopolies are good. Also, cash infusions become good, because empathy. Thanks, socialist visionary Teddy Roosevelt.

I've always been amused by the way in which BoardGameGeeks hates Monopoly. I've always chalked it up to the fact that the BoardGameGeeks community is composed entirely of board game hipsters, who hate anything that's not Avalon Hill, high fantasy, or some obscure historical economic simulator that no normies have ever heard of.

My neighbour and oldest childhood friend got married to a girl he met on that website.

Stars for all of this.

Infinite Zest hit my initial concern- Why is PBS imitating the Buzzfeed model? Like, not inspired by, but completely copying? I thought PBS was better than that.

Secondly, I haven't played boardgames for years, and then a friend got me into them again, and I've been playing them at a comic book shop twice a week on and off for a while now. A couple of thoughts have occurred to me-

A: Modern board games are crazy expensive. + for a board game?

B: Many are stupidly complicated. As in, a many hour play time, and multiple plays before you're even ready to compete with people who already know the game.

C: Every childhood friend you ever had who can't handle losing a board game is exactly the same. I'm polite enough to keep going even though I know I'm not going to win, I've known people who throw their hands up and forfeit, which is fair enough, and then I've seen people who keep playing, yet sulk and moan the entire time, throwing cards and dice with a sigh, each time with a comment of "What's the point" or "Who cares, I've already lost".