Dorm Monopoly

By: Gunner Gould

From cooperative games such as Pandemic and Forbidden Island to competitive games such as Exploding Kittens and Life to classics like Mankala and Chess, now more than ever, online games are helping people make friends, whether they live across the street or the world. One game that doesn’t get brought up in this conversation a lot is Monopoly, as it has a reputation for having the opposite effect on friendships. One group of students, however, flipped this narrative, and especially bonded over the game.

Dylan Haugan, a sophomore here at the University of Sioux Falls, brought the board because of how much he enjoys playing it, figuring he would be able to find a group of people to be able to play it with. The group came together in a few different ways, as Dylan became friends with one of them over the first week of classes, which led to being introduced to two others, he met another person through one of his classes, and another who moved into his dorm. Eventually, they started meeting every week to play Monopoly. 

Daniel Newman, one of the first people to join the group, says he joined because he “thought it would be some dumb fun”. He continued coming because he started connecting with the group, the community was welcoming, and he always had the thought process of “today is the day I will win”. He said that playing Monopoly allowed him to meet and hang out with other people he might not usually hang out with because of cliques and other interests. He also said that it allowed him to grow as a person by helping him learn how to make friends easier.