Because let's face it folks, as great a game as it is - and it is a great game - Monopoly®, like anything else, can get a little boring after a while. Well, let's put the spark back in the old war-horse. InflationDeflation is like a supercharger for Monopoly®; a facelift; a fresh coat of paint. InflationDeflation makes Monopoly® a blast! And it's a terrific tool to educate any young skulls full of mush in your care.

Accelerate into the 21st century! Wake up and smell the coffee!

We all knew the stock market couldn't continue its upward spiral of apparent prosperity. Sooner or later what goes up must come down.

Well, live the experience with InflationDeflation . Where Monopoly® was created just after the Crash of '29 and reflects the unchanging Depression years, InflationDeflation gives the game an unsettlingly modern flavor. There are good times and bad times. InflationDeflation cycles you through 5 Economic Climates:

1. Deep Deep Depression
2. Just Depressed
3. Recovering
4. Boom Time!
5. Runaway Inflation! - and then back again. 

It's an easy ride from Deep Deep Depression through to Runaway Inflation! But watch out going from Runaway Inflation! back to Deep Deep Depression. The inflationary bubble bursts, and the government is forced to issue a new more stable currency at a 90% devaluation of your old currency. Ouch! Major bummer! You just lost 90% of everything you had!

But guess what? You could have sheltered your wealth in your Offshore Bank Account. Here's a quote from the rules: "Just like in the real world, where the big boys like to have a stash hidden somewhere that the IRS and other thieves can't get at, so it is in the world of InflationDeflation."  Any money you had hidden away in your Offshore Bank Account is unaffected by the crash and you can comfortably weather Deep Deep Depression as a rich man (or as a rich person).

And there is even more to spice up this roller coaster ride. In addition to Chance and Community Chest, there are 17 new cards - "Crisis Cards" - One of these sends guilty players to jail when it is discovered they had planned to take over General Motors, Ford, and the City of Cleveland by using Confederate War Bonds as collateral! Another card describes the tragic mishap of the new Federal Banking Computer accidentally transferring funds randomly from account to account throughout the banking system.  Each Player has to transfer one half his cash to the Player on his right. But hey, "stuff happens."  A little redistribution of wealth never hurt anyone...right?

And good stuff happens too - one card has the benevolent Director of the IRS sending each Player a bonus of at least $500 cash. It seems the IRS has had an image problem since their agents started taking children hostage. (This free money should smooth things out.) In another card astronomers reveal that the end of the world was really last week! Not to worry - the Tooth Fairy saves the day.

And all this riot of fun and excitement takes place on the bedrock of our old favorite, Monopoly®. You're still trying to drive your friends and loved ones into bankruptcy as before - you're just having more fun doing it!

Some time ago an associate of Professor Mobius (spokesperson for InflationDeflation ) was trying to find a way to demonstrate cycles of inflation and deflation to his nine-year old son, Charlie. Just telling Charlie about it wasn't sufficient. The concepts were too foreign to Charlie's world. His dad then hit on the idea of using Monopoly® as a base system that was already familiar to his son - Charlie and his friends loved Monopoly® and played it often. One day, Charlie's dad got the kids' permission to manipulate the flow of money in their game. (Just like your Uncle Sam in 1913.) So, by increasing the flow of money to the players by raising their salary passing GO, and also by having payments normally made to the Bank flow back to the players via Free Parking, Dad as Banker caused the amount of cash in the system to keep increasing. Once the kids were having a ball all being rich, Charlie's dad would step in. He would announce that a stock market crash had wiped out most of their cash and that the bank was reducing their salary at GO and also shutting down Free Parking. Luckily there were no windows for the kids to jump out of - but they had definitely learned the difference between inflation and deflation. (They also started wondering how wise they had been to let "Good Ol' Dad" get control of their money supply.)

Professor Mobius saw that the kids actually enjoyed all aspects of the cycle: the inflationary ride to riches; the uncertainty of when the crash would come; and even their shared poverty after the crash. And all the while they were still engrossed by the familiar give and take of the core Monopoly® game. The Professor then pressured and encouraged Charlie's dad to expand the game to include other factors of modern economic and political concern.

The result, InflationDeflation , is a labor of love. In a gentle tongue-in-cheek style the game includes various aspects of our fast paced turbulent world. Wall Street, the IRS, Banks and Washington, among others, are the targets of thought-provoking ridicule. What began as a means to teach kids about inflation and deflation, evolved into a rich assortment of modern themes humorously presented in a dynamic economic model.

Kids - if a young person knows how to play Monopoly® and can read, he can play InflationDeflation The jokes in the 17 Crisis Cards may require the sophistication of high school students and above, but getting the jokes isn't essential to playing the game. The directions on the Crisis Cards and all rules are designed to be easily understood and followed, and the added dynamics of the game are great fun for younger kids (they'll grow into the jokes).

We especially recommend the game if you do Home Schooling. Playing with you, and seeing your amusement, your kids will ask why certain things are funny, which will allow you to investigate various economic, political, and historical topics with them. Given the ever looming possibility of Deep Deep Depression, the game also introduces the need to save against bad times. All this valuable instruction while you're having fun as a family!

InflationDeflation would also be useful in a standard school setting to demonstrate basics of economics, specifically economic cycles.

The game's initial purpose was as an instrument of instruction through experience. And it didn't lose its instructive quality, although it has evolved in part into a campy lampoon of our modern condition.

Now for you older and wiser folks who already know it all, if Professor Mobius didn't frighten you with his Newsletter and you were at all intrigued by FAQ I, then you will definitely be blown away by the game.

So, who would enjoy playing InflationDeflation? Answer: Anyone who enjoys Monopoly® and can read.

It's really quite easy. The heart of the game is an 8 1/2 X 14" flip-booklet. It's designed with a stand so the booklet is out and visible as a guide and easy reference. There is a simple (yet ingenious) system for showing when to flip from one Economic Climate to the next. And when you do flip to the next Economic Climate all the rules are clearly laid out on that new page.

There are 3 pages of general rules that describe all aspects of play including the mechanics of the Players' Offshore Bank Accounts, and how to handle payments to Free Parking. Plus there is another page of strategy tips and some samples of how Players should write notes when borrowing from other players.

Setting up and getting going is a piece of cake. However, some aspects of strategy are a bit tricky to master. How to handle the inevitable financial crash is perhaps the most important of these. Players know that Deep Deep Depression is coming but not exactly when. The need to shelter their wealth in their Offshore Bank Accounts is imperative, but there must be an equilibrium maintained. Timing is critical. If a Player liquidates and shelters his holdings too soon - he may have a bulging Offshore Bank Account but no way to pay for current expenses such as having to spend the night in a hotel on Boardwalk. Conversely, if a Player stays fully invested in hotels with lots of cash on hand but nothing sheltered, he may wake up a pauper after the crash from Runaway Inflation! to Deep Deep Depression.

Yes, InflationDeflation is easy to play. Basically the engine of Monopoly® carries you along while you devise new strategies as the Economic Climates change.

And if you'd like a free, more detailed, Top Secret discussion of strategy, and a closer look at a couple of actual Crises Cards, click on the Lil' Guy with the jerky sign, and request the goods.

Nope. There is no connection to Parker Brothers. InflationDeflationTM is not licensed or produced by Parker Brothers. InflationDeflationTM is an add-on game to Monopoly®. And you must have a Monopoly® game to play it. InflationDeflationTM was created and copyrighted in 1990. Phoenix Management Company holds all the copyrights.  "InflationDeflation" is a TradeMark owned by Phoenix Management Company.