Especially for Older Students: Debtor’s Monopoly

(10 minutes, moderate set-up)
Students will play a variation of Monopoly® to illustrate God’s forgiveness of our sin debt.
Print one copy of the Debtor's Monopoly activity sheet for your use. Set up a Monopoly board prior to the session, with hotels on each property. Provide enough playing pieces for all students to participate. Distribute $200 to each player. From the stack of cards, set aside the one that says, “Get out of jail free.”

Say: Today we are going to begin by playing a round of “Debtor’s Monopoly.” Provide a playing piece for each student (additional playing pieces might be provided through using charms, tokens, coins, or colored pieces from other games). Explain the rules for this variation of MonopolyÒ:

The teacher is not a player, but rather the banker.
The board is set up with all deeds in the hands of the banker.
There are hotels on every property, and all rents are therefore set at the maximum.
The bank also owns all utilities and railroads, and rents are therefore set at the maximum.
All players begin with $200.
When a player cannot pay the rent, he or she goes directly to jail (without passing “Go” or collecting $200).
The banker cannot lend funds to players who are in jail. (They are a poor credit risk.)
Players in jail may attempt to borrow funds from players still on the board in order to get out of jail. The bank, however, cannot lend money to players who have loaned away all their money. (They are a poor credit risk.)
The game ends when all players are in debtor’s prison—which should happen very quickly.

Play the game until all players are in jail (which should happen quickly). Note: The banker will win. Then, ask: Why is debtor’s prison an impractical punishment for someone who cannot pay his or her debts? Next, show the “Get Out of Jail Free” card. Say: By virtue of this card, I hereby forgive all debts and set all debtors free. Explain that today’s lesson tells us how we have been freed from paying a debt we could never repay.