For a few seconds I just stand there, absorbing his words as they sink deeper and right to the heart of me but I.
Can’t. I, eyes watering. I manage a nod
Even for someone who's always half-asleep, this seems a little garbled and disjointed.
Feels like we're making progress again, which is generally a good thing.
Unfortunately, you brought out a new board game. And now I have to go all board game geek on you.
Let me preface this with the statement that I see what you were doing from a narrative standpoint, and I can respect that. But your game of life took liberties comparable to Battleship having a special black peg that can sink a ship immediately if it hits - better for drama, but entirely divorced from the game itself. Actually, the Battleship example might have a closer connection to the actual game than the things you said. :p
Any other details aside, your reference to "Millionaire Estates" and "Countryside Acres" places the version as one of the more recent versions (which are horrendous). In these more recent versions, luck plays a much more important role, and salaries (which are flexible) are one of the key deciders of winning. The other element is Life Tiles, which are picked up at certain milestones (such as having kids). There are a limited number of tiles, and once the pile is depleted, you get to steal tiles from other players. At retirement, you choose Countryside Acres, and your tiles are safe, or you choose Millionaire Estates and your tiles are up for grabs. However, the person who goes to Millionaire Estates and has the most cash gets four bonus life tiles. Then tiles are cashed, totals are counted up, and the winner is the person with the most assets.
Insurance costs a pittance, but only really matters if you're unfortunate enough to land on one of a couple tiles. You can buy stock at any time, but you're limited to a single stock. You can have a second if you happen to have a stock when landing on the "Stock Market Booms" space. No life tiles (or cards) earned from stocks, though. The stock cards are numbered 1-9, and when that number comes up, the stockholder gets something like 20k from the bank.
Also, I'm unaware of there being any version where getting married isn't mandatory.
Now, that being said, the clearly superior version was the original version endorsed by Art Linkletter. This version included revenge, "share the wealth" cards, bigamy jokes, and you sold your kids for cash at retirement. Salary was a relatively minor detail, and was fixed. It could give a slight edge, but was hardly game-breaking. It included much more interaction, and Revenge actually allowed you to move opponents backwards. Thematically, It may have been a better version to use due to lucky days (get cash in hand, or risk it for a big payout) and, more importantly, the endgame.
In the classic endgame, you could retire and wait it out, confident that you had the most cash. You hit retirement and let the turns pass (still gain money from the toll bridge and such), waiting to lord your massive wealth over the other players. Alternately, you could risk it all, trying to become a millionaire tycoon. You place all your assets on a number on the number line (1-10), and spin the wheel. If you spin your number, you win immediately (so the guy sitting on a cool billion in cash waiting it out loses). If you fail, you lose everything and you and your family go to live on the poor farm.
Better game, and a more appropriate metaphor. But, if you're actually human and don't care about the specific minutiae of different versions of a largely luck-based game, your cinematic version of the game works, too.