Settlers of Catan: The New Monopoly?

As Monopoly celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, the household favorite's message seems to fit our times as well as it did when it was created during the Great Depression. But perhaps a board game with a less catchy name -- Settlers of Catan -- has better lessons for our modern world; and, for our modern entrepreneurs. Thanks to the Internet, the German multi-player real estate development game has spread to Silicon Valley, where, the Washington Post reports, it has become akin to the computer programmer's golf game:

Thanks to the Internet, Settlers has spread from Stuttgart to Seoul to Silicon Valley, where it has become a necessary social skill among entrepreneurs and venture capitalists (one tech chief executive calls it "the new golf"). Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg reportedly plays it with his girlfriend. It is popular among programmers and college students, a set of forward-thinkers similar to those who played Monopoly years before Parker Brothers got in on the action. We think of Monopoly as a game celebrating capitalism, but it actually evolved out of the Landlord's Game, patented in 1903 to promote a high tax on property owners proposed by economist Henry George.

Read the full story at the Washington Post.