The Board Game Monopoly

Yes.

It took forever.

Losers slowly mortgaged properties as the winner slowly put up more and more hotels.

I wish. The board we use is ruined, and pieces are lost.
I've never played to the end.

My brother would always win, he'd buy Mayfair and Park Lane then set up loads of hotels on them so we went bankrupt pretty quickly. I used to hate playing with him, we never stood a chance.

Yes, I played to the end many times. How can you not?

There isn't much point to starting something if there is no intention of finishing it.

Generally what happens is that after three hours someone has bought up enough of the board that the other players land on his or her property at basically every move while making little money for themselves. Eventually this bankrupts everyone but the monopolizer.

So the game usually goes in three stages of decreasing fun: the first and most fun stage where everyone is buying up property and putting up hotels; the second and less fun stage when some players start giving up their properties to stay afloat; and the third and least fun stage when it's clear who the lead player is and the game consists of rolling dice and moving pieces around the board until there's only one player standing.

The third stage is the least fun only if you're not the person collecting all the money.

Ha... true! If you're that person, then the level of fun depends on the enjoyment you derive out of seeing your friends get pissy. I have a relatively high tolerance of that, depending on the friend. 8)

I always wanted to be banker.