What does Monopoly have to do with technical writing? Lots.  

A recent game with my in-laws and husband got me thinking…

Technical writing is everywhere. And very flippen important.  

Mo money, mo problems

Confession time: I hate Monopoly. Why? Because I suck at it.

I turn into this:

But a recent first-time win gave me an unmatched high – and a willingness to play it again (something I never imagined possible). My guess is that the rest of my life will centre around chasing that Monopoly high.   

Monopoly – ruining friendships since 1935.

Technical writing

This overlooked but ubiquitous type of copywriting has been on my mind recently.

What would we do without it?

I’d bet my Eloff Street hotel there’d be way more Monopoly-related deaths if its handy instructions didn’t exist.   

Clear and concise

No-one’s too concerned with the protocol around mortgaging or selling property – until it happens to them. When the Musgrave* hits the fan, eyes (and sweaty hands) turn to the booklet to understand the rules around pauperdom.

*A brown property… and one of the cheapies.

Now, as luck (or copyright common sense) would have it, these key points are bolded so that the eye can easily scan for them.   

MORTGAGES… Before an improved property can be mortgaged, all the buildings on all the properties of its color-group must be sold back to the Bank at half price.

Imagine how much more combustible this crises would be if the instructions didn’t have easy-to-find bolded highlights or were worded more like this:

‘One must preliminarily sell one’s properties that exist on the entirety of the given colour for 50% of the original market value, and then one can mortgage said property or properties.’    

‘Remember, the shortest and simplest way to explain something complicated is often the best.’–Document360

Whether you’re the car, the dog or the iron (my personal favourite), you’ll need to understand how to play the game. Good technical copywriting solves for this need. Next time you’re playing a game, remember that a human (or output from an AI that’s been refined by a human) helps you understand – and usually bemoan – the rules.  

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