If a simple board game played with family leaves someone angry or in tears then that's a problem. Games like monopoly are actually great opportunities for children to learn self control and perspective.
Agreed my little brother and I played a game of monopoly that payed almost a whole summer when we were kids. Any time somebody ran out of money, we begged for "alms for the poor" and the other guy would give money to keep the game going. I suppose increased capacity for generosity is a good side of capitalism. Think about it now - many of the richest Americans have decided to give all their money away. I can guarantee that bill gates will do a better job with it than the government would.
I recall similar dynamic rules being added by me and my friends. Sometimes there would be a Robin Hood raid on the banks. Sometimes the bank would run out of money. Sometimes the Jail would be over full. Sometimes when others were not looking hotels would vanish mysteriously or via "gas explosion". Or we would pass around cash between ourselves to give the losing players more of a chance. It made it more fun.
I guess scrabble is a bad idea because it causes fights when someone doesn't understand the concept of proper nouns? Oh my gosh, conflict, let's just throw the game away to spare everyone's feelings.
If you get angry rather than use it as a chance to learn, sure. I'd avoid playing scrabble with that adult, among other games if this spread there too. Children get stopped for the day due to the outburst, but generally get more chances since they are learning.
Monopoly is especially bad for this. It's the game you introduce people to if you want to put them off board games. So many people have stories about games of monopoly disintegrating into arguments.
Why? Probably due to the extremely zero-sum randomly-driven parts of it, combined with the last-man-standing nature. People who have to drop out early end up disaffected. Someone who gets an early advantage will usually stay ahead, which isn't fun either.
There are games with more backstabbing in e.g. Diplomacy, but they're rightly seen as not for everyone. Whereas Monopoly has this odd status as "default board game" while not being very fun.
Yes it can be a frustrating game if you lose, but it can also be very fun if you win. If you're unfortunate and end up losing early, you can still hang out and watch, or go do something else. The point is that we have to learn to tolerate and adapt to that failure. Our first instinct may be to get angry and complain but that's not constructive or helpful.
