I readily confess I don’t understand the making of money, its overwhelming attraction and why we’ll do the things we do to get money. That said, I’m left to invent “money games” in order to get a thrill concerning what comes naturally to so many. Here’s a perfect example of a money game with an element of suspense that is intriguing, at least, to me personally.

Game overview: The 2012 Personal Financial Disclosures for members of Congress are out. The findings are compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, which is a non-partisan group. What makes this particular money game so interesting is that, for the first time in U.S. history, a majority of the members of the U.S. Congress are millionaires. Yep, there are more millionaires in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives than there are members with an average net worth under $1 million.

Game rules: A player from any state in the United States can play the game. Naturally, being an Alabamian, I’m playing the “Alabama” version of the game. The biggest winner possible in this game would be a person from a state where every member of its congressional delegation is a millionaire. See, you can’t get any better than that. That’s like a royal flush. The next biggest winner would be a state that has more than half of its congressional delegation millionaires. Naturally, the lowest rung of the ladder is the state whose representation in congress consists of a majority of non-millionaires. (There are different variations of this money game. For example, in one possible variation a Alabamian might add up the average net worth of Alabama’s congressional delegation and divide the total by our state’s number of senators and representatives to get the “average worth.” Then, our state “team” is compared with other state teams’ average worth to see where we stack up. Naturally, a variation like this involves a lot of addition and division, so more than a few will probably want to stick to the simple version of the game that follows below.)

Game on: Look up your state’s congressional delegation’s Personal Financial Disclosures (dollar figures are rounded off for game purposes. Remember: Monopoly money doesn’t count.):

Republican Sen. Jeff Session: $7 million.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby: $6.5 million

Republican Congressman Mike Rogers: $2.5 million

Republican Congressman Robert Aderholt: $2.5 million

Republican Congressman Mo Brooks: $962,000

Republican Congresswoman Martha Roby: $950,000

Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus: $630,000

Democrat Congresswoman Terri Sewell: $190,000

Now, here’s where this game gets tense and exciting for Alabamians. Note that we have four millionaires and four under a million. But, see, one of our congressional seats is missing from the Center for Responsive Politic’s 2012 findings. That’s because one of our millionaires, Jo Bonner, resigned his seat in the House last year. Alabamians in the First Congressional District recently elected Bradley Byrne to fill Bonner’s unexpired term. But is Bradley a millionaire; one who could solidify the State of Alabama’s standing in the list of states with the most elected millionaires in Washington?

I don’t know the answer to that but Bradley is a lawyer, so there’s a good chance that he will make it five millionaires and four non-millionaires for our state. If so, that will give Alabama better than 50 percent millionaires in Congress, which isn’t too shabby, right?

I’m hopeful Bradley is loaded in spite of what I saw on TV shortly after he was elected. He was boarding a plane for Washington. One suitcase, no big send-off at the airport, just a man and his determination, all reminiscent of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” I’m figuring that was done for effect; that Bradley is actually ready to surprise us the next time the Center for Responsive Politics puts out its list of average net worth.

Let’s just say our new congressman doesn’t have to be a Darrell Issa (R-California) ($464 million). He’ll make us proud when it comes to the “money game” just as long as he’s a Big Mule in the pocketbook.

Bob Morgan is a retired, award-winning journalist and an author.