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Hasbro Monopoly - Disney Edition
by Clarey112
Monopoly is a classic Hasbro family favourite board game which has been around for years in many households. Of course there's the classic Monopoly with the streets and landmarks of London and then they started bringing out more and more versions, now there's one for pretty much all big cities, ones for TV shows and films and even a ... 'Create your own' Monopoly. Disney Monopoly is one that caught my eye as I am a big, big Disney fan and feel I must have everything Disney, be it films, cuddly toys, mugs and now even board games.
If you're familiar with the concept of Monopoly then Disney Monopoly works in the same way but with its own magic touches. You have the choice of 8 tokens, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mowgli and Pinocchio. Players then take it turns to roll the dice and move round the board collecting Magic Moments and Show Time cars which have different instructions on such as ' Fly to go with Peter Pan' and buying properties which in this game are different Disney Movies including favourites such as Lion King, Toy Story and Cinderella. Once a player has a full set of cards of any colour they can start buying properties to build on their lots, in this game the properties are Cottages and Castles as opposed to Houses and Hotels. The game play goes on until all players but one become bankrupt or the quicker and easier way to play it is to set a time limit and see who has the most money at the end of the allotted time.
There are some other little Disney touches which are as follows:
* Instead of just 'Tax' it's Scrooge McDuck's Tax and Prince John's Tax is super Tax
* The four stations are Aladdin's Flying Carpet, Captain Hook's Pirate Ship, Cinderella's Coach and Cruella De Vil's car.
* The two utilities are Magic Wand and Pixie Dust
The Monopoly classics such as Go, Jail and Free Parking remain the same.
The board is beautifully designed and the two dice you receive with the game are glittery which adds to the Disney touch even more.
Although this game might be a bit complicated for younger children they can still enjoy the Disney theme with the silver, 3D tokens and the pictures on the board.
Overall a really good spin on the classic version of Monopoly and really good value for money as you can pick this game up for about £20-£25; it will provide you with hours of great family fun.
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Hasbro Trivial Pursuit Disney
by Clarey112
I had to get this game to add to my ever growing Disney collection and I play it all the time! Trivial Pursuit is one of those classic games which most families have in their house when their younger, the original game I found to be boring as I didn't know most of the answers but this version is the complete opposite of boring.
If ... you're not familiar with the concept of Trivial Pursuit, you travel round the bored answering questions corresponding to the colour of the square you land on and if you answer the question correctly you win a piece of 'cheese' which is a wedge that fits in your token. Disney Trivial Pursuit follows this concept and you have a Mickey Mouse head shaped token to fit your cheese into. The game looks very appealing with pictures of different scenes of Disney films on each square.
There are two lots of question cards that come with the game, the dark blue ones are the harder questions and the red ones are the easier questions, this means that the adults can answer the harder ones and the kids can answer the easier questions, making it a more fun and fair game for children. The game also comes with a card holder made to look like a book so the cards don't get scattered and messy, a blue wizards hat which is a feature to give younger players more of a chance.
The questions are split into six different categories which are: Once upon a time, Heroes and Heroines, Supporting Stars, Monsters and Villains, Places and Props and the Wonderful world of Disney. Once you have answered all 6 correctly and filled your token with pieces of cheese you progress to the centre of the board and answer a question chosen by the other players. If you answer this correctly you win the game.
The game features loads of Disney films including Pixar so all of the family favourites are in there such as Lady and the Tramp, Lion King, Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Mary Poppins. This is definitely a game for kids, Disney fans and families and makes great fun at special occasions such as Christmas.
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Orchard Toys Pop to the Shops
by littleme96
We purchased Pop to the Shops for our 4 year old daughter on the basis that it looked like a fun game and was from one of our favourite toy brands - the brilliant Orchard Toys. We now own many games and jigsaw puzzles from Orchard toys, a company based in Norfolk and they haven't let us down yet. The game boards and pieces are durable, ... eye-catching and most importantly, fun to play! Most of the games have a subtle educational element and for this one it teaches basic money handling, turn taking and encourages good manners. So far so good!
As with many of the games from this company, the game board is actually a jigsaw puzzle making it easy to pack away and store in the box along with the play pieces. As a result of this is that the box is smaller than more traditional board games such as Monopoly. Having said that the jigsaw puzzle that makes up the game board for this game only consists of 4 pieces (each with a different shop on it) and so it really takes no time at all to assemble. Having assembled the board on a flat surface, the next job is to sort a number of small cards, choose a character to play with and the corresponding shop that they work in and to distribute money to each of the players. I would say that it takes less than 5 minutes to do all of this and it is easy to assign a job to the children playing to get it done quicker.
There are four characters to choose from and each character belongs to a specific shop - a boy dressed in blue and a Newsagents, a girl dressed in yellow and a Mini Market, a boy dressed in green and a Greengrocers and a girl dressed in red and a bakery. Each shop has 6 items of various prices to buy and the aim of the game is to fill you shopping basket with 6 items before your opponents do. The items in each shop range in price from a bargainous 10p for some carrots to a whopping £1.20 for a salad roll, with all sorts of price points in between! There are cards that are placed over each item so that when you purchase it, you can put the physical item in your basket as a record of what you have bought so far. The player selects the item that they need to buy by picking up a replica card which is placed upside down. When they have travellled to the correct shop and purchased the item, they select a new card and go on to purchase that item next and so on, until they have bought 6 items and filled their basket. Whoever does this first is the winner!
Plastic money is used in the game and comes in 3 denominations - 10p, 20p and 50p. Each players starts off with the princely sum of £1.50 to help them buy their first item. Players also get money when another player buys an item in their shop or when the pass through the middle of the board. The space in the middle of the board is the "bank" space and when you pass over it you can collect 20p.
We really like this game for several reasons. Whilst my daughter is not old enough to play without help (from a financial point of view!), she really enjoys it and is slowly getting to grips with budgeting and making sure that she has enough money to buy the next item that she has chosen at random. The fact that only 10p, 20p and 50p coins are used makes the maths relatively simple and is a great introduction to money and making purchases. The fact that you get money when someone buys something from your shop shows that it's a good source of income too! It is also good for talking about change and how when you buy something sometimes you get money back if you don't have the correct coinage.
I love the fact that when a player reaches the shop in which they need to buy the item they have selected, players are encouraged to ask politely for the item that they wish to buy. For example, "Hello Mr. Greengrocer, please may I buy some of your lovely bananas?". It's such a nice touch and encourages role-play and realistic conversation as well as good manners.
With the world-domination of supermarkets, I also love the fact that the different shops hark back to yesteryear, where you would go to the Bakery to buy bread or pop to the Newsagents to buy some pencils - how refreshing that it's not all just purchased at the Supermarket! In this respect it is also teaching children about specialist shops and what you would find in a Greengrocers etc, sad that it is having to be taught this way, but when they are disappearing from our high streets this may be the only way!
In conclusion, we love this game. It's not only great fun, but it is also teaching numerous skills without my child even knowing! And Mummy and Daddy love it too!
It is possible to play this game with up to 4 people, but we often play with 2 and the "bank" owns the shops which don't have a real person manning them. It is recommended that this game is suitable for children aged between 5 - 9 years, although this is obviously just a guide. The game also links in with Early Learning Goals and the National Curriculum.
The game box contains:
- Jigged Game Board (4 pieces)
- 48 Item Cards
- 4 x Shopping Bag Boards
- 4 Characters
- 4 Character Stands
- Play Money
- 1 Dice
- Instruction Leaflet
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