Fancy owning the London Eye? (Hasbro Monopoly Here & Now Limited Edition)

Member Name: salem_witch

Product:	Hasbro Monopoly Here & Now Limited Edition
Date:	03/02/06 (3170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Up to date properties and prices

Disadvantages: Some could get bored I guess

Surely everyone has played Monopoly? I've loved playing it from a young age. I remember playing it with my family over Christmas and my sister throwing a tantrum as she never won. Also as a child I played it with my friends and played our own little versions and rules which made it more interesting. I even bought the American version when I was on holiday in the States over 10 years ago. Having a different version made things more interesting.

**HISTORY OF THE GAME**

In 1933 Charles Darrow decided to invent a board game to make some money after the Depression. He made it with an oilcloth for the board, the cards were hand-written and the tokens were rumoured to be lucky charms from his wifes bracelet.

Friends wanted their own sets so a friend of his produced some sets for $2.50 each. He couldn't keep up with the demand though. He approached Parker Brothers in 1934 for them to mass produce it. They turned him down as they said the game was too complicated and the players went round and round the board rather than reaching a final goal. Darrow went on by himself and proved to Parker Brothers how popular the game was. They changed their minds and in 1935 they bought the rights to the game.

It was so popular that its now been sold in 80 countries and in 26 different languages. Each country has used its own currency and based the places on an area in their country. So when it came to England it was based on London rather than the Atlantic City places.


Over the years Monopoly changed very little. They did revamp it in 1972 but nothing major was changed. They increased the tokens and the title deeds. The money was also printed on both sides to make it look more authentic. Then in 1990 a Leeds version was created for charity. Several other versions have been produced since. There was a World Cup game, The Simpsons and various other places such as Cornwall and Glasgow. The Here and Now version celebrates its 70th year. It is a Limited Edition and will only be on sale till the end of this year.


**HOW THIS DIFFERS TO THE ORIGINAL VERSION**

The rules are exactly the same (I'll explain later in case you don't know them!) One of the first things that you notice are the places are all different. Tell a lie Trafalgar Square is still there, it's the only place that has stayed the same though. Old Kent Road has become Portobello Road Market and Mayfair is now The City. Other places include Wimbledon, Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park, Covent Garden, Soho and Notting Hill. The railway stations have been changed to airports: Gatwick, Heathrow, Stanstead and London City Airport. The Utilities (water works and electric company) have becomeTelecoms and The Sun.

There are new playing pieces as well. There is a mobile, burger, racing car, roller boot, skateboard and aeroplane. There is also a London bus that comes in a different type of metal (it just looks darker than the others do). The houses have been changed to apartments. They are still green and the hotels are still red. One thing that is good is the apartments can be stacked up on top of each other. It is a little bit fiddly but it's much easier to keep the board free of clutter. I remember with the original version it was easy to knock over houses when rolling the dice.

As you can imagine the prices have gone up ever so slightly as well?! You now start the game with £15 million instead of the £1500 you used to get. Now every time you pass Go you get £2 million and not the £200 as before. Basically all the amounts are really the same, with a few noughts added on! So to buy an airport costs you £2 million (railways were £200) and to buy The City costs £4 million (£400 before with Mayfair). The rent is the same. If you landed on Old Kent Road with no house it cost you £2. Portobello Road Market costs £20k.

Obviously the money has changed as well. The denominations start at £10k and got up to £5 million. You get the same amount of each not as you did in the original version as well.

Community Chest and Chance have also been updated. Some are the same such as Advance to Go. They are all the same idea so if you are lucky enough to have apartments and hotels you can get caught out! Here are a few examples of the cards:

Community Chest:
You win a reality TV show collect £100K
You are investigated for identity fraud. Go to jail...
Your internet company takes off collect £2M

Chance:
You sell your Wembley Season Ticket in an online auction collect £500K
Rush hour traffic! Go back three spaces.
Pay private school fees of £1.5M

**HOW TO PLAY IT**

For those few people out there who have never played it then let me explain.

First of all someone has to be chosen as a banker. They are then in charge of the money, title deed cards and the apartments and hotels. When I play someone is usually the banker and someone else normally fishes out the relevant title deed card.

To decide who goes first roll the dice. The person with the highest number starts. If more than 2 people are playing then play continues clockwise.

When it's your turn you throw the dice and move clockwise around the board. Depending on what square you land on you can buy a property if it isn't already owned, pay rent if the property is owned by someone else, pay tax, go to jail or read a Community Chest or Chance card.

According to the rules if you land on a property that isn't owned and you decide NOT to buy it then the property is then auctioned. I must admit I've never played it this way, we normally just wait until someone lands on it and wants to buy it. Anyway the banker starts bidding off at a price another player is willing to play and the person with the highest bid then pays that amount for the property. Even if you decided not to buy it originally you can join in the bidding.

When you own a group of properties that are the same colour you can build apartments and hotels on them. When players start doing this it starts to get interesting. If no one has a full set then players can make deals and sell property to each other. One game I played with my then boyfriend we had to do this as neither of us had a full set. Once we came to an agreement we both had a couple of complete sets and the fun began!

You can mortgage, sell buildings or sell property if you don't have enough money to pay other players or fines. If you cannot do this then you are out of the game. If this does happen and you owe the bank then all your title deeds must be returned and they are then auctioned off (or can be sold when another player lands on it if you play it the way I do). If another player is owed then they get all the money you have left and all your properties.

If you roll a double then you get another go afterwards. Be careful though, if you throw 3 doubles you have to go to jail! Whilst on the subject of jail its worth mentioning how you can get out. Noooo you can't bribe the banker!? You can pay £500k and get out straight away. If you'd rather stay there (sometimes its safer!) then you can see if you can throw a double. You get three chances to roll a double. If on your third go you haven't thrown a double then you have to pay £500k. If you roll a double before this then you can get out for free. You can also use a 'Get out of jail free' card from Community Chest or Chance if you have one. Its also worth mentioning that when you're in jail you can still collect rent on your properties but only if they are not mortgaged.

When someone lands on your property its up to you to ask for the rent. If you don't notice before then next player rolls the dice then it's your loss. It pays when you are playing people who don't notice. You can be sure that if you land on someones property with a hotel that they will notice though!

It isn't a game of luck. You need to spend wisely and decide which properties you should buy. Never let another player get a full set if you can help it. If one player owns Wimbledon and another owns The Oval is it really necessary to buy Wembley stadium? These are all the pink set in place of Pall Mall, Whitehall and Northumberland Avenue. It's also worth getting all the Airports if possible. When you own all one you get £2 million instead of £250k if one is owned.

Its important to remember the aim of the game: to avoid getting bankrupt. So try and be as cunning and devious as you can to bankrupt other players.

I've also learnt that the orange set (Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Tate Modern) is most likely to be landed on. So if you land on them then buy and build! I have lost several games, as I didn't build on the properties quick enough.

**OTHER BITS**

Many people suggest that Charles Darrow plagiarised Monopoly, and it had been originally devised by Lizzie Magie who created the Landlord's Game, patented in 1904.

The most commonly thrown dice total is 7.

All in all I highly recommend this game. Its fun and its nice to have it more up to date.

The cheapest I could find it online was for £18.94 on Amazon. This includes P&P.

Summary: Great fun