Learning can be Fun! (Hasbro My First Monopoly)

Member Name: sewbizzie

Product:	Hasbro My First Monopoly
Date:	25/06/09 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun easy to play game

Disadvantages: None from my house

As out eldest took an interest in Monopoly after watching his Dad playing in on the computer we did try and explain to him how it works with out Monopoly board but it just really went over his head. For his birthday his Aunt decided she would buy him the junior version which he loves.

THE CONTENTS

The game comes in a nice bright box which contains:-

Board
Car
Bag of green houses
6 coloured roofs - 4 different colours, red, pink, yellow and black
Pack of £1 notes
Car Track - comes in 4 pieces

SETTING UP

The car track needs to be fixed together which does so by a little jigsaw type piece on each end, the fourth piece should not been connected until the car has been fitted onto the runner on the track.

The cardboard playing board is them slotted into place on top of the track.

Each player is given 1 golden roof, 10 green building blocks, 5 of their colour choice in roofs and 6 £1 notes.

PLAYING and AIM OF GAME

The car needs to be pressed at the beginning of the game and on the go position of the track. The car welcomes everyone to the game and then tells you the number of places to move. When you stop if you are on a house square you are allowed to place one of your green brick. If the number by the property says 1 then you can add your roof but if it says 4 then 4 green bricks need to be added before you can place the roof on. You continue around the board taking it in turns and when you have used up all of your roofs your final build is to be by putting the golden roof on to a building. When you have done this you are to quickly press the driver in the car down 3 times and he will congratulate you on winning.

As you move around the board and land on properties if you are not the owner and it is owned by another player then you have to pay rent to them. The value of the rent is the number of green building blocks which the square has. For example if you land on the red 3 square and it is build and owned by a player then you would pay that player £3. Also when you land on the chance square then you may get a fine or receive money. £2 id also given to each player whenever the car passes the go square.

OPINION

My eldest was thrilled when he got this game and was really excited about playing. He found it very easy to set up and had to do so all by himself as he is now seven and thinks he can do everything! He did find it very easy to learn the instruction as we told him he would have to read them and then explain how to play the game to us (a great way of improving reading without them realising!)

We all sat down to play this game and hubby was his usual cocky self saying he would buy all of the property and bankrupt us all like he usually does but what joy when he found he could not do this! The game is definitely a game of luck and not skill like the adult version as you have no real choice over what you can and cannot buy. It really depends on where you land. I like how you can use all of your green blacks but still not own any of the properties as you have no coloured roofs on them or the other way around and not build at all and land on all the properties which need roofs.

The money which changes hands during the game is another good way to encourage counting and maths. The values are only small and the largest value which has to be paid out is £4 as this is the largest property. Our eldest always has to be the banker and in charge of the money and I do think it has helped with his maths skills.

The one downside of the game is that you have to move the arcing car around the board very slowly otherwise it does not register how many spaces you have moved and tells you to go back. The best and simplest way we have found of moving it is buy only moving one space at a time and waiting for him to count them. This does help with out 4 year old as he is really getting good at his counting now thanks to the game.

Another good thing about this game is that as there are no counters to move around the board then there is no arguing over who uses which piece and also there are no dice to loose!

I am definitely going to recommend this game to all as it makes a lovely fun and educational game. No one can cheat in it and it also encourages family time. The game is for ages 4 years and up and for 2-4 players.

As I said at the start of this review it was gift so I am not sure how much it costs. I have also included some photos of the game set up as I have never seen a version like this and only ever seen the normal dice and bard version for children.

Highly recommended by me, my 7 and 4 year olds and also hubby!

Summary: A beginner version of the popular game