Earlier this decade, back when the Lord of the Rings was the biggest thing in cinema, a lot of people decided to cash in on this, and who better to take advantage of the massive world of Middle Earth but the Parker Bros company. The Lord of the Rings Monopoly is, like every other Monopoly game, the same "go around the board and buy property" kind of game, but, you know, with the added gimmick of being Lord of the Rings.

And, you know what, it's actually really cool. You get to play as one of nine characters from the film, with your playable pieces being made of pretty good quality die cast metal. In fact, each one is really well made and almost worth the price of the game. It also comes with a replica of the One Ring, which can be used for playing a special LotR-rules version of the game. Although personally I like to wear the ring on a necklace and pay the game ordinarily.

The game is played the same, otherwise, and the board features all the best places of Middle Earth which Frodo and his Fellowship travel to, starting at the old Shire and ending in Mordor and Mount Doom.

You play for power in this game, and not for money, and so you pay in power and receive power, which seems a bit strange but it's the sort of thing you get to. Also among the changes is the inclusion of strongholds and towers instead of houses and hotels, and the replacement of chance and community chest with Events and People. The stations are now different horses named in the story. I like how everything has been changed though, to accomodate the film (with instructions like "Fly, you fool! Return to Go" and the replacement of the taxes with being spotted by the Eye of Sauron), but the corner squares (Go to Jail, and Free Parking) remain the same. I guess it helps keep the old Monopoly charm.

For what it is, though, the LotR version of the game is great fun and really gets into the spirit of the books and films.