Enjoyable Game (Monopoly)

Member Name: jpegington

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	17/01/06 (781 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Game, Enjoyable

Disadvantages: Can be very annoying, very long sometimes

Technical Details

Manufacturer's age: 8 years and up
Number of Players: 2 to 8

Basic Details About the Game

The box should contain a game board, two dice, play money, 32 houses, 12 hotels, 11 tokens, a stack each of Chance and Community Chest cards, and a Title Deed card for each property.

First you need to distribute the money. Each player gets two £500 bills, Two £100 bills, Two £50 bills, six £20 bills, five £10 bills, five £5 bills and five £1 bills for a total of £1,500.

Then you need to choose a playing piece from options like the iron, the battleship, the car, etc.

Aim of the game is to become the owner of all the properties and the richest person there. Basic idea is that you throw the dice and move around the board. You can buy a property from the Bank, if you wish, when you land on it. If you opt not to buy a property on your turn, the Banker may auction it to the highest bidding player. Bidding can start at any price and anyone may bid on the property.

Tip of the Game is really to own a complete street (or many streets) , Like Bow Street, Marlborough Lane and Vine Street as then you get more rent when opposition players land on your property.

HINT: Don't forget to collect your salary of £200 from the Bank every time you pass or land on Go.

Win the game by snapping up all of the property on the board, ruining the other players and acquiring more money and assets than anyone else.

There are also chance and community chest cards which you collect if you land on those spaces. Note that Chance cards are sometimes bad as they also include two PAY RENT on your houses and hotels.

NOTE: There are many variations that can be played for Monopoly, including A Timed Game (decide before how long you are playing and then work out who is richest to decide who has won).

If you want to speed the game up then you can also distribute 3 cards to each player at the beginning of the game so you already own property before you start.

My Opinion

Now, I must admit that I love this game and really enjoy playing it. However you must know that it can take ages! If you play this game properly with more than 3 / 4 players than the game can take ages (and I mean hours and hours long). Note this if you are the impatient type.

I really enjoy this game and find buying and selling of property, trading property to get a street and generally playing the game really enjoyable. It can be a nightmare if you do not get many properties but then you cannot win every game (although I really would want to).

This game gets very competitive. I have found many people who are usually mild mannered get quite heated in this game as you force people to get bankrupt to pay their debts. I also know many people who will not play with other people or do not play the game at all because it is too competitive. Stay away from this game if that bothers you.

What else to say about this game, it is gripping, you must pay attention to this game especially if you play it properly. Reason for this is that in the proper game you only pay rent on property that you land on if the owner notices it. Therefore you have to pay attention. Not a game that you can play while watching a film and only half paying attention.

I don't think that I am really showing this game in this review off in a good light. I love it and enjoy playing it with friends but want to highlight some of the negative sides for everyone else to make their own minds up as to whether to play and purchase it.

The game is easy to set up and easy to play and learn so no problems there. This is a good game to teach kids how to persevere with a game and teach them to learn to finish games they start. Just an idea.

That is about all I can think of at the moment to say about this game. All in all it is fun to play although long. Easy to set up and learn and definetely worth playing with friends but leave yourself a lot of time.

Verdict: 3 out of 5

Summary: Good Entertaining Game