It's 75 Years Old, This Year... (Monopoly)

Member Name: mythdata

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	16/02/09 (377 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Entertainment for the whole family.

Disadvantages: Can last hours and sometimes days per game.

INTRODUCTION

This is a game that has been passed down the generations, and I am sure it is a game that is going to be within my family for many years to come.

This is a family board game that always makes an appearance at Christmas, so while putting the board games back in the loft after Christmas I thought I would review this legendary game.

MONOPOLY HISTORY

Monopoly has become a very well known board game in every household, ever since the early nineteenth century when it was brought on to the market in America.

This great family game was invented by a gentleman called Charles Darrow, after creating a prototype of the game me took his idea to Parker Brothers so they could mass produce the game, but Parker brothers did not take to the idea and refused to produce the game.

Darrow refused to give up and hand made five hundred copies of his idea and went on to sell them in a department store, these five hundred copies sold out instantly so Parker Brothers then realized it would be successful and decided to take on the idea mass produce the game.

From then on monopoly has become the game we all know and love, they have even gone on to produce many different editions which are the same game play as the original board game, but they seem to produce these limited editions at Christmas time.

THE AIM OF THE GAME

The aim of the game is to buy, rent or sell properties with this you have to become very rich in order to beat you opponents. The player with the most money at the end of the game is determined the overall winner.

Each player must make their way around the board, each move is determined by the amount thrown on the two dice. If you land on a property that has not been sold you can buy it, but if this is already owned you will have to pay the owner a rental fee for landing on their property.

It is a good idea to buy as much property as possible so you can collect more rent from the other players landing on the property, if you can gain a street which is a block of three houses in the one colour you can then start to buy houses and then hotels for the street. This is where you will see a vast improvement it the amount of rental you collect from your opponents and this gives you the upper hand and better chances of winning.

CHANCE, COMMUNITY CHEST & FREE PARKING

If buying and selling houses is not enough entertainment then the game also has a few thrown in twists, these come in the form of community chest and chance cards.

There are three of each chance and community chest spaces within the forty spaces that make up the board.

If you land on either of these squares you must pick up the relevant card that sits in the middle of the board game, There are three types of cards within each pack the first type being ones that give you money for example (Bank Error In Your Favor Collect 200.00) In this case you will collect the cash from the banker and be upon the money side of things.

The second type of card is one that can work in you favor but if can also be damaging, for example go back three spaces, advance to Pall Mall if you have these cards and you don't own the property then you will have to pay out to other players.

Lastly the damaging cards like pay housing repairs, this can be very damaging if you own houses and hotels as you have to pay a set amount for each house and hotel. In the past I have gone bankrupt with this card as I had lots of houses and hotels, I was on the verge of winning until I pulled out this card. It certainly goes to show that the game is swings and round abouts.

Whenever we play if anyone pays out on the chance and community chest cards, it all goes into the centre of the board. Then any player who lands on the Free Parking space collects the kitty.

THE BOARD AND PLAYING EQUIPMENT

The board in made out of thick card and is folded in half, making it very easy to store away when not in use. Everything is stored in one box so you have very little chance of losing any of the pieces.

Here is what is included and needed to play monopoly.

The board itself consists of forty spaces which are made up of property, railway stations, utility sites, community chest, chance, income tax penalties, Jail and go to jail spaces.

Paper money in denominations on 1's, 5's, 10's,20's, 50's, 100's, and 500's my favorite obviously being the pink 500's.

32 green houses and 12 red hotels, this is the amount given when your game is new but as the years go on these amounts do dwindle down but it will not affect the game play at all.

Two dice to determine how many spaces to move.

The community chest and chance cards, title deed cards for every property available to buy, once you have bought the property you will be handed the deed card, so you can determine how much rent is required should another player land on your property.

Lastly you have six metal playing pieces the ship, the car, the boot, the hat, the iron and the dog. There are only six pieces so it can allow up to six players to play. You can using something else as a playing piece if you what more players, but I would advise you to play in pairs because if too many are playing it will be nearly impossible to buy streets and therefore the game will last for days, or at least until someone changes direction and sell off property.

STARTING A GAME

To start each player must have 1500 in money 2x 500, 4x 100, 1x 50, 1x 20, 2x 10, 1x 5and 5 x 1. The rest of the money stays in the bank and it is up to a player that has been elected banker to pay out and other money that maybe won along the line.

Each player takes it in turn to throw the dice and move around board, collecting money, buying and selling property.

The game is played until players are made bankrupt, the winner is the player who is has money at the end of the game. Beware this can take hours to complete a full game, but it is possible to bend the rules making it a much quicker game.

BUYING MONOPOLY

You can buy this board game form many shops, supermarkets and online of as little as 9.99 plus postage.

I recently spotted the original edition in Tesco of the small price of 12.00, which is very reasonable as this game can create many hours of fun.

OTHER MONOPOLY EDITIONS

I have the original monopoly which has been passed through my family for years, I don't really see the point in replacing it as it is still in very good condition and it serves the same purpose as the newer editions.

At Christmas I always spot these editions in places like Debenhams, you can buy them in Disney, High Scholl Musical, Simpsons, New York and even Leeds Versions. They are many more edition but these are some of the others available.

I would love the Disney edition but I could not justify spending the 50.00 they were asking for it at Christmas, as I already had this version.

MY OPINION

I was brought up with monopoly and I think it is a game that I will be more than willing to play for the rest on my days, I love this as it can cause friction between families and what really amazes me it the fact that someone always gets branded a cheat, even though it is nearly impossible to cheat while playing.

This always comes out at Christmas as it is something that passes the hours making spending long periods of time with tolerable, I would certainly give my right arm for this at Christmas as I hate spending to long with my family members.

This is suitable for both adults and children and is very easy to follow, so I would recommend this game for any house hold as it can be very fun to play and cost next to nothing if you don't already own it.

Summary: Recommended for family ocassions.