I wanna be the iron!!! (Monopoly)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	10/04/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Accessable to all ages

Disadvantages: Can go on forever.

When I was younger, we'd often sit down as a family and play a board game of a Sunday afternoon. Monopoly was a firm favourite for me although I don't think my parents were that keen on it which I will touch on in this review. I don't really know why I chose this game because my dad would always make sure he won. It would all end in tears but I still have such fond memories of this that I want to continue this tradition with my own family. I should add at this point that there would be tears even before the game had started if I couldn't be the counter that was shaped like the iron.

The game consist of a board that has lots London streets around the outside. Each street is represented by a colour and has a price (The prices get more expensive as you make your way around the board). If you roll the dice and land on a street then you can choose to buy it. If a player has already bought the street then they can charge you for landing on there. If you manage to buy all of the streets in each colour then you can start to buy houses and eventually hotels for them which makes it more expensive for the other players if they land on your streets.

There are four train stations which you can buy and two utility units although they aren't as profitable as the street sets. There is also a 'Go to jail' square where you have to sit in jail until your next turn and pay a fine to be released or you can opt to roll a double on the dice which will release you free of charge.

Dotted around the board are 'chance' and 'community chess' squares. If you land on one of these then you get to pick a card from the relevant pile. The cards are varied; sometimes you could win £20 for entering a beauty competition and other times you may have to pay a fine for speeding.

There are two 'tax' squares on the board where you will immediately have to pay a fine of £100-200 pounds.

Each player collects £200 everytime they pass the 'Go' square.

At the beginning of the game someone needs to be the banker which means that they will be in charge of receiving and handing out money to each of the players as the game progresses.

I love the way that the rules of this game can change from one family to the next. We used to play with the rule that whenever anyone paid to be released from jail would put the money in the centre of the board and when they landed on the square that was labeled 'free parking' then they could have all of that money. This made the game much more exciting because you could end up with a whole load of cash as it built up.

Another rule we would play with sometimes is if you rolled a double one then you received one of every note that was in the bank at the time. This added another fun element to the game because one person could end up with lots of money whereas another could end up with hardly anything near the end of the game because the bank was low on cash.

The one thing about this game that can be a little annoying is the fact that the 'chance' and 'community chess' cards can become a little repetitive so we like to change it up a bit in our house. If we are playing with friends then we tend to write a list of all of their insecurities and little secrets that we know about them and make new cards that relate to that. It is such a laugh and it really stirs the game up and adds another dimension to it.



Pluses.

Entertaining and quite versatile in the fact that you can make up little rules to suit yourself.

Teaches kids how to count and add up.

Accessable for all age groups.

Gives you some idea on how to be wise with your money.



Minus'.

The game can take such a long time it can get boring! (That's why my parents hated it!)

If certain players aren't willing to haggle with properties then it can come to a dead end.

Families may fight over which rules they should use and it can all end it tears.



Verdict.

Over all I would recommend this game to anyone as it's an all time classic. There are so many good things about it and is a great way to get the whole family to sit down together.

If you like this then you will pleased to know that there are tonnes of other versions of this game on the market. We have a 'Lord Of The Rings' version and you can also buy a 'Make your own' version. If you google it I'm sure you will find a version that will take your fancy.

Summary: A fun family game!