Want to argue and have fun at the same time??? (Monopoly)

Member Name: jonnynec

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	19/05/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Endless fun for very very little

Disadvantages: You might have a emm..little argument with your siblings lol!!!

(FOR THE BASIS OF THE REVIEW MON IS MONOPOLY MONEY)

Ahh Monopoly..As a child I was addicted to this game we used to spend endless days sitting in and playing monopoly, but as children me and my brother and sister argued over "free parking" what was it really, we settled for a free go for a while, then £400, then advance to go, even jail at one stage. God now when I think we had some arguments over this game. The house and hotels thing, I remember us having like 10 houses and 5 hotels on one site..brilliant. Did I mention we never read the rules..lol!!

Fast-forward a long time and last week when I had to get my wisdom teeth removed and the prospect of being home for a week scared me, daytime TV sucks. So I bought Monopoly and with a bit of luck it was my brothers week off and we this time read the instructions (thus finding out that "free parking" means nothing..ohh the drama), we even got the rules on money, loans the whole works and got started what was actually our first ever, correctly played, game of Monopoly.

Firstly I bought it at a local toy-store for £14.99 (sale). The average price from what I've seen is 20 quid.

For those who don't have Monopoly or those just looking some facts here goes:

Getting Started; All players must pick a character, a ship, shoe, car, dog, thimble (or is it thumbnail?) and an iorn. I think there are others when you buy in the States and there are different characters with different variations of the game. Internet rumours and my brother seem to suggest that there are Original Monopoly games out there with bonus Spongebob characters in them? I don't believe it nor have I searched hard enough to find out either way!!
There is 1500 in Monopoly cash for each player, two 500's, two 100's, two 50's, six 20's, five 5's and five 1's.
You need to choose who will be the "banker" for your game, try and pick someone who hasn't got a reputation for dipping their hands in the cash!!! The banker will be in charge-ish, he will control the handling of money, actions and giving out properties and buildings.
All the title deeds need to be set out in their spaces on the plastic holders and then arrange chances and community chests and let the fun begin!!!

Playing;
Firstly pass go (to collect the wages) and happy day's you've got 200 Mon, well that's as long as you don't land on income tax as the charge is 200 Mon and that's to be paid to the bank so your wages are worthless!!

Landing on chance or community chests can result in a lot of good and a lot of bad. Early on in the game you are generally ok with the worst hitters being doctor or school fees, later on in the game as you have a build up of houses and hotels a general maintenance card can finish the game for you, Mayfair with a house and a hotel in this scenario would kill you (well kill your game, not you). The rewards vary from bank interest return to 3rd prize in a beauty contest and from £10 Mon upwards. These cards can also send you to jail or advance or send you back to a different part of the board.

Landing on the Jail section of the board dosent send you to jail you are just visiting but its the space marked "go to jail" which sends you to jail (that's a shock). To get out of jail you can use a get out of jail free card, or roll three doubles on the bounce, if you don't roll them you pay 50 Mon, but while in jail you can contrary to popular belief you can collect rents, buy houses and buy hotels, ohh and buy properties.

Properties; (Please find link to photo of board this has a full list of names)
http://central.kaserver5.org/PlayK/Monopoly/EngB. gif

There are many different properties, now if I was to name them all you would get very bored but here's the gist of them.. Starting with the browns, cheap and cheerful and can create a real danger area for your opponents as the are sitting near income tax and are very cheap for buying houses and hotels, but the rent isint great. The browns btw are Whitechapel Road and Old Kent Road. You move up through the blues, pinks and oranges, with such famous places as Euston Road 100 Mon, Pall Mall 140 Mon and Vine Street 200 Mon.
The game hots up on the top section of the board with bigger rents yet more expensive houses and hotels. To buy these properties it will cost you a bit more, ranging from 200 Mon to 280 Mon and also landmarks like Trafalgar Square are here.
Then its the final section and the section everyone wants to buy into with the Greens of Oxford Street and the blues of Mayfair and Park Lane, with Mayfair being the ultimate buy in the game with the biggest rents in the game (well unless you pull a 12 on the Stations..Ill come to that). Of course on any of the properties that you wish to build houses you will need to own all the coloured properties in that group and to build hotels you need four houses on that property.
Apart from houses you can also purchase the water and electric company, rent is determined by the dice roll that lands you on this square, this is the same way that you work the four train stations on offer, which include the famous Kings Cross.

Broke?
If you find yourself in this situation can auction your properties off to the highest bidder, the auction will be controlled by the banker or you can re-mortgage you property to the bank and you will pay a mortgage until you can re-purchase your house.

Who wins?
Well if you are really going at the game its until the first player goes bankrupt and so until there is one man standing, he wins. You can also play limited games where you play for an hour only and at the end of the time whoever has the most total Mon wins.

Monopoly is a breathtaking game, a superb invention and a game that has been enjoyed by generation upon generation . It also has done what many things have not, and that's stand the test of time, Amstrad didn't do it, robots didn't do it and white Guinness didn't do it!!

You probably have this stashed away in your attic, get it out and have a lazy day or if you don't have it... GO AND GET IT!!

Summary: If anything was ever under-rated and well worth the £20 this is it!!!