Monopolise the world - or just your living room (Monopoly)

Member Name: Vialdana

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	25/06/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun for all the family.

Disadvantages: Little long winded if you don't set an end stop.

Monopoly is one of those games that most of us have lurking around in a cupboard somewhere. It's a great game for playing with kids because there's no cards to be hidden away from other players, so younger kids can be helped out along the way if need be, but still feel they are joining in. It's also great of course from a learning point of view as it involves maths and working out money in the form of the rent people owe you, or whether you can afford to buy a property or build houses or hotels on it.
Most people probably know the basics of monopoly, but for the fullness of review purposes, and in case anyone's failed to notice this game over the last 30 odd years, here we go...

*****skip this bit between stars if you know how to play the game*****

The Game can be played by multiple players - 3-5 is probably optimum as with two it's a little boring, and with too many it becomes rather complicated and a bit of a waiting game as you await your turn to play.

The board has 4 sides (like most boards), and on each side there are squares most of which are named for places in London from Pall Mall to Regent Street, and Marlborough street station to Mayfair (This is the traditional UK version - for other versions, these are named for other places real or fictitious). There are player pieces each shaped differently (boot, ship, top hat, dog, car and iron). Houses and hotels are provided for use later in the game, as are cards representing each of the squares on the board, and chance and community chest cards. As well as all this, there is a lot of money in various denominations (pretend money of course!)... Each player rolls a pair of dice in turn to allow them to move forward around the board. When a square is landed on, a player may buy it if it's not yet been bought by someone else, or, if it's already owned then the player landing on the square has to pay the owner of the square some rent money for staying there. Squares belong to 'sets' so there are 4 stations, 2 utilities, and then other roads are grouped in sets as a colour - so 3 orange, 3 green, 2 dark blue etc. When a player owns all the properties in a set, they are then allowed to build houses and hotels on that set which in turn means that they are paid a higher rent if another player lands on their square.

The object of the game is to bankrupt all the other players and be the one left standing and wealthy at the end of the game. There are a few squares which are not places that can be bought, such as community chest squares and chance squares. When a player lands on these they have to pick up a card from one of two stacks in the middle of the board, and do what it says on the card, it might be to pay their income taxes, or too collect money from each of the other players because it's their birthday. Some cards are good, others bad and it's a bit pot luck what you might get. Each time you go completely round the board, you pass the 'go' square at one corner of the board, and are paid your wages from the bank. These are what help you to get/keep going through the game along with any rent you are paid. The other 3 corners of the board are 'The Jail' which has a 'just visiting bit around the edge which is where you land normally' and an inner bit which is the jail and is somewhere you can be sent during the game. Free Parking - this is traditionally just a square where you are safe - no one can own it, and nothing bad can happen to you there, but in our family version, we always put any money that has to be paid out in taxes during the game into the centre, and if you land on 'free parking' you take the cash from the pile in the middle. The final square is 'go to jail' this is one of 4 ways you can find yourself in jail, the others being a chance card, a community chest card, and rolling 3x doubles in a row. (a double lets you get another roll, but 3 in a row sends you to jail). As you play you gain or lose money and find yourself either supremely wealthy or steadily going bankrupt - in my case normally the latter!

********************End of descriptive bit*********************

Phew, sounds complicated doesn't it! It's not though really.

The game can be one which goes on for hours and hours depending on how clever or evenly matched your players are. We normally play when we have our niece (9) and nephew (11) visiting, as they both enjoy it, and it keeps everyone amused for a couple of hours. These days they don't need much help but when they were younger, we did have to help with the adding up a bit more, and also prodding them to make sure they were checking if they owned a property when someone landed on it. I don't think it really spoiled the playing of the game for them though, it just made it perhaps a little more tedious for us having to check them constantly.

In our house we tend to end it one of two ways - either my husband wins (he's far better with play money than he is with the real stuff somehow lol), or we set an end time and then count up to see who's got the most money when we reach that time. This does stop the game from getting too boring for everyone as otherwise it does sometimes get a bit much and interest can wane a bit then.

For me, it's not the most exciting game in the world, and it's certainly not something I want to try and play when I only have half an hour to fill as it takes a good few minutes to get everything set up at the beginning before you even start to play. It is however a bit of good family fun, and something that everyone can join in with from the kids to grandma - I've played with various family and friends over the years from as low an age as 5 up to my grandmother who's 84 (82 last time we played lol). There are no guns involved it's not really noisy, you don't need a computer or games console to play it, all you need is a table or space on the floor and a bit of patience and time.

The set we have is quite old, and is pretty sturdy with wooden houses and little metal playing pieces. The modern sets however seem a little flimsier with more plastic involved which is a shame I think, and I do prefer my older version for it's solidness and also well it just feels more right to me somehow. However, the rules haven't changed, so in the long run I guess it doesn't matter whether you use a brand spanking new one straight out of a shop, or an older tatty one you find in the back of a cupboard or down the car boot sale. Either way the fun to be had is still the same.

~edited 27th June~

Summary: Good old fashioned fun for the whole family.