I've Got A Monopoly On Mayfair (Monopoly)

Member Name:

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	07/08/02 (254 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Educational, Provides Long Hours Of Entertainment, Excellent Price

Disadvantages: Can Get Very Frustrating Especially When People Won't Pay Up

Monopoly has got to be the most common board game next to chess that there is. The addictiveness of playing it and the level of competition that it arouses in its players is both exciting and disturbing. A game built around the ever so wonderful dollar bill makes for a game with lots of accusations of cheating and theft.

Monopoly is a board game, which is based on the streets of London. There are various different versions of the games such as the Deluxe and the original version, whichever one you choose, the principal is the same. The board is split into 6 different colours and two price ranges. Old Kent Road being the cheapest of all properties to buy and Mayfair being the most expensive and luxurious. You choose a representation icon of you to move around the board and charge other players the rent specified on your property card when they land on one of your sites. If a site I not yet owned then anyone providing that they have sufficient funds are allowed to purchase the property.

The first time that you go around the board, you are not able to buy any sites, it is more of a site seeing turn, when you pass go you receive £200 and although this sounds like a lot of money it actually doesn't last that long especially when you keep on landing on your opponents streets.

Surprisingly there is a high fun factor because despite the fact that you will be going around the board continuously there are various obstacles and diversions for you to get caught up in such as jail, and chance and community cards. When in jail there re two tactics which are available, either reside in there for a while avoiding the chance of landing on other peoples property or leaving for a £50 fine and continuing the game as normal. The chance and community cards simply provide an extra angle for the game. They can request anything of you, from going to jail to collecting Bank donations, its all chance.

The game takes a pretty long time to play around
three hours to be exact. But in saying this, when you are playing it, there are so many arguments and moments of excitement when you almost bankrupt your player that it doesn't seem like enough. In addition, when you opponent is bankrupt, you feel almost hesitant to finish him off because it feels like the end of an era, a truly addictive factor to the game.

The instructions provided are excellent especially with the deluxe model and users should have no problem coming to terms with what is required of them. In saying this, I didn't really read up on the instructions because the game is pretty much self-explanatory and it is up to the players to develop their own unique style of playing.

You do need to pay attention to the board quite a lot and I found myself resistant even to do something small like answering the door. This is because you really can' trust anyone with the bank or even the board. In a game based around the backdrop of money, trust is impossible even for the bet of friends.

I recommend this game for people aged over 12 years because although the instructions are not too complex there is some mathematics involved when calculating the rent and mortgage. Younger children may also chew or swallow the small icons provided. The game does last multiple hours so the children playing should have a reasonably long attention span.

The game actually only costs £17.99 which is a serious bargain when you think about it. Unlike computer games and consoles, I can't see this going out of fashion; it personally taught me as a young child how to handle my money and how to have a business head on my shoulders, valuable lessons for any youngster. Even now I play this game, for relaxation and excitement if nothing else.

Summary: