A pretty good board game... (Monopoly)

Member Name: Daniel K

Product:	Monopoly
Date:	02/03/03 (518 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good board game , Fun to play

Disadvantages: Can be boring, Some games can last for ages

Monopoly is a board game that many people will be familiar with, as most people will have played it at some point before. The object of the game is to start with a bit of money, then use it to buy properties as you go around the board, charging the other players rent if they land on your properties - the winner is the last player to lose all their money.

You start with £1,500 in various bank notes (£5, £10, £100, etc), then each player takes it in turn to roll the dice and move around the board. There are groups of coloured properties on the board, and these are real roads/streets in London. The further you go around the board you go, the higher the value of each property. Once you get past Mayfair (the most expensive property) you arrive back at 'Go', where you started from. You also receive £200 for free each time you pass Go.

Each player can a buy a property when they like, as long as they have enough money. The cheapest properties, i.e. Old Kent Road and Whitechapel, only cost £70, and the properties get more expensive as you go. Other properties include Bow street, Trafalger Square, Leicester Square, Bond street, Park Lane, and even some of London's train stations. All the different 'groups' of properties are different colours, such as green, blue, pink, yellow, etc.

Money comes and goes easily in the game, and things are made more interesting with the addition of Chance and Community Chest cards on the board. If you land on a space marked with either of these, you must take a card and follow the instructions; these may include 'Receive £10 from each player', 'Advance to Go', or even 'Speeding fine £15'; worse still, you could be sent to prison, and have to try and roll a double number to get out. There are two 'get out of Jail free' cards in Chance & Community chest, so they can be highly useful in this situation.

As the game goes on, you can buy houses and then hotels for
your properties, and these will increase their value, meaning that other players have to pay more rent if they land on them. This can also work against you if other players have expensive properties! Once a person cannot pay any more costs/rent, they are bankrupt and out of the game. The last person remaining is the winner.

There are ways of modifying the game to make it more interesting, but generally speaking it can be played normally just as well. It's also best when you have three to four players in a game, as this makes it more interesting. Games can also last a little or for a long time (over two hours in my experience), depending on how skilled the other players are.

Overall, Monopoly is a fun game, and can last ages (if you want it to!), but it can be fairly boring to play after a while, and if a game lasts too long, it begins to get tedious. But i enjoy playing it now and again, so if you haven't played before, give it a go!

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