Redartz: Greetings and salutations, fellow players! As we find ourselves deep in the middle of the holiday season, we often consider family traditions and pastimes. One activity found in many families is game playing: nothing like a hearty board game on a cold wintry night (as long as snacks and refreshing drinks are part of the mix). And one of the most perennially popular games, certainly at our house, is Monopoly.
Most of us probably learned to play Monopoly years ago. As youth we perhaps missed the socio-political themes inherent in the game (all I knew is I wanted the railroads) - we just tried to knock everyone else out. Truth be told, Monopoly was my favorite board game for years. I was so enamored of the game that I bought a book : "1000 Ways to Win at Monopoly". There probably weren't that many winning tips in the book, but it was intriguing nonetheless. Among the advice I recall learning:
The Orange properties are the odds-on spaces most likely to be landed upon, followed by the Red properties.
Buying Boardwalk and Park Place aren't the best investments (although my wife often seems to win and she ruthlessly pursues those spaces).
There are many ways to make deals with opposing players, which aren't prohibited in the rules (and are thus allowed). For instance, offering a 'free land', or 'permanent free lands' on one of your spaces in exchange for cash or property.
There were many more, but you get the idea. In college, I was notorious for Monopoly marathons. Our game group, when not playing Dungeons and Dragons, would often go for a round of Monopoly (and that real estate game can be just as lengthy as a D&D episode). When our own family began, I made a point of teaching our boys the game early. Perhaps too well; they beat me frequently (which I will blame on luck; don't you hate when your first rounding of the board results in Chance, Jail, and Income Tax while netting you zilch in the way of properties?).
We were such a Monopoly family that we had multiple sets. As you all are probably aware, Parker Bros. never fails to miss an opportunity to tie their game to any popular bandwagon. Our sons had Star Wars Monopoly. I had the Golden Anniversary Edition, and also Spider-Man Monopoly (released in 2002).
. The Spidey version remains a favorite; it's cool to see the Webslinger's rogues gallery spread out for convenient purchase! And obviously I have to identify the artist responsible for each given space. Aaaaand, I either have to use the Spider-Man piece or the Green Goblin piece...
So who else among you are Monopoly mavens? Do you have a particular edition you enjoy? Are you a relaxed player or a murderous mogul? What properties are your 'must haves'? Roll the dice and take a turn. Just remember the Railroads are mine...
14 comments:
Yes, I played Monopoly as a kid, but not since. The British version of Monopoly had London streets on the board - I assume the American game had New York streets ? Perhaps every country has their own localized version ? But I've never heard of Star Wars Monopoly or Spider-Man Monopoly!
Yes, our family wore out more than one board. We called it "game night", usually a weekend day in case the game carried over to the next day.
I seemed to gravitate to the top hat or race car pieces as my favorites.
I wanna play that Spider-Man version now!
Colin J- the original American version featured streets based on Atlantic City, New Jersey. And there are countless localized versions of the game, usually knockoffs produced locally.
And yes, there are countless variation editions. I'd never seen he 007 edition before doing this post. Wonder if the used some of the London locations you mentioned on that version?
I've read that Monopoly was originally created to be a criticism of capitalism but ended up as a celebration of capitalism instead. D'OH!!
So in Star Wars Monopoly does the Death Star replace jail in the ordinary version ? Is there a "Get Out Of The Death Star Free" card - or is the Death Star expensive real-estate ?
As a kid, every New Year’s Eve our family played three games - Monopoly, Scrabble, and a wild card like Clue or Risk. That is a fond memory, as we waited for Midnight, eating pizza and moving around the board.
Monopoly was our favorite. My brothers and I would play on rainy Summer days.
I haven’t played in a while but should break it out. My son has the “Legend of Zelda” version. I never saw the versions you show but I do recall another Marvel version of some sort.
Man, I haven't played Monopoly in years; I think I still have some of the money lying around. I wouldn't mind trying some different versions; I know there's a Simpsons version out there, but I've never played it.
Besides Monopoly, we had Clue, Payday, the Game of Life, and a few others I've forgotten. Later, I bought Dungeon! a board game based on Dungeons & Dragons.
I've seen Grateful Dead Monopoly and Islas Malt Whisky Monopoly.
But, to be honest, Monopoly's day has been and gone. There are so many better board games out there these days and I find nothing more depressing than watching people in Waterstones look at a whole wall of board games and end up buying Monopoly for some poor grandchild.
I remember first playing Monopoly during Christmas vacations with my older sister and brother. Of course, there was a bit of an age gap between me and them, and they just sort of indulged me by letting me play. I usually dropped out after an hour or so.
Later I played it occasionally with friends in college. And something that happened at least twice was that after the game went on long enough, and got pared down to only two players, we would hit market equilibrium and nobody could win.
Edo- you nailed one of the game's weakneses; you can get two players so equally matched that they can play till doomsday with nobody gaining the advantage. We had some games like that; eventually just called it a draw and called it a night.
I have very fond memories of Monopoly but can also relate to Edo's equilibrium comment. I used to feel the same way about Risk. It was fun buying up properties and conquering nation-states but geez it could sometimes go on forever.
Tom
Like Marti there was a spell where I played a fair amount of Monopoly on the really hot summer days with friends, as a young teen.
Like Edo and Tom - I recall games that hit stasis between two guys and the rest of us wandered off, lol.
The last game of Monopoly I remember playing all the way through was in H.S. Though in college we tried a game with all the actual rules (rather than the houserules that most people play with).
I love board games. If I can post pix here I would show you my boardgame shelf, but Monopoly is not among them. We play games like Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico, Alhambra, Settlers of Catan, Rummikub, Carcassone, Dominion, and HEY THAT'S MY FISH!
Osvaldo- Dominion is great; our son and his wife sent us that game for Christmas last year. Many of the games you mention we've experienced thanks to our nephew. Not familiar with FISH, though...
Hey That's My Fish is a (nearly) all-ages game (you need to be able to count) that has a simple concept, but is a lot of fun for up to four players.
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