Monopoly is a random number generator multiplayer competitive board game. Monopoly was created by Hasbro in 1935. The designers of Monopoly are Lizzie Magie and Charles Darrow. Monopoly can be played with 2-6 players and some versions even allow 2-10.
Is Monopoly Fun?
Monopoly is a game that is considered to be based on the luck of dice roles/probability. One thing I have realized throughout all of these game reviews is that any game that is multiplayer is heavily impacted depending on who you play with. Initially, I was going to do a game review on Overwatch but the fun just was not there. I decided to play a late-night game of Monopoly with a group of friends and I had a blast.
Players in the game did continue to get frustrated as it seems like some players are more "lucky" than others. Many people dislike RNG's because there is a lack of skill needed to play the game. I think that it's a ton of fun when unpredictable events happen. That makes every game interesting and different. Games being unique every round is helpful in sustainability for the lifespan of the game.
We also added some house rules which made Monopoly more fun. House rules are popular in games, especially a game like Monopoly. One of the house rules we added is that all taxes are put in the middle of the board and can be earned when landing on the free parking spot. This allows a chance for broke players to come back, or rich players to get even richer.
Monopoly being fun is certainly subjective per game. If the game is a close tie it might be more fun for everyone. If one person is dominating with multiple monopolies on the board then it may be less fun or frustrating for the other players.
This game of Monopoly I played with 3 players only. The players I played with argued that with fewer people one person can easily have all of the money and take advantage of the whole board through the negotiation mechanic with other players. Also with more players a lot more negotiation would be involved and the game will be harder which could make it more fun depending on the player.
The Game Learning Curve
Monopoly is pretty simple and easy to learn. Monopoly is for ages 8+. You only need your dice and some negotiation skills. The main objective/strategy of the game is to purchase all of one color so that you can obtain a monopoly.
There are a few different strategies that can be used when playing Monopoly. One is known as the slum livin strategy. You buy all of the cheap properties and capitalize on the cheap side of the board with houses and hotels so that you can make an income.
Another strategy is to try and monopoly the pink and orange properties in between free parking and go to jail so that you can bankrupt a player who got sent to jail and did not collect $200 on go.
Overall, no real strategy is necessary to win a game of Monopoly which again can be frustrating to many players who enjoy games that require skill over RNG and luck.
Game Graphics
Monopoly's graphics are flat 2D illustrations. Monopoly uses a character that is bald and has a mustache as well as a top hat and a nice suit. The game graphics are simple and easy to understand. For places like the railroads, there are silhouettes of trains easily telling the player what this place space is.
They also use a question mark for chance cards and a chest for community chest cards. These are visual cues that match the cards that will be drawn when landing on these spots. I think this is very helpful especially for younger kids playing the game. They can match visuals to help them understand the next steps in the game.
There are also several versions of Monopoly created based off of movies, tv shows, games, and books. Some people even are Monopoly game collectors. They try to get every version of Monopoly that exists.
Game Controls
Game controls are just rolling dice and picking up pieces to move them around the board. You also have to have some math skills or carry a calculator with you to exchange the correct amount of money.
In traditional Monopoly in real life, you would have a banker and a property management person as well, but here we were able to play the game a bit faster by grabbing money from the bank ourselves and grabbing property ourselves.
Story
There also is no real story for Monopoly. Much like D&D and VRChat a lot of the game content can be made by the players. Through negotiation and laughter, the story of "That time we played monopoly and Maddy had the luckiest RNG ever" will be made new each game.
As for Monopoly, the game was made to show people concepts of economic privilege. We did learn in my History of Games class that people often made games to reflect the time period and show what people are going through around the world. Monopoly sparked and inspired a lot of economy driven games from that point forward.
Characters
You can play as several different pieces in Monopoly. The most important thing to mention is the main mascot/logo named Milburn Pennybags. He is a short guy with a white mustache and a top hat and suit. Milburn even has been known to have a mandala effect on people all around the world. Many people argue that they swear he had a monocle in his illustration. He does not have a monocle. Some people say the mandala effect is caused by time travelers who created ripples in time. We will never know truly if the famous Milburn Pennybags from monopoly has a monocle or not.
Characters you can play as are the battleship, boot, cannon, horse and rider, iron, racecar, dog thimble, top hat, and wheelbarrow. There are more pieces that have been added and there are also the original six which are the top hat, the thimble, the iron, the shoe, the battleship and the cannon. These are little silver pieces that players get to chose at the beginning of the game. The dog seems to be the most popular piece some players even roll to try and fight for who gets to play as the dog. The dog was so popular new players voted on getting a cat piece added to new versions of monopoly. The police officer on the go to jail space is named officer Mallory. Pieces in Monopoly are consitantly being voted out and in for future generations to come.
Game Graphics and Design
One of my favorite things about Monopoly is the colored properties. Design choices like these make it easy for gamers to quickly identify what is grouped together or should be known as being one unit.
The money in monopoly is also color-coded. A one-dollar bill in monopoly is the least saturated while the five hundred in monopoly is the most saturated showing that five hundred is more important that one dollar. These are good design choices to help organize cash. This also helps kids who are younger and trying to learn how to do math quickly.
At first, we tried to use the calculator mechanic in tabletop simulators version of monopoly and it was a lot more difficult to do the math. Monopoly way of adding smaller digestle bills kept it easy and simple for all players who don't want to waste time doing the math.
Changes
Changes I would make to Monopoly include maybe a manual that has a list of popular house rules so that more experienced players can look at house rules and see if there is anything they would like to try to spice up the game a bit.
My team and I also discussed that they could put higher house prices on hotspot areas/ areas where more strategy can be applied. This would introduce that with more risk comes more reward.
More Mechanics could also be helpful in adding more skill in the game, however, I would argue that the simplicity of the game is most likely what made it popular in the first place.
Recommendations
I would recommend this game purely for laughter and if you are looking to burn time. I don't think Monopoly is a great game if you are looking to be competitive with skill and strategy involved, but if you are looking to be competitive based on luck, sure monopoly is a great game. Overall, Monopoly is a classic board game and forever will be fun to play every once and a while, mostly because it was a huge hit when it came out and is nostalgic.