Monopoly Board Game Review

Monopoly is a great real estate board game from Parker Brothers, which can double as a teaching tool on how to deal with money.  The premise of the game is pretty simple; to be the last person left with any money, achieving that goal through buying real estate properties, building houses and hotels on them, and by not going bankrupt through that process.  As someone plays the game more often, strategy evolves and changes to a person's tastes, but the ideal goal of being the last man standing remains the same.

The Rules and Game-Play of Monopoly:

Monopoly starts off with a game board and everyone starting on the "Go" square with their designated piece.  After a roll-off to decide who goes first, players take turns rolling the dice and working their way around the board.  Along the way, a player will land on properties that they can purchase, squares that either reward you or punish you (community chest and chance cards), free parking (where the player gets all the money paid in fees during the game) or on the go-to-jail square.  There are 22 properties, 4 railroads, and 2 utilities that a player can land on to purchase, and once each one has been bought, that player is then the owner.  Every other player that lands on that property must then pay a fee associated with the square.  When someone makes it all the way around the board, and reach the "go" square again, they get a $200 allowance to help out their financial situation.

At the start of the game, each player is given $1500.00 from the banker, and they can then spend that as they see fit.  With each purchase of a property, the money for that transaction goes to the bank, equivalent to the cost denoted on that specific square.  If someone collects the 2 or 3 squares of a single color, they can then purchase houses, and finally hotels to make their property even more valuable.  As other players land on properties with houses and hotels, the expense goes up, and the owner of that property really begins to prosper.  Fees associated with landing on Chance and Community Chest squares go in the center for the "Free Parking" square, and prizes or allocations that those same cards connotate go from the bank to the user. 

Trading is allowed amongst the players in regard to the properties that have been purchased, and the game progresses with each person taking a turn and moving their pre-selected game piece around the board.  Of note is that each game comes with about 8 choices of game pieces including a little metal dog, race car, and thimble just to name a few.  When someone runs out of money and has mortgaged all of their property, they are then out of the game, and the remaining players keep going.  The winner of course, is the player who does not go bankrupt and does the best job of collecting the best properties.  Deciding which properties to try and purchase is where the strategy comes into play, as some like to own the high end squares, and other players like to just collect a good variety.

My ViewPoint on the Monopoly Board Game:

I think that Monopoly is one of those board games that can go a long way towards teaching a young kid how to work with money, and to be in control of their own finances.  Through a fun and interactive game, they get to see the benefits of wise financial decisions, and when they should try and save some of their money.  The game can also be quite competitive with groups of people, which can be seen as a negative at times if someone is not a gracious loser, but if you are amongst friends it can be a lot of fun.  The game is very easy to catch on with, and something that people who love dealing with money or with owning property is going to really enjoy.  There could be a certain level or boredom for people who don't fit into those categories, but I have always found Monopoly to be an extremely fun game to play with like 4 people.  It is one of those board games that I highly recommend, and one which I feel can be a great learning tool for the younger players.