Monopoly Gamer Review
Here we go again! Have I told you all recently how much we LOVE Monopoly? Yeah, I know we may have a teensy little obsession. But when Monopoly introduced Monopoly Gamer, we just couldn’t try it out, could we? Would Mario and pals be able to add a fun new twist to the beloved classic, or would it be a level too hard to complete?
Monopoly Gamer Review
Overview
Replacing the traditional game pieces are characters from Nintendo’s Super Mario. In a game where you can collect coins and power up with a special dice roll, can you race to the finish and become the ultimate Monopoly Gamer?
For 2-4 players. Ages 8+
Review
For this, I had to get my youngest sister around! With the constant threat of a rematch when she loses, I had to see how she would fare with a new set-up and new rules! Spoiler: She lost big time!
As we set up, I read the rules out loud to my sister and Olivia. There were a lot of confused looks, and Huh?!?!? going around, most of them from me. Basically, there are two dice to play with for this game. One with numbers to know how many spaces to move as usual, then another one with your special power on. Each power is connected to a certain player and involves things like stealing another player’s coins or having them drop them on the board.
Monopoly Gamer has no money, just coins, as you would find in the actual game. The aim is the same: to win the most coins, and you can still collect coins around the board as you move around. Passing GO also allows you to play the Boss game. I think it’s like a special bonus round.
As we are not gamers, this took a while for us to get our heads around. But the game does come with cards for each player for your character and to explain the second dice with powers on. To make it a little more competitive, if you roll the power-up dice and it lands on the power-up for your character, your power is boosted! Not that we are competitive much! But things got out of hand (ok, a lot).
Even for Monopoly stalwarts like ourselves, a bit of practice was needed to get into the swing of things as we tried to fathom the new rules and gameplay for Monopoly Gamer.
Verdict
I have to be honest. This new set-up isn’t for us. We found it hard to start and get going and somewhat confusing at times. This may be down to us not being gamers, but we felt it was a little over-complicated for a board game. While I appreciate Monopoly trying to incorporate as much of the game as possible, it didn’t quite work as well as it should have. Too many different variations made it a complicated game. I’m pretty sure after a few plays, with the rules having settled in, it will be a lot easier to play. Actually, I think if I had been more familiar with the gameplay itself, I probably wouldn’t have struggled so much in the first place.
Overall, we really liked the characters and the idea of the game, but it’s not one of our favourite versions of the game. It is most definitely suited to Mario fans and/or gamers who can appreciate the changes in the board game and emulate the Nintendo gameplay offline.
You can purchase Monopoly Gamer from Amazon, Smyth’s for £27.99 and Argos for £27.99 (currently on offer for £24.99 at time of posting).
