Monopoly

[Paul Clement]

It's a classic game, and I've been playing it a lot recently when my friend Steve comes over on Wednesday and Sunday evenings.

I bought the Kent Edition a couple of years ago, with Sittingbourne being represented by the cheapest property on the board (no surprise there).

Anyone else got it, and if so, which version?

[SiHart]

Monopoly is a game designed to tear families apart. I have fond memories of the various strops thrown by various members of my family as they landed on the wrong square and lost or when they found to stealing from the bank or whatever!

It's a shame because it's a great game when played honestly.
We don't own a set here though.

Si xx

[Arisia]

I've got a special edition from a few years back. Can't see myself buying the new version that's come out here in the US, Monopoly: Here and Now. I also have the Junior version of Monopoly too, which is set in an amusement park but has the same basic structure. My daughter has outgrown it though.

[Anthony Williams]

I'm actually very tempted by the Here and Now addition of Monopoly - it certainly updates the London version to the relevant locations of the modern world in London!

and given that I don't actually have my own complete Monopoly set any more, it is time to invest in a new one!

Ant x

[Paul Clement]

We played four times last night, and I one three of them. The first one was over in twenty minutes, and I was the only one with a set, well two actually. The Blues and Browns.

[Teresa]

Ooooh... I have fond memories of playing Monopoly this summer, while in Italy...
somehow we managed to turn it in to a driking game!
Ah... was such fun!
'Free Parking' was kind to me this summer too

Teresa
xx

[Arisia]

I'm actually very tempted by the Here and Now addition of Monopoly - it certainly updates the London version to the relevant locations of the modern world in London!

and given that I don't actually have my own complete Monopoly set any more, it is time to invest in a new one!

Ant x

The US version of Here and Now has one landmark from each of the largest American cities as the properties. Yankees Stadium (New York City) and Fenway Park (Boston) were the top vote getters in the online poll Parker Brothers did to select the properties, so they have the top spots, at $4,000,000 and $3,500,000 respectively. The income as you pass 'Go' has risen to $2,000,000, so I guess all the $ amounts have risen proportionately. I didn't take note of what they replaced the utilities and railroads with, but I'm sure they changed those too.

[Jonno]

I still have my US board version that I got for Christmas in the late 70s when we lived in Liberia, West Africa (a US colony). Don't know what state it's in now, but it's certainly been well travelled over the last quarter century plus.

A group of us attempted the London Monopoloy Board pub crawl a couple of years ago, but made the mistake of starting off by attempting to do it in the board order. The first problem was that Old Kent Road was diffcult to get to for starters, and in the first hour that was the only location we got to! After a while, we decided to abandon the board order and do it in a more logical order, i.e. those locations closest to each other in reality. We finished with Park Lane and Mayfair though, and got told off for being noisy at the Mayfair pub towards the end of the evening, as there were many residential places nearby!

[Alex]

My Sister loves Monopoly, and has forced me to play it countless times...Sometimes if she fails to win, she'll get me to play again (and once a third time) in the hope she'll finally be successful.

I quite enjoy it in a silly way to pass some time kind of way, though having played it far too much, it can get a bit predictable. If you can get the orange and yellow sets, you're almost guaranteed to win 9 times out of ten, for one thing, and my Sister has rules (like when dealing, connecting 'streets' of properties aren't allowed) which make it less fun! Then again the random factor of the game means you never know quite what's going to happen I guess.

We've sometimes had games that never end, as we've accumulated so much money going round the board trying to buy up properties (another of my Sister's rules is that you can't build on a set until all the properties have been bought up, which can make the game go on an age anyway), and when you get in to the fourth hour or so, sanity can be lost.

I've had the Star Wars set in the past, which was quite fun, though I wish they'd made a bit more of an effort in changing the Chance and Community Chest cards, and The Simpson's one, which is fine too, bar some odd choice of locations. She's got the Here and Now one, which when drunk confuses us as the money's that much higher...!

Hmmmm...Looking back over this post, my Sister's rules do seem to take out a lot of the fun of the game! I'm going to have to try and get her to relax them one day...one day...!

[Andrew Curnow]

We got Little Miss the Simpsons version a couple of Christmasses ago - my only problem with it is that it always takes a long time to play, so you need to know you've got the time. But for passing the afternoons away over the holidays, it's perfect.

[Paul Clement]

I'll be playing again in the next few minutes when my friend arrives. Funnily enough, I never go for the yellows, preferring the Oranges and Pinks. Cheaper to get houses on them, and it means one whole side of the board is yours.

[Rob McCow]

Blues and Browns are my faves to collect. I can get a hotel on Old Kent Road before my sister has to break into the 500 that she's hidden to keep aside for emergencies!

Aren't the Utilities and Train Stations a complete waste of effort! No-one ever got wiped out on Water Works!

[Alex]

preferring the Oranges and Pinks

Ah, that'd be a whole 'street' though, if you get what I mean, and she won't allow that. Nor corner-y bits either (ie the oranges and red's can't be owned by one person).

I quite like the Train Stations though, if you have all 4 they can be quite frustrating, especially when people get the "advance to the nearest station and pay double" cards.

You're right about the Utilities though. They're rubbish!

[Paul Clement]

Ah, that'd be a whole 'street' though, if you get what I mean, and she won't allow that. Nor corner-y bits either (ie the oranges and red's can't be owned by one person).

Ah! That's a very strange rule.

[Jonno]

It is indeed, though I definitely agree with only building houses on complete sets - that's the whole point of the game!!

Orange is my favourite set and usually gets me a win too - it's the beauty of catching people coming out of jail with very common dice throws - 6, 8 & 9 and especially gratifying if they throw double 3 or 4! Then there's the time they go sailing past, land on that Chance card between the reds, Go Back 3 and land on your expensive hotel!

I've never had much joy with yellow sets though - rather expensive to build up and I find it's rare that people land on them - along with the greens.

[Pip Madeley]

Monopoly is a game designed to tear families apart. I have fond memories of the various strops thrown by various members of my family as they landed on the wrong square and lost or when they found to stealing from the bank or whatever!

It's a shame because it's a great game when played honestly.
We don't own a set here though.

Si xx

That reminds me of Christmas 2003 when I was going out with Davina - her sister (about 14) threw a tantrum because she was losing... but then I was always rather good at Monopoly.

[Paul Clement]

Orange is my favourite set and usually gets me a win too - it's the beauty of catching people coming out of jail with very common dice throws - 6, 8 & 9 and especially gratifying if they throw double 3 or 4!

When we play, you don't pay when you land on a double, you just throw again.

[Paul Clement]

Actually, that makes an interesting point. What 'house rules' do you use when you play? Here's a few we use:

1) Money from Income Tax and Super Tax squares go into the middle of the board and can be one by landing on Free Parking.
2) Nothing can be bought on the first go round the board. (It makes it too difficult for the person going last otherwise, with the good possibility that on the first couple of goes they land on a property that's just been bought.
3) You cannot collect money from people landing on your properties while in jail (I always assumed this was an actual rule of the game until I read through the rules recently)
4) You cannot put houses/hotels on unless it is your turn to roll the dice (Again, I thought this was an actual game rule, but it isn't)

[Rob McCow]

My favourite home-made rule is this:
1) Winner has to tidy up!

[Alex]

Re: Streets & Corners - It is a strange rule! I don't know why she invented it, but there's no arguing with her, that's for sure!

Re: Building on sets - Ah, I meant when every single property on the board had been bought, and not before then even if you do have a whole set...which is why sometimes we end up with so much money the game never ends...

1) Money from Income Tax and Super Tax squares go into the middle of the board and can be one by landing on Free Parking.

Yeah, we play that, and money from Street Repairs goes in to the middle too...

2) Nothing can be bought on the first go round the board. (It makes it too difficult for the person going last otherwise, with the good possibility that on the first couple of goes they land on a property that's just been bought.

Aye, we play that one, and if you keep on getting sent to jail, you still have to wait till you've got round the board once before you can buy stuff, which can be bloomin frustrating if it happens more than 3 times, as it did once to me!

3) You cannot collect money from people landing on your properties while in jail (I always assumed this was an actual rule of the game until I read through the rules recently)

Hmmm, we do that one too, and always thought it was a proper rule as well!

4) You cannot put houses/hotels on unless it is your turn to roll the dice (Again, I thought this was an actual game rule, but it isn't)

And ditto! I've always always thought that that was the case as well!

[Paul Clement]

Aye, we play that one, and if you keep on getting sent to jail, you still have to wait till you've got round the board once before you can buy stuff, which can be bloomin frustrating if it happens more than 3 times, as it did once to me!

We don't do anything on the first go round the board, can't buy, don't pick up chance of community chest cards and don't go to jail. You just roll the dice and hope you don't get a three. We did have one game when Treena rolled a double six, followed by a double four and then another high number and almost got round the board in one go, but we all felt it was the fairest way of starting the game.

[Si Hunt]

For years we played without actually knowing the rules.

These days I know that I can win if I'm allowed to use a 'long game' strategy. Eventually by biding my time I bancrupt everyone else playing. The last time I played was in September 2001, in the middle of a bar in Cairns. Myself and my friend Hang just sat there for the whole night in the middle of this nightspot playing Monopoly until all the drinkers had gone home and it was just us left. It took us hours, but eventually I destroyed him.

Si.

[Paul Clement]

We had four games on Sunday, they all finished quite quickly. I won all four.

[Nathan]

I have the Phantom Menace one. Only played it twice.

[Alex]

Can you be jar jar in it? And then get sent to jail and refuse to pay for as long as possible?

My Sister forced me to play tonight, it was a quick and easy demolition, with the pinks, reds and purples winning it for me! She isn't a charitable loser though alas...