The Board Game Family Monopoly Millionaire Board Game Review ...

A new way to play Monopoly

Our family hasn?t played Monopoly for years. But this weekend we played the new Monopoly Millionaire board game by Hasbro and had a great time. The funny thing is that at the end of the first game, the kids wanted to keep playing and Caleb begged to play it again.

I say it?s funny because the biggest complaint that we?ve heard about Monopoly over the years as how long it takes to play. We typically hear that people never play Monopoly through to the end of the game. After playing for so long, players just get tired of it and declare a winner.

We?re sure that?s why Hasbro came out with this new Monopoly Millionaire board game ? and why it loudly proclaims on the front of the box ?First to a MILLION Wins!?

What?s so different about Monopoly Millionaire?

Fortune cards on un-purchased properties

While every iteration of Monopoly has some differences, most of the changes are just to the properties on the board. Every themed Monopoly version simply picks cool names for the property spaces and uses different shaped playing pieces. But the formula is always the same ? roll the dice, move your piece, and either buy a property or pay rent. It?s this simple and familiar game play that keep families all over the world buying new Monopoly games. They don?t need to learn something new. It?s in their comfort zone. Just pick a theme you think is cool.

With that in mind, many will be happy to hear that in this regard Monopoly Millionaire is the same. It has the same roll and move game play mechanic that it?s had forever. And you still buy properties, add houses and hotels, and pay rents.

1. The biggest change to the game is what we?ve already mentioned ? the game doesn?t last forever. You don?t play until you bankrupt everybody. You don?t smear out all the players until only one is left at the table who cares about the game. In Monopoly Millionaire there most likely won?t be any player elimination at all. Sure it?s possible. But most likely someone will hit the million dollar mark long before players get bored.
2. 

   Even the playing pieces show you?re moving up in the world.

   The other big change is that you can upgrade your playing piece during the game. When players pass GO, they can choose to upgrade their playing piece (for a cost of course). Why does this matter? Because it increases the stakes as you play. It?s a way for the game to progress as you play. For example, with higher-level playing pieces you collect more money each time you pass GO and you also receive or pay more money when you get Chance cards or Millionaire Lifestyle cards.

3. Another factor in helping the game move along quicker is that players are forced to buy or auction a property whenever they land on an unclaimed property. This way it doesn?t take long before all the properties are purchased. And with the auction element, players don?t have to land on a property to buy it. If the person that lands on it doesn?t want to buy it (or can?t afford it), then it goes to the highest bidder. We really like this because it means everyone has a chance to be collecting rent early in the game.
4. 

   They?re like adding Super Powers

   And the last new element that we?ll mention is the addition of Fortune cards. These are little cards that are placed on all properties to start the game. When players land on un-purchased properties, they first get the Fortune card on that space. Some are played immediately and some are kept for later. They add cool twists to the game like forcing a property swap with another player, refusing to pay when someone asks for money, building a house for free, or even stealing a property from another player. It?s like adding cool super powers along the way.

Love the new money!

Actually, we better mention another cool item in the new Monopoly Millionaire ? better money! Instead of paper money that gets torn and wrinkled, Monopoly Millionaire includes thick, durable, card-stock money. It?s much better for all the money handling and quick exchanges since money is always flowing.

What do we think of Monopoly Millionaire?

Overall, we like the new Monopoly Millionaire board game. Like we mentioned at the start, we haven?t played the basic Monopoly game in who knows how long. For a game with simple mechanics of roll and move, it shouldn?t last as long as it does. We?d also never finish a game because people knocked out don?t leave the table feeling all happy inside.

Knowing the issue of game length, we made sure to note how long our games of Monopoly Millionaire lasted. On average, a game lasts about an hour. And the funny thing now is that it feels too short. Or maybe we should say instead that it?s more of an abrupt ending. Just when you start to get rolling, the game ends. Sure no one?s eliminated, but we?re also just barely adding houses and poof ? someone wins. Other players felt short-changed when they didn?t even get a single chance to collect higher rents from someone landing on their properties.

Now the game ends too soon?

Take Paradise Island for instance (the typical Boardwalk space). With 2 houses on it, rent is $250K. By the time you?re adding houses to that property you?ve already got a good cash stash going. As soon as someone lands on it, boom ? you get $250K and win the game.

How funny is it to get requests for a game of Monopoly to go longer than the rules say? Sounds pretty strange. But it?s true. Now we get calls for the game to play to $1.5 million instead. The only downside to being able to do that is that the game doesn?t come with enough money to go that high in a 3 or 4 player game.

But even with that small (and surprising) complaint, the new elements Monopoly Millionaire adds make this board game a keeper. In fact, it will be the only copy of Monopoly on our board game shelves.

Thanks Hasbro for the review copy of Monopoly Millionaire. It?s now got a spot on our game shelf with all the other fun family board games.

And now you, dear readers, can win a copy of Monopoly Millionaire from Hasbro as well!

Enter to win a copy of Monopoly Millionaire for your family!

1. Get an initial entry into the Monopoly Millionaire giveaway contest by commenting on this post.
2. Between now and September 23, 2012 you can also get additional entries in the contest by doing these other things as well:

• Comment on other posts on The Board Game Family website
• Share any of The Board Game Family posts through the Share link at the bottom of the posts
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The more you do, the better chances you have to win!

Last day for entries into the contest is September 23, 2012.

And we have cool ways to choose winners? (take a look at the contest selection process when Brooke was a little younger).

NOTE: We know a ton of our readers are in international locations. However, this Monopoly Millionaire giveaway contest is limited to US participants. But even with that ? all our international friends/readers are still encouraged to comment, tweet, and share our reviews and articles of family game time. And it won?t hurt to get practicing because next month we?ll have a new giveaway contest for everyone to enter.

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Source: http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/2012/09/monopoly-millionaire-board-game-review/

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