Part two of the Monopoly boardgame review

Monopoly boardgame review, part two

Click here to read part one of this review

Monopoly has many components, including its own paper currency.

The gameplay

The way Monopoly pans out has much to teach the willing student about assets and cashflow.

Though most people will play happily oblivious to the lessons on offer, savvy observers will note that all players begin the game cash-rich but asset-poor, with almost no income. As they obtain property, income increases.

Luck has a large bearing on the outcome of the boardgame. It doesn't take many turns for a player to build a substantial lead over his peers who were less fortunate in the early stages and didn't land on the right squares.

Good or bad fortune is not the end of the story, though. Fortunately for the Monopoly boardgame and its long-lasting interest, perhaps the most important factor is what deals players strike with one another.

Winning players know when to buy and when to let a deal pass them by. Cash-poor players are often forced to sell or go bankrupt when a wealthy player waves money under their noses.

As with all games where player interaction, co-operation, alliances and feuds play a major part, there will be the occasional board-kicking tantrum and temporary falling-out, but that's all part of Monopoly's enduring charm!

Pros and cons

Land on too many hotels and your dreams of Monopoly boardgame fortune will come crashing down. For a game which mostly concerns itself with random dice-throwing and attempting to collect limited resources on a very basic board, the Monopoly boardgame has surprising depth of gameplay.

This is almost exclusively because players are forced to adapt to survive, quite possibly being miserly tycoons one minute and begging paupers the next.

I suppose the greatest weakness of Monopoly is the luck element. A player can play the most perfect strategic game he can, given the dice rolls, and still be trounced by a lucky mug who got a set early on, built houses and had three people land on them in quick succession.

The CHANCE and COMMUNITY CHEST cards do lend an increasing element of danger as the game progresses, when their benefits (once so important) become far outweighed by the nasty surprises, such as the ADVANCE cards that send a player directly to one of the high-profile squares on the board, or Assessed for street repairs that force you to pay for costly maintenance on your properties.

The Monopoly boardgame doesn't get our Boardgame Beast loveheart logo, because while you can play with two, your enjoyment is much increased when there are more participants. With two, the wheeling and dealing elements are much weaker, and the auctions on unpurchased property can't happen at all.

Monopoly can last for several hours, depending on how many players take part and their experience, but typically it will be over within 90-120 minutes.

The verdict

Monopoly will give players aged eight to 80 many happy hours of play. It can sometimes feel too familiar, but that's hardly surprising given the amount of time it's been in all our lives. Educational in a stealthy way, too. Highly recommended.