Customer Reviews

Monopoly - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had not played Monopoly for years and honestly believed that I didn't like it until I received this edition as a present. As a Tolkien fanatic, I got easily into "The Lord of the Rings" theme of the set and started immensely enjoying playing Monopoly. The Tolkien backdrop gives the game a colorful dimension. If you're a Monopoly player and Tolkien fan, this game is an obvious must-have. However, Tolkien readers (or anybody who enjoyed the recent films) who aren't much into Monopoly or have never played it will find this is a great way to discover this classic board game.

The play is almost unchanged from regular Monopoly: roll the dice and advance your tokens (in this case, metal figurines of Fordo, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimili, Legolas, and Galadriel) around the board, buying up "territories" (instead of "properties") and charging rent from the other players to try to bankrupt them. Instead of money, this edition uses "power," but the values are exactly the same: for instance, each time you pas GO, you collect 200 power, just as you would collect $200 in the regular game.

Almost all the spaces are changed to fit the world of Middle-Earth. The territories are locations along the journey of the Fellowship. Park Place and Boardwalk are now Bard-dūr (The Dark Tower) and Mount Doom. The red properties are now Gap of Rohan, Helm's Deep, and Edoras. The four railroads are horses: Bill the Pony, Shadowfax, Brego, and Asfaloth. The two utilities are the Wizard's Staffs. Luxury Tax is Shelob's Lair. Income Tax (the bane of all players!) is now "Seen by the Palantír." The Community Chest cards and Chance cards are changed to "Events" and "People." An example of a typical card: "Winged nazgūl attack! Lose 150 power." The houses and hotels you build on properties are now fortresses and strongholds. The white plastic stronghold miniatures look quite impressive on the board!

Strangely, the four corner spaces on the board look exactly the same as in the regular edition: GO, Jail, Free Parking, and Go to Jail. This is odd, since pictures of a car and a policeman clash with the theme of the set. This is really the only flaw in the game presentation.

There is a special "Lord of the Rings" variation you can play if you want a quicker game with an interesting twist. One of the dice has an Eye of Sauron on it instead of a one-spot. When playing the variation, every time the eye pops up on a roll, a special One Ring icon moves one territory around the board. When the Ring reaches the last territory (Mount Doom), the game ends and the player with the most power wins. If a player lands on a territory where the ring is sitting, he/she either gets the territory for free if no one owns it, or else owes the owner TWICE the amount of rent they normally would. This is a fun way to throw variety into the game, but ignore it if you want to play a full-length game.

Parker Brothers has made many Monopoly special editions, but this is the one that got me back into the game, and if you love "The Lord of the Rings" (movie or book), I guarantee it will pull you in too. Just be cautious that you don't start pawing the other players' money and croaking "My precioussss! Givessss us power so we can liftses the mortgage, my precioussss!"

I'd like to start by saying that I'm not a toy enthusiast like the thing above says but this version of momopoly is alot of fun especialy for any LotR fan like me (I'm a VERY big LotR fan). You can be either Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Gandalf or Galadreil and the places you can buy are atual locations from the movie such as Rivendel, Edoras and Barad Dur. The railroads are horses such as Shadowfax and Brego and houses are strongholds and hotels are fortresses. on one of the dice it has the eye of sauron for a one. This game is very fun and a very good investment for a LotR fan.

Well, Sauron was certainly trying to establish a monopoly over Middle-Earth, so "Monopoly: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition" makes sense. Instead of Boardwalk and St. James Place you now try to win control of Helm's Deep, Isengard, and Rivendel. Instead of railroads you now have Shadowfax, Bill the Pony, Asfaloth, and Brego. The goal is now to gather power as you move in and out of these territories, as well as acquiring relics such as the staffs of the wizards. You can play the regular version of the game or try the special LOTR option, which makes use of the power of the One Ring.

The Collector's Edition includes the full color gameboard with a map of Middle Earth in the middle, six collectible tokens (Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli, Galadriel, Gandalf, and Legolas), title deeds for the territories of Middle-Earth, 32 plastic Strongholds and 12 Fortresses, People and Event cards (instead of Chance and Community Chest, e.g., "Fly, you fools!" Proceed to go), seven denominations of power (instead of play money), one standard die, one special die with the Eye of Sauron, and a gold toned pewter ring. Unlike other "special" editions of Monopoly, which just change the names of everything and add some art, there is actually an attempt here to come up with something different. It might not be enough to appeal to LOTR fans, but it is not a bad effort.

Monopoly is often overlooked as a gamenight option these days, many people considering it outdated. But it's a classic for a reason, combining lucky rolls and strategy in a very unique way.

The Lord of the Rings version is a fun alternate version of the game, adding a modern twist to the classic. Instead of the thimbles and hats you are the characters from LOTR. You play for power levels instead of cash, and you own regions of Middle Earth instead of properties. There is an alternate rule you can incorporate utilizing the "one ring" gamepiece, giving special power to whoever holds the ring. It's an interesting option, but for the most part you'll want to play by the original rules, all of which are still intact in this version.

The fact is that most people don't play Monopoly by the correct rules, and that makes all the difference. The key to enjoying the game is the inter-player deals and politics. That's where all the fun lies, and much of the strategy. Any player can strike any kind of a deal with another player - want to trade all the purples and light blues for Boardwalk? No problem. Want to trick someone into trading a property you need for all your railroads? This is where the real enjoyment comes from. I encourage you not only to get the game and play it, but to read the rules and "get into" the game.

There are also some fun alternate rules you can use, such as collecting $400 (instead of $200) when you *land* directly on "go", or putting fine money (from chance cards, utility expenses, get out of jail money, etc.) in the center of the board and collecting it when you land on "free parking".

Don't overlook Monopoly as an outdated option. It's still one of the best games out there.

I'm a Lord of The Rings fan. I've loved all the movies and books. I was in ... the other day and saw this game. It was on sale so I picked it up.

Lord of The Rings Monopoly is exactly what you get. You get the classic game of Monopoly Lord of the Ring style. It's the dame objective as Monopoly in that you want to control as many monopoly's as you can and you want to put all the other players in the game bankrupt.

You can be different characters from the movie to play with. All the main characters are there. The real estate is different places from Middle Earth. The railroads are horses. I thought that one was clever.

Lord of the Ring fans will like it. If you like Monopoly and want to play it without the stupid looking guy and his hat pick it up. I'm glad I bought this game.

I hated Monopoly growing up because it took so long to play, and I almost always lost. However, this new collectors edition gives people like myself a fighting chance! Since the movies have come out, and having read the 4 books (the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy), I have turned into a LOTR fanatic! I received "Monopoly - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition" as a birthday gift. Within the first 3 weeks of getting it, my wife and I played 18 out of 21 nights! I love the changes that were added.

The most exciting twist is the addition of the "one ring". This either allows you to get property for free or pay double the rent. It also makes it's way around the board, journeying closer to Mt. Doom (which replaces Boardwalk as the last space). Once the ring reaches Mt. Doom, the game is over. No more 4-hour games! I also enjoy the fact that the properties have been replaced by sites from the story-line. You also can aquire steeds instead of railroads and wizard staffs instead of utilities.

Over all, this has been the most fun I've ever had playing Monopoly. Definitely recommend it for Monopoly and LOTR enthusiasts alike!

I recieved this game for Christmas and have really enjoyed playing it. They've included all the main sites from the movies, the main characters and thought it was pretty clever using the four horses in place of railroads and the staffs of Sauron and Gandalf in place of the utilities. I think they should have changed jail to Isengard or something else but then I guess they have to keep somethings the same. My favorite aspect of this game is that they have included a way to shorten it in keeping with the book. Whenever I've played Monopoly before it always drags on and on and on but in the LOTR version they have the Ring that travels the board each time the Eye of Sauron is rolled and when it reaches Mt. Doom the game is over. It keeps the game time limit to about an hour which is nice. I would really recommend this for a fun family/friend get together game night type game.
SUMMARY:
Fun--5 stars--Can't think of any reason to deduct points now that there's a time limit included.
Educational value--3 stars--not much thinking or strategy needed. But kids do use Math quite a bit due to money and in figuring out interests, rents, etc.
Durable--5 stars--I'm not sure what exactly they mean by this. The game changes each time you play it and you don't get bored easily.

I never thought i'd be playing Monopoly with my four year old, but he trounced me on the first run. This is a great game, and as much as i remember disliking Monopoly as a kid, I love the LOTR version. The reason? The One Ring option--place the Ring in the Shire, and every time the eye of Sauron is rolled, move it to the next property. When the Ring reaches Mount Doom, the game is over, regardless of who is bankrupt or not. This keeps the game from going on and on and on as i remember it doing.

The only quibble i have with Monopoly in general is the play money is so flimsy, and this game doesn't seem to pack well into the box once the money is in the sorter. The lid doesn't fit flat. But it's a great game and our family has enjoyed many hours of play with it.

I've already seen the Return of the King five times, the Two Towers eleven times, and the Fellowship of the Ring more times than I care to count. All things having to do with the movies or books are awesome, and this Monopoly is no exception.
Playing it is a really fun experience. You can play as:
Gimli, Galadriel, Frodo, Legolas, and, the best character of all, Aragorn. It even comes with a ring, with the Black Speech script on it, which you can use in the game for an optional rule.
Playing is funny too because all these random things happen, like Galadriel owning Helm's Deep, or Gimli being summoned to Mount Doom. The first time I played, I was Gandalf because my opponent insisted on being Aragorn, and so as the game progressed, Aragorn bought Gandalf's staff ("hey! you stole my staff!") and Gandalf bought Brego ("nya nya, got your horse") so it was kind of ridiculous. I mean, the former $75.00 luxury tax is now the Shelob's Lair tax. What's a spider going to do with money?
The Events and People cards are interesting. ("Fly, you fools!" Proceed to go), but strange sometimes: Having a pint at the Green Dragon gives you fifty dollars. Blow the Horn of Gondor and $45.00 drops out of the sky.
the funnest part, though, is reciting lines from the movie as you land on different locations.
the money, I forgot to mention, is now called, "Power"

adios

My fiance and I collect different versions of Monopoly as we're addicted to the game. Last Christmas I bought him this one as he had just finished watching the LOTR trilogy. Quickly we both became addicted to this particular version. I have never seen the movies yet I rate this version of the game higher then any of the others for a number of reasons. The game is so well put to the Monopoly board, it seems natural to be playing to try to get all the "steeds" vs. "railroads". The game pieces are incredibly detailed and add significantly to the game. I would recommend LOTR Monopoly to all!