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86 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
licensed and piggy-backed on top of REAL monopoly, August 5, 2007
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
Warning, this game is NOT made by Hasbro. It is licensed from them and piggy backed on top of an actual monopoly game. Ok, no big deal you think but this does create some problems.
1) The instructions aren't written as a whole they just added the instructions for the new features to the front of the REAL instructions.
2) the cards (Chance and Community chest) weren't updated with the new updates. So, you draw get the card that tells you to pay for building repairs to houses and hotels... but what about skyscrapers? The cards are the standard cards that send you to all the original properties and none of the new. The card which doubles the railroad rent is still there... But, if your opponent has all four railroads AND has a train depot which doubles the rent to $400... then the card doubles that to $800???? (This did happened to me.) Ouch, for a $100 investment in a train depot you just earned more than most hotels earn on the medium to expensive properties. That seems lopsided.
3) The rent on the skyscrapers is in the thousands so paying $15 in poor tax or winning $10 for third place in a beauty contest is completely out of the scope of the new rents (they've included a $1,000 bill) and seems like a complete waste of time. And, there are no new cards which say something like "Won $500 in a state lottery" or something like that.
4) You use 3 die now. The third die is special. It has special squares as well as 1,2, and 3 dots. One of the special squares is "Mr Monopoly" and he is a bonus. But, the instructions tell you to move the number of squares on the other two dice and if you've rolled a Mr Monopoly then you proceed to the next unsold property. This is designed to speed up the acquisition of property... but you still only get $200 for passing go. So, you run out of cash and can't buy them any way. Plus are you supposed to pay rent on the first place you landed after moving the number of spaces on the conventional dice or is it all considered one turn? The instructions don't really specify. If you play it as all one turn then players use "Mr Monopoly" to avoid paying rent and zip right past your skyscrapers to land on the next unowned property. Either way by the end of the game it is usually the expensive green and blue properties that are left unsold so you go wizzing around the board with "Mr Monopoly" until someone finally saves enough money to buy them up and stop the madness.
There are positives...
1)Building shortages... Was this in the old rules (I don't remember)? When players use up all the buildings then you have to wait until some are sold back in order to build.
2) The skyscrapers and train depots are a cool idea and they look cool. They are plastic. I have no problems with plastic. Plastic lasts longer and has the cool little details that the wood blocks wouldn't have (like tiny little shingles on the houses).
3) The bus passes allow you to move forward to any spot on the side of the board you are on. There are a finite number of them and once they are all used then there are no more. Great idea. However, if you play the variant where you put $500 in the center of the board to be collected by someone who lands on free parking then you quickly find people bussing over to free parking to make quick cash...so you'll want to ditch that idea.
4) Additional properties. They added one property to each group (those with 2 now have 3 and those with 3 now have four). They added another utility (gas). So, with 3 out of 4 properties you can build houses and hotels... but you need the fourth property to get skyscrapers. (This, of course does violate the rule of evenly distributed buildings because when you acquire the 4th property you might already have hotels on the other 3 prpoerties.)
Summary: Nice ideas but they just didn't think all of these rule changes thru, nor did they integrate them with the old rules and cards of the game (and actually try it out) to make sure the gameplay was still as fun as the original game.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than the original, April 7, 2008
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
Do you ever get tired of playing the original Monopoly? I know I have. After a while, the games lose their excitement because the gameplay seems repetitive. If you love Monopoly, but want a new, bigger, better version of that game, look no further. Monopoly: the Mega Edition is for you.
If you love the original Monopoly - in fact, if you love board games at all - you will, I think, enjoy this superb game. The rules are very similar to the original Monopoly, but many new elements have been added, all of which help to elevate this game to classic status.
The following things have been added:
New properties (one new one for each color group and a new utility).
A new Speed Die that allows you to go to the next unowned property, get a Bus Ticket, or just move 1, 2, or 3 extra squares).
Bus Tickets (special cards that let you move wherever you want, provided that you're on the right side of the board to do so; e.g. if you want to go to Boardwalk, you have to be on the fourth side of the board. Additionally, some Bus Tickets make all other Bus Tickets that aren't in the deck expire - become unusable, and therefore, all other Bus Tickets in the players' hands must be discarded!).
Depots (for doubling Railroads' rents).
$1000 bills.
Skyscrapers (which can be erected after hotels if you own all the properties in one monopoly; you can only go up to hotels if you own 2 properties out of monopolies of 3 or 3 properties out of monopolies of 4).
Bus Tickets and the Speed Die add an element of strategy to this game that the original Monopoly didn't have. You often have to decide if you want to buy the next unowned property or leave it, and the decision of when to use Bus Tickets is often crucial. Your chances for a monopoly can be ruined, or you can gain a whole monopoly by using the Speed Die. Thus, games of Mega Monopoly are much more challenging and suspenseful than in the original game.
Additionally, new rules and some special squares have been added. All these improvements help to take the Monopoly experience to a whole new level. Oh, and the inside of the Mega Monopoly box has very nice places for the tokens, dice, cards, money, and buildings.
There are flaws, such as the fact that the original Chance and Community Chest cards are included, and are not updated to suit the needs of this game, and some of the properties seem to be too expensive to build up. However, despite these problems (and there are a few others), Mega Monopoly triumphs as one of the best board games I have ever played.
Moreover, I have to admit that this is my favorite board game without a doubt, which is saying something, since I've played many, many games out there. The experience here is always different, the decisions you have to make are always changing, and the fun never lets up! A fine board game, and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who likes to have a good time with friends or family.
Sorry for the length of this review (I know that will scare some people away from reading it), but I think it's only fair to tell you everything about this game, and to say that I think it would be a VERY worthwhile purchase. Thanks for reading (if you got this far).
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15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a great update to a classic game. , February 2, 2007
this version added quite a few dimensions to a game that we in our house have been playing non-stop for over a year now. While the original monopoly is a staple, and we all know its subtilties (sp?), this game had all the flavors of the original and added a lot to the game. I dare say we might be playing a lot more of it in upcoming months. Highly recommended, however we have adjusted the rules a bit; the game seems to unfairly make the boardwalk property (usually not a great property) the single most important property. Look at the discussion section of this listing for rule changes that we have come up with to fix this problem. I'd like other opinions. - JL
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