Own the Mushroom Kingdom (Monopoly Gamer)

Oh, hello!  This week we look at both this month's theme, and a previous theme.  By coming both Video Games and Oldies with a Twist, we get the all-powerful Gamer Monopoly!  



BACKGROUND:  Gamer Monopoly is a board game for 2-4 players, and was produced in 2017 by Hasbro and Nintendo.  Players take control of Mario and his friends to run around the board a la Monopoly, and fight the bosses, including King Koopa AKA Bowser.

GAMEPLAY:  Like traditional Monopoly, you roll and move your character from the start to buy property with Gold Coins, or other effects based on the board space.  However, players now roll both the regular movement six sided die, and the ability die, which gives them an effect according to the character card.



PROPERTIES:  Landing on a property still requires the player to pay the owner the amount indicated on the card.  Another unique feature is the lack of hotels and mortgage.  Instead of hotels, if a player lands on another players property, they are merely paid double. If a player runs out of coins, they either sell property back to the bank or to other players for a price.  If a player has neither coins nor property, they lose, and are removed from the game.

BOSSES:  Once a player lands on or passes GO, that player flips a Boss card and may fight the Boss by paying its roll cost.  If the player does not meet or beat the number, they lose and pass the opportunity to fight the boss to the next player.  If any player does manage to beat or hit the number, they collect the Boss card.  However, if all players pass and no one manages to beat the Boss, the Boss is removed from the game.

WINNING:  Each property and Boss card has a point value at the end.  When Bowser is either defeated or flees, the game is over.  Players total up their point values on the cards, with every 5 coins worth 10 points.  The winner is the player with the most points at the end, with ties going to the player with more property.

CONCLUSION:  I hate Monopoly.  That might seem like rather harsh thing to say, but if there is a game I dislike over all games, it's Monopoly.  It's long, dull, and uninteresting.  So, when Monopoly Gamer came out, I was...skeptical.  After all, almost all other versions of Mario are the same with a new skin, so why should this one be different.  There's even a previous Monopoly Super Mario Bros.  After playing it, I can say that this version of Mario is enjoyable.  There's a set gameplay end, so I never felt like my time was wasted waiting for 1 player to just finally win with their massive lead.  The elimination rule is also helpful, as is the lack of punishing players with mortgages and hotels.  If there's one problem I have, it's that, in the end, it's still Monopoly.  Sure, it's been vastly improved, but Monopoly is Monopoly, warts and all.  It's still unbalanced, unfair, with uninspired gameplay.  Still, if you are a video gamer turned board gamer, just recognize the theme, or you don't and this sounds good, give it a play.  This is one game that surpasses its brothers by a large degree.