Monopoly gamer is for 2 to 4 players ages 8 and up. It is a version of Monopoly, so it will take somewhere between 20 minutes and forever to play. However, this isn’t your everyday Monopoly, if you have kids who like video games this could be a good option to get them away from a screen and spend some good quality time. I really liked the new elements, I think with so many different Monopoly versions out there, tweaking the game kind of refreshes it so it’s not just the same game with a different theme, which is why I avoid buying a lot of Monopoly games.

Let’s go through the major differences from regular Monopoly.

• POINTS – This version is not about money, it’s about who has the most points. Points are gained by winning races, buying property and collecting coins. Players will drop or pick up coins as they make their way around the board. Since money isn’t everything, you don’t lose when you run out of coins. This is good or bad depending on how much you like monopoly
• BANANAS – Land on a banana token and you will be forced to stop on a spot. A great idea to drop a banana on one of your own properties.
• CHARACTER ABILITY: The Character cars aren’t just cute, you have abilities that can be activated. This makes chooses your car more meaningful than just liking the look of it.
• POWER UP DIE – In addition to rolling the regular die, you get to roll the power up die as well. I think this is the most fun addition, and love that it is played every turn.
• RACES – Once you pass go, a race starts. You can pay to enter and have a chance to win points or bonuses.

The Setup

Place the Grand Prix cards facedown in numerical order with Grand Prix on top. Have the coins sorted in a pile and hand out 5 one point coins and 1 five point coin to all players. Have the bananas tokens in a pile within reach of all the players. Place the title cards in front of their board spaces. Each player places their character on go and holds onto the matching character card. This card lists the special abilities.

How to Play

The first player rolls the dice and moves forward. They can collect any coins they pass or land on. They follow the instructions on the space where they land. Next activate the ability on the power up die.

• SPINY SHELL – Choose a player to drop 3 coins
• GREEN SHELL – The next player from you has to drop 3 coins
• LIGHTNING BOLT – Lightning bolt all players drop 1 coin
• COINS – Collect 3 coins from the bank
• BANANA – you can drop a banana on one space you pass that turn.

If during your turn you pass go, you get to activate the Grand Prix card to start a race. You can’t trade anything you win from a race. However, you will get to keep those points for the end of the game. Races cost coins to play and are worth it if you win.

Just like regular monopoly you can buy, trade or sell properties. If a player lands on a property and doesn’t want to buy it, it goes up for auction starting at one coin. If you land on someone else’s property you pay them rent. So try to drop banana peels on your property, that will force a player to stop and pay up.

Landing on the go to jail card still lands you in jail and you do not collect coins on your way there. While in jail you can still collect rent but you can’t enter races. If you want to get out of jail fast you can pay 5 coins before you roll or you can take a chance to try and roll a 6. If you don’t roll a 6 your turn is over. After two failed attempts you may exit.

Some new spaces to think about on the board:

• BOOST PAD – roll the numbered die and move that many spaces, unless there’s a banana peel, in which case you will still need to stop
• ITEM BOX – roll then numbered die and collect that many coins.
• THWOMP – drop two coins
• SUPERSTAR – landing on this space activates you characters super star ability listed on their character card

Races

When a race is triggered a Grand Prix cats is flipped. Anyone can pay to enter the race. Players roll the dice and the highest number wins. Points are given out based on the card.

Once the last race has finished the game is over. Players add up property cards, Grand Prix cards and coins. Every 5 coins are worth 10 points. Anything less than 5 isn’t counted.

I played this once with my nephew. I lost, badly. In this particular version of monopoly you aren’t out of the game when you run out of money so it was a also a very slow way to lose. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy themselves though.

I should say, I’m not the demographic for this game, so it isn’t my favourite and won’t be in my collection, but I definitely see the value. If you have kids or are a big mario fan, this would be great for a family game night, plus the cars are pretty cute.