2025 sees Monopoly celebrating 90 years of dominating board games. This is being marked by a spruced up edition of the base game in a more storage friendly sized box and 3 new mini-expansions which enhance the basic game. Whilst all this was announced in January the products have only recently been arriving on our shores so it does qualify as “news”!
Monopoly Makeover
The classic Monopoly board game gets an upgraded new look :-
· Modern graphics and updated money designs
· Smaller more easily storable box – 26.7cm square x 4.1 cm deep.
· larger tokens, houses, and hotels
· Lidded storage box for Cash, Cards and Components
· Title deeds look smarter with mortgage redemption cost printed on them
No more having to work out +10% on £75!
An attractive makeover at an attractive price.
More and Less
Then there are the three expansions which as well as adding new features to the game also aim to make it quicker. To do this they have new Game End conditions like when all properties are sold or the 1st player goes bankrupt then the one with the most monet wins. Simples!
Clearly you could do this with any version of Monopoly and it might well be all the better for it.
Note the 3 expansions all add to the basic board but in universally common squares: Jail; Go to Jail; Free Parking etc so they can be used with whatever edition of Monopoly you have. They can not, however, be used in cojunction with each other.
The 3 expansions are: (in overview, I’ll post a more detailed explanation later)
Free Parking Jackpot
This builds on the old well-adopted house rule of paying all your purchase prices, fines and penalties not to the bank but into a pool to be scooped by the next person to land on Free Parking.
· Free Parking spinner attachment with 4 good segments and 4 bad ones.
· Spinning the Spinner replaces Chance and Community Chest and also if you land on your own property.
· Spin Chips can be used for a Spin. You start with 2 and can chose to take one from the Bank instead of rent owed to you.
Spinning introduces a lot of chance – 50-50 good or bad – but you get a Spin Bonus card and the possibility of the Deal Mobile which exempts you from paying rent or having to pay for property!
Buy Everything
· Rotating Sale Vault holding 3 Sale cards
· All squares can be bought and have Title Deeds: Go; Jail; Chance; Tax etc.
· 20 Sale cards giving special abilities or instant win conditions
· The Buy Die is rolled after each turn to buy or change Sale cards
This version can be very quick if an easily achievable instant win is bought.
Go to Jail
· Gameboard attachments for Jail and Go To Jail
· Go To Jail square is now Super Jail
· 32 Corruption and 12 Super Corruption cards giving negative actions on other players
· Tax squares become Go To Jail
· Escape Die instead of Chance – get Corruption cards or go to Jail
· Heist Die instead of Community Chest – get cash or go to Jail
Each turn in Jail get a Corruption or Super Corruption card. Stay for up to 3 turns but you need to pay cash to get out.
Standard expansion end game of all property bought or 1st player bankrupt then player with most money wins unless in Jail.
Quite an interesting set of expansions and at pocket money prices. Makes me almost want to play again.
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