Monopoly Deal is back with a new 2024 reprint. The old green card case has now been replaced with a dark blue, but with the exact same charm (or malice if you didn’t draw the dealbreaker) that all previous prints have held.
For those out there who haven’t heard of Monopoly Deal, it is simply a quick and light card version of classic Monopoly with the same thrills (all handily packed in a tiny box perfect for travels or for a really quick game with family and friends) but without the hours of dice rolling and praying you don’t land in your brothers’ Mayfair Hotel.
Monopoly Deal is back with a new 2024 reprint. The old green card case has now been replaced with a dark blue, but with the exact same charm (or malice if you didn’t draw the dealbreaker) that all previous prints have held.
For those out there who haven’t heard of Monopoly Deal, it is simply a quick and light card version of classic Monopoly with the same thrills (all handily packed in a tiny box perfect for travels or for a really quick game with family and friends) but without the hours of dice rolling and praying you don’t land in your brothers’ Mayfair Hotel.
The objective of the game is to try and complete 3 full sets before everyone else (i.e. either 2,3 or 4 cards depending on the property type). The game has all the familiar locations on the monopoly board (yes, Park Royale and Mayfair are back), but with slightly different mechanics to the board game. Throughout the game, you draw cards and play cards each turn, putting down property and cash that you collect and charging your opponent(s) rent with various rent cards matching your property colours. Houses and Hotels are back and can be added onto already existing full sets of property allowing you to add on to the already large rental values you can charge your opponents.
Monopoly Deal also adds new ways to flip tables (without the mess of actually having to clear up all the cash from the boardgame version) through action cards, with modern classics such as Its My Birthday! – kindly asking for $2m from all your (former) friends round the table, Forced and Sly Deals – forcing an exchange of properties or just taking them because inflicting pain is fun, the Deal Breaker – stealing an entire full set that your now enemy has painstakingly built up over the past 5 turns and of course Just Say No! – which as the card suggests, allows you to (politely-ish) decline to pay the $16m doubled rent targeted at you (nothing personal mate, just want everything you have on your side of the playing field).
If you have never owned a copy of Monopoly Deal before, I would highly recommend adding this to your collection. My set has seen hundreds if not thousands of games over years and years worth of board game sessions and travels, at around a fiver, definitely excellent value for money. Definitely not the game for 4 hours on a Saturday afternoon, but a lovely palate cleanser before everyone heads home. A very simple game that can be played with young and old alike (I got my first set when I was about 8 years old).
For those who already have a well loved copy of the game, what is different here? Well, nothing much really apart from some changes to card art which I find slightly easier to read, as well as the absence of any bent corners (or cards outright) on your well used dealbreakers. In my opinion, only worth a buy if you are looking to replace your worn out copy (as I had to).
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
75%
