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135 of 146 found the following review helpful:
 licensed and piggy-backed on top of REAL monopoly Aug 05, 2007
By John M
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.
30 of 32 found the following review helpful:
 Far superior to the original Apr 07, 2008
By X man
This is a wonderfully creative expansion to the original Monopoly, the board game that needs no introduction. Created by a team at Winning Moves, a great company responsible for numerous other games and fun diversions, Mega Monopoly enhances the experience of the original, and incredibly speeds the entire process up!
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. Nonetheless, it's not a big problem (until building taxation time) and doesn't significantly detract from the game. Plus, the nostalgia is there....
18 of 23 found the following review helpful:
a great update to a classic game. Feb 02, 2007
By Jon S. Leslie
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
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Monopoly Bigger and Badder May 22, 2010
By K. Pring
Overall, I'd say this is a great buy because it introduces several new factors, rail road stations, several new properties. If you wanted to look at in one way this game was the precurser to the Monopoly City, which I found to be a fasinating and grant new way to play the game. The bigger board introducted a new dice for quicker play, a new $1000 bill and great strides to push the game to a new limit. I think they succeded, it is a fun game to play, even if you loose...which I did.
Thanks for reading.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Monopoly lovers--this might be for you! Sep 30, 2008
By vgs1895
"vgs1895"
We are Monopoly lovers and have at least 30 different Monopoly games. My son's new fiancee is also an ML, so I bought them this Mega Monopoly to try. At first, it seemed complicated so I let them figure it out. I joined in by the second game. The rules are slightly different and there are more properties as well as different cards (Bus, Mr. Monopoly) in addition to the standard Community Chess and Chance.
I like the strategy involved, and I like the ability to be able to put houses on when a full monopoly isn't owned (most monopolies now require the purchase of four, not three, properties. Houses can be put on if only 3 are owned).
It's not a short game, and true MLs might like it just for variety's sake. My kids (6 of 'em ranging from 13-30) aren't in agreement about whether they like the Bus cards, but the cards definitely add a new strategy to the game. The Mr. Monopoly (or is it Moneybags? I can't remember) also make the game move faster.
I've decided I like it as a change once in a while. The basic rules are the same, so there isn't a huge difference. If you want to play without the bus or Mr. Monopoly/Moneybags cards, you can--so it's not something which has to be done.
If you like Monopoly a lot, I'd give this one a fair chance. Don't just do what I did--look at the "new" rules and walk away. (I let my kids figure it out.) Play a few games of it. It's NOT complicated--I made it seem that way in my brain. It's fun with a slight twist.
The only reason I didn't give it straight "five star" ratings is that the game would have to be "perfect" and I haven't found the perfect game yet. It is definitely educational because when played correctly, it involves a lot of thinking and planning. I didn't give it a five-star durability rating because it's Monopoly--the contents can definitely get bent and wrecked if the wrong people mess with it. This particular game is definitely up to the Monopoly standards--good quality paper, strong game board, etc. By the way, the board is larger than a normal board. We liked that!
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