Posts Tagged ‘monopoly’

Monopoly Socialism, A Surprisingly Nuanced Game of Wits

Posted: August 24, 2019 by datechguy in economy, gaming, oddities
Tags: , , ,

There is a lot of talk about the game Monopoly Socialism from Hasbro. Leftists are upset and folks like me are delighted that the game pokes fun at Socialism, but let’s forget that for a moment as a gamer and ask the basic questions one might ask about a game, namely.

  1. Is it playable?
  2. Is it challenging?
  3. Is it fun
  4. Weaknesses
  5.  Is it worth your time?

1.  As to the first question the game is very easy to play, the setup is not complicated because only the community fund gets any cash, the mechanics of the game are relatively easy and it tends to move quickly, sometimes VERY quickly.  The one real issue with the game is that you’re a monopoly player you have to make sure you don’t use a monopoly mindset because that’s an easy way to lose.  Which brings us to question 2

2.  Is it Challenging.  I was quite surprised that this game take a lot of thought.  you are playing both against your opponents and the game itself.  the nature of the game means that you have to take advantage of community handouts early to get power,

but to rely too much on it leads to everybody losing.  In addition while wealth can help make a difference in winning, it’s not really the determining factor, particularly when there are so many cards that can counter you.  Furthermore if you are too far in the lead it’s an incentive for the others to let the community fund run dry and everyone loses.  Like socialism you have to boil the frog so to speak to make sure that those who can bring you down don’t understand how you are manipulating the system.  Against strong players it takes an awful lot of skill to come out ahead…just like in socialism.

3.  Is it fun?   Well this depends.  if you are a person of the right you will likely find it fun and funny right from the start simply because of the cards and effects like this one:

The fact that the game is challenging and requires wits is a bonus extra.

Now if you are a person on the left who has made socialism and politics their religion then you are likely going to be so pissed off that no amount of challenge and nuance will compensate for the great insult to your religion, however if you are a person with an open mind who likes a skillful challenge then you might still enjoy this game as it takes quite a bit of wits to win.

4.  Weaknesses.  Three come to mind, firstly it’s actually fairly easy to rumble the game in one respect.   If the players right from the start decide not to take advantage of the system to get ahead in theory you can build up the community fund to a point where it might possible to advance on your own.  However that might take a half hour of not trying to win, so depending on who you are playing with that doesn’t work.

There are some ambiguities in the rules, ,for example, while it suggest that all should contribute to the general fund it’s not clear that people can do it voluntarily.  If you are a rich player it might be worth while to pay off the debts of the community to keep the game going and I think there should be a mechanism to do that.

We have also added a house rule that would be a good addition to the game in general.  There are cards that remove your chits from project due to offenses against socialism, however in real life what tends to happen in real life that such a person commuting such an offense can usually be shaken down to buy forgiveness, so we added a rule where a person can buy forgiveness from the community with a contribution to the community fund and a partial payment to the person playing the card.  Basically it’s the Al Sharpton rule and it adds another aspect to the game, both interesting and real.

Finally I’d like it if  you could play with six rather than just four, because my gut tells me a larger group would be more interesting but much harder to win.

5.  Finally is it worth your time.  I think so, it’s a challenging game that can be finished in under an hour, even quicker if people aren’t careful.  I don’t know if I’d pay the prices I’m seeing on Amazon right now but if you want a game that is fun to play, well designed, requires some wits and has just enough luck to not make it a forgone conclusion this game is it.

My congratulations to the design team, well done  4 1/2 out of five.

Monopoly & Groo the Crash and Burn version

Posted: July 11, 2010 by datechguy in fun, gaming, oddities
Tags: , ,

Does Monopoly look become boring after a while? Want to spice it up. Our gaming group has figured out a way. Combine it with GROO the Cardgame!

What you need to play;

A Standard Monopoly set.
One Groo movement dice from the Groo Game
A Groohead dice from the Groo game
Either a second Groohead dice OR a Groo miniature.

Special Groo Rules:
Groo is the last player who moves. Roll the regular dice, the Groo Dice and the Groohead dice.
Move Groo the number of squares indicated on the dice adjusted by the Groo Movement dice. (Left or right) as shown. Then examine the Groohead dice.
If the result is anything other than Groohead continue to the next player.

If a Groohead comes up Groo being Groo causes destruction as Follows:

If the property contains a Hotel It is reduced to 4 houses
If the property contains houses one house is removed.
If the property contains no houses it MUST be mortgaged. The owner of the property gets no compensation for this.
If the property is mortgaged then it is returned to the bank
If the property is unowned then it is Mortgaged WITHIN the bank. A player who lands on it may purchase it but it must be purchased as a mortgaged property and unmortgaged per regular rules
If groo lands on a unowned mortgaged property that property is permanently removed from the game the set may not be acquired or built upon.

Groo has the following effects non-property squares:

Nobody may collect money from passing GO if Groo is on GO
If Groo lands on Free Parking any money is the middle goes back to the bank.
If Groo lands on chance and/or community chest draw the card shown. If he is moved to a location treat said movement as if he landed there.
If Groo is already on a property owned by a player that contains houses and the player draws the “pay for house or hotel card” ALL houses on that property are removed (Groo attempts to help repair said property with predictable results)


Groo Rampage
If Groo lands on chance or community Chest and draws Pay for each house or Hotel all properties on the board lose one house.
If Groo lands on Just visiting all players in Jail immediately roll one dice and move away from the jail. All players ignore any “Go to Jail” result if Groo is visiting.

Sharing a space with Groo.

If Groo lands on a property that you are on there is no additional effect all damage is to the property.
If you are on a “paying” space (such as Luxury Tax) and Groo lands on it you must pay the price of the property a second time.

If you land on Groo you must pay him to go away. The cost to make him go away is equal to price of the property that you are on. A “Get out of Jail Free” card may be used.
If you land on Groo when he is not on a paying property do not roll the dice for Groo he will move with you with the following effects:

You may not collect any money from any properties you own instead you must pay to the bank any amount you would have collected due to Groo Damage.

If a fray takes place while Groo is traveling with you, lose a turn and all your cash on hand.

These effects continue until Groo is paid off and moves away.

A Fray:

If an attempt to send Groo to Jail takes place due to either a card draw, doubles or the landing on the Go to Jail space a Fray takes place with the following effects:

Any and all buildings on the property Groo is on are destroyed.
If there are no buildings on the property treat it as if Groo just landed there.
Roll one dice, all players within the number of spaces of the dice roll lose one turn due to residual Groo damage.

The victory conditions are the same last surviving player wins, there is a chance that all remaining players will go bankrupt at once, in that case Groo wins.