Monopoly Is Monopolizing On Every Version Of The Game You Could Possibly Imagine
As one of the most popular games in America, Monopoly has garnished a reputation for showing—in the most basic sense—how capitalism works. The game hasn't remained popular by simply staying the same. Monopoly has adapted its rules, pieces, boards, and devices dozens of times in order to stay relevant and to appeal to as many audiences as possible.
From Monopoly Millennials to Marvel Comic's Collectors and everything in between, Monopoly is staying relevant with all these unique versions of the classic board game. Here are some examples that show how far Monopoly has gone to capitalize on itself.
Monopoly: Socialism Is A Parody Of The Game
Monopoly took a risk with its new Socialism edition. Adjustments to the game shed a dark light on players cooperating towards a "utopian society," or so the game's description calls it. Opposed to the usual $200, players get $50 when they pass go. The game structures itself around various opportunities for players to either help the collective group or to help themselves.
This version has stirred up more controversy than other editions with people arguing that it gets socialism wrong and makes fun of it. Ironically, Monopoly was invented to critique capitalism. Apparently, this version does the exact opposite.
A Version For Fortnite Players
The video game Fortnite came out just a couple of years ago and has already become a popular choice amongst gamers. Monopoly is clearly aware of the trends because they came out with this Fortnite edition just a year after the video game was released.
In this version, players get to choose from 27 outfits to dress their pawns in, enabling them to play as their favorite character. Players also get to battle their opponents. Rather than collecting money, they aim to collect health chips, pictured in the center of the game board, and the last player alive wins.
For Those Short On Time, There Is The Empire Edition
If there's one thing about Monopoly that stands out, it's that the game can seem to last forever. Unless you have a player who knows what they're doing and dominates quickly, the game sometimes ends in a forfeit long before anyone sees bankruptcy.
To solve that issue, Monopoly created its Empire edition. The goal is simply to fill your tower, those black additions to the gameboard shown above. Billboards represent brands that the player owns, which are used to fill the tower. Billboards can be given up to pay for rent owed when a player is short on cash, depleting their own empire and adding to someone else's.
The Bigger The Better With Monopoly Mega
Monopoly Mega is exactly what it sounds like it is. The board is about 30% larger than the original, and adds skyscrapers and depots to the houses and hotels, enabling players to make more money off rent faster. Players also have more cash, as the game throws in a stack of $1,000 bills to increase wealth or empty players' pockets.
The added "speed" die and bus cards enable players to move across spaces to desired spots around the board. For those who are die hard original Monopoly fans, this is an ideal version to add to the repertoire when time is a factor.
Gotta Catch 'Em All To Win!
Back in the 1990s, Pokémon exploded with its unique cards representing different characters. Children would use the cards to battle one another just like the characters in the show do. Monopoly modified their game so players could collect, obtain power, and deplete opponents.
In this version, players choose their favorite Pokémon token to move around the board and use their money to collect characters to build a more powerful team. Poké centers and marts, the house and hotel supplements, help build a more powerful gym. The one with the most powerful team wins.
Monopoly Goes Global
In this version of Monopoly, creators solicited the opinions of people around the world as to which cities were the best. Based on the data, they made a gameboard featuring the top cities around the world. Rather than working with cash to obtain properties, players use cards and a banker unit to work with millions of dollars worth of funds.
Houses and hotels take on various forms, from pyramids to mud huts. Bargains and transactions between players can still be made by inserting both players' cards into the banking unit. Thought the components of the game are altered, the rules are the same.
My Little Monopony
My Little Pony is wildly popular amongst little kids. Monopoly capitalized on this by creating an edition based on My Little Pony. Unlike some other editions, this one maintains the exact same rules as the original Monopoly. Creators merely adjusted all of the pieces so they'd be elements borrowed from the show.
The tokens, for example, are tiny figurines of the primary ponies in the show. The board is riddled with locations from the show, as well. Chance and Community cards are changed to Mayor Mare and Discord cards.
Monopoly Cheaters Unite!
This game functions similar to the original Monopoly game, only it encourages players to cheat. Cheat cards ask players to perform certain tasks, like stealing a hotel or money from the bank. If the player is not caught, a specified reward like a free property is earned. If caught, players may owe cash, or worse.
The game comes with plastic handcuffs that enable a caught cheater to be handcuffed to the game board. The game was inspired by a study that found half Monopoly players attempt to cheat.
A New Monopoly Game Every Time
In this unique edition, players use hexagon-shaped pieces to construct the course. 3-D buildings can also be added to the hexagons to create a city look-alike. Aside from a few adjustments to the game's challenges, like hazard locations, the rules are the same.
One of the advantages to players building their own game is that the duration of the game can be impacted in accordance with the course built. Like popular modern games such as Minecraft, the edition introduces an element of innovation less present in other versions.
Monopoly: Millennials Is The Most Depressing Edition
Since most Millennials are (presumably) broke, in this game players start with just 100 bucks. Passing go only wins you the tiny salary of $20. Tokens include a hashtag, laughing emoji, and aviator sunglasses. The game also adds experience chips, placed in the middle of the board above, which are hidden from other players and have a positive or negative value.
Players also buy "experiences" as they circulate the board rather than buying properties. The game has been critiqued for having an overwhelmingly pessimistic outlook on the life of a young adult today.
Nintendo And Monopoly Morphed Into This
In this gamer edition, favorite Nintendo game characters replace traditional tokens. Each character has its own Power-up ability, unlike tokens in other versions which are merely placeholders.
Players use coins as their currency and collect higher levels rather than properties. Players can also use the characters' special abilities to steal coins from other players. Overcoming battles with bosses also earn players coins. Like traditional Monopoly, the player with the highest value at the end wins the game.
The Marvel Comic's Collectors Edition Is A Fan Favorite
This game utilizes the increasing value of Marvel comics as a launching point for a fresh Monopoly edition with a new twist. Rather than buying properties, players buy comic books. Like the original game, the value of the comics increases as players work their way around the board.
The goal is to obtain the most valuable comic book collection. Smaaash and Thpoom cards replace Community and Chess cards, and help players make it past others. When landing on a comic book another owns, the two players must negotiate how to proceed.
Five Nights At Freddy's Is A Creepy Monopoly Version
If you're wondering what in the world Five Nights at Freddy's is, that's probably because you aren't currently an elementary school gamer. The game-turned-series involves children defending themselves against scary animatronics. Popularity increased with a book series that was based on the game, and now movies and a Youtube show also contribute to the creepy saga children love.
Monopoly caught wind of the trend and came up with an edition to capitalize on the media franchise. The game features places and characters from the series, and the goal is to buy animatronics as you round the board, rather than properties. Pizzerias and diners replace houses and hotels, as well.
This Wizard Of Oz Collector's Edition Jumps Out At You
In The Wizard of Oz Collector's Edition, the tokens and the game board aren't the only items impacted by the theme. Unlike many of the other movie-based editions, this version also changed its money to feature the face of each primary character in the film.
The pop-up featured in the center of the board reveals both the tornado in Kansas that initially transports Dorothy to the land of Oz, as well as the Wicked Witch's Castle where Dorothy causes her to melt. The objective of the game is to become the wealthiest player in all of Oz.
Learn To Think Like Disney
It's not a true child's game until Disney has had its way with it. Like most successful businesses, Disney crept its way into Monopoly's trajectory years ago. Now, this third edition of Monopoly Disney features not only Disney characters but also a pop-up castle inspired by the Disneyland theme park.
A golden statue of Disney and Mickey rests on the game board in front of the palace, purely for visual effect. Properties are popular attractions from various Disney theme parks. Mickey's Toontown houses and Disney castles are added to properties to increase their value.
Game Of Thrones Works Perfectly For Monopoly
In the Game of Thrones Monopoly, properties consist of locations from the Seven Kingdoms on which the show is based. The tokens are the sigils of each house from the show. Gold dragon and silver stag coins replace the dollars that make up traditional Monopoly.
Holdfasts replace the houses while castles take the space of hotels. A musical feature even plays the iconic theme song of the television show. The player that maintains their wealth wins.
Monopoly: Jackpot Is A Simpler (And Riskier) Version
In Monopoly Jackpot, the rules are even more basic than regular Monopoly. Players roll the dice, roam around the board, and decide whether or not they want to buy a property. However, each player has just ten houses, which correspond to the color of their token, and no hotels or deed cards.
There are also no community or chance cards. Instead, Chance spaces indicate a player must activate the spinner. The spinner tells the player what they need to do, be it "steal a house" or "go to jail."
This Top Hat Is An Automated Banking System
In this version, only four players can play since the voice box, the hat in the center of the board, only has four players it has been programmed to accomodate. The Monopoly rules are the same, only the voice box, aka Mr. Monopoly, does all of the banking. This means that players have to remember their balance, and that no paper money is included.
A player simply presses the button on the top hat that denotes their token, and tells a command to it such as, "Pay rent on Boardwalk." From their, Mr. Monopoly takes care of all the accounting.
This Banking Unit Simplifies And Speeds Up The Game
In the Ultimate Banking edition, a banking unit enables fast transactions, without leaving players unsure of how their account balances. Each player has a card that is tapped on the banking unit. Once tapped, any action can be done through the device.
Players don't have to own an entire color unit to buy houses, and rent jumps up a level every time a player lands on your property. Instead of chance and community chest, event and location spaces along the board indicate that a player should either draw an event card or move to a space of their choice.
Anti-Monopoly Pits You Against Your Closest Friends
Monopoly has gone so far down the editions rabbit-hole that they even have an Anti-Monopoly version. In this game, competitors are pivoted against monopolists, and a player can win by dominating either side. Players decide which side they are on in the beginning, but an even number of competitors and monopolists much exist. In the case of an odd number of players, the difference in players on each side cannot supersede one.
The side the player is on determines the set of rules by which they have to play. Monopolists work to bankrupt all of the other players, while competitors work to stay afloat and remain the richest once monopolists go bankrupt.
