Players: 2-4+
Age: 8+
Duration: No duration specified
Distributor: Hasbro
Monopoly for Millennials – Board Game Review
Hasbro has been known throughout the years for its successful release of Monopoly. The original board game has changed a lot over the years and has undergone many partnerships with famous franchises to bring you themed editions. The game has remained practically the same over the years, only changing its design for said themed versions, or to update the locations on the board and its money designs. As of late, there have been other Monopoly editions that stray from the original rules, bringing us the Cheaters Edition, where cheating is key, but also the Fortnite Edition, where you’ll play a combination of Monopoly with First-Person Shooter mechanics. This time Hasbro brings us a Monopoly for Millennials, which is a subtle comical nudge to the generation that is said to have no money to live on their own, as the world has become too expensive. We were curious to see if this Monopoly edition could stand against the original game.
Contents
- Rules
- Game board
- 6 tokens
- 16 destination cards
- 16 chance cards
- 16 community chest cards
- 64 experience chips
- Money pack
- 2 dice
- 6 metal cast pawns
We mentioned that the Fortnite themed edition had cheaper materials than the original versions, and this is also true to a certain extent for the Millennials edition. You’ll have flimsier destination cards (properties), chance cards and community chest cards. The paper/cardboard used for these is a lot thinner than with the standard Monopoly versions. The money is pretty much the same quality, but you only have three different numeric values, which is also a bit on the low side. The rest of the components are quite decent though, as the experience chips are made from sturdy cardboard and the pawns are shiny golden metallic pieces. These pawns represent things for Millenials, such as a smiley, a hashtag, a bicycle, a pair of sunglasses, the Monopoly guy and a camera. The last one is a bit of an oddball, but we reckon this is a wink to the popular Instagram platform. The game board is also adjusted to fit the fewer destinations, and each side will only count eight spaces compared to the regular ten.
We find it sad that big publishers like Hasbro still don’t include proper Ziploc bags with their games to properly store the components inside the box. This is especially true for this edition, where components are inside plastic bags you have to tear open and throw away. We also found it peculiar that the tray inside the box simply doesn’t suit the components of this edition. It feels as if they took a standard monopoly tray and simply tossed it inside this box, rather than making a custom piece that would properly suit this one’s components.
Mechanics
Even though Monopoly for Millenials does have money in its inventory, the game can only be won by gaining the most experience by the end of the game. This experience can be earned by visiting other players’ discovered destinations, but also by the things you have to do when drawing chance or community chest cards. The game ends when all destinations have been discovered (bought) or when you run out of experience chips. The rules of this Monopoly don’t stray too far from the base game’s, but we’ll give you a small rundown on what to expect.
Like in most Monopoly games, you’ll start off with some basic funds, you get money when you pass GO!, the destinations are the properties and can also be bought, the chance and community chest cards are available and the jail is also present on the board. This part remains the same as the original game. The differences are however that you also need to gain experience as you go. You can gain experience by having people visiting your purchased destinations or by visiting the destinations of other players. This will also earn or cost you some money, but more importantly, you can always draw one experience chip. These chips are mingled and will be presented with their backsides up. You will have to draw a chip randomly, and it can either be a positive or a negative experience, with a value on it. These values all need to be added (or subtracted in case of a negative experience) by the end of the game. The player with the most experience, not money, will win the game.
Visiting destinations aren’t the only ways of getting experience. Owning destinations will also give you experience per owned destination at the end of the game, and even more when you own the entire destination set (streets in the normal Monopoly). You can also earn experience chips with the chance and community chest cards. This can range from rolling the dice, or simply getting the chance to earn some extra chips.
Luck or Strategy?
While every Monopoly game is based on a whole lot of luck, as you never know which spaces you’re going to end up on, this one is even more luck-based because of the experience system. Drawing chips is completely random, and you never know if you’re drawing a positive or negative experience. If you are a sucker for bad luck, and you keep drawing negative experience, or positive experience with a value of one and your opponents always draw the high values, the game could be over quickly. The destinations also add a lot to the experience pool by the end of the game, and the fact that this game has cards that allow you to steal destinations, as well as complete destination sets, the tide can be turned quickly. As this is a Monopoly game that can be over within 30 minutes, the luck factor isn’t a big deal, as you can play multiple games on a single night, which is not possible when playing the standard edition.
Conclusion
Monopoly for Millennials is a fun spin-off of the original game and will provide you with a few fun evenings. As the mechanics still resemble the base game, you can have yourself some good old fashioned Monopoly fun for the entire family. We regret that the materials used for some key components are a bit cheap. Sadly in combination with the tray in the box that feels as if it was taken from a totally different game with different components, it all adds a certain ‘cheapness’ to the edition. That being said, if you love the original, but want to play some quicker rounds with a higher luck factor, this game is still quite fun to mess around with.
Monopoly for Millennials - Board Game Review,
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