Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Renovation

That most famous of board games, popular despite being completely devoid of fun, is making news again. Monopoly is introducing its 217th new edition, the Here and Now edition. Apparently, they invited "millions of fans" to vote on what properties they thought would be placed on the Monopoly board had it been invented today.

It's not like you need much more proof that Americans can be pretty stupid when it comes to voting, but here you go.

Take the red properties, for example. We have DisneyWorld in Orlando, Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, and.... Camelback Mountain in Phoenix?

Over in the greens, we have the White House? Available for purchase, is it? Are there plans to bulldoze it to put up houses and hotels on that land? (I'll bet there would be some takers.)

And at the former locations of Boardwalk and Park Place, the most valuable properties in the game, we have all of Times Square and... Fenway Park in Boston? I'd say the Times Square mogul is getting a hell of a bargain.

Of course, I don't understand why this version is hopping all around the country anyway. The original Monopoly depicted streets in Atlantic City. If the game were really being released today, wouldn't it depict nothing but streets in some other well-traveled city? Las Vegas, maybe? Or... hey... here's a thought: Atlantic City! It's still there, you know.

Not that Monopoly was ever a game high on logic. Why am I hopping around town in a thimble when I've got $2,000 in my pocket? Why do I stay in other people's ridiculously overpriced hotels when I actually own the hotel next door?

German board games aren't the only ones sometimes thin on story.

6 comments:

Shocho said...

You forgot to mention the coolest part! No more passing GO and collecting 200 dollars... now, it's... pinky smirk...two MILLION dollars!

The new Monopoly sucks. Even if you can buy the Gateway Arch (and it bugs me that you can buy national monuments).

TheGirard said...

form over function



camelback mountain ftw

Davíd said...

I used to get really annoyed when I played monopoly. Now I get really annoyed when I see people playing monopoly. I want to scream "It's a poor game! There are so many better things you could be playing!"

Roland Deschain said...

Hey, at least they fixed the final version. It doesn't say "Red ROCK Park" but correctly "Red Rocks Amphitheatre" and has a picture of the actual Red Rocks instead of having a picture of the Maroon Bells in Boulder. :P

And if anybody tries to build a hotel on Red Rocks, you'd better be prepared to get my boot - ER, I guess it's a tennis shoe now - up your butt. ;)

Davíd said...

Oh, and apropos of nothing but the day, I gave Smith its second chance last night. I found the first episode decent, though lacking. After tonight's episode which was worse than the first, I am done with it.

BubbaJoe said...

See, I have to disagree with you all. I enjoy Monopoly. Why? Because all my friends play. Not just some, not just the gamers. Not just friends in my age group. EVERYONE can play. My mom can play, my dads sister can play, we can all sit down and enjoy each other for a few hours playing a game that is so simple and easy to understand.

I have always loved the classic styles of Monopoly, and how everyone can relate to owning property and having money. Sure there are better games out there, but give me this classic that I can talk to others about (ANYONE ELSE, not just other gamers) any day.

I won't even get into how much fun it is to play with all the stupid versions of Monopoly there are out there... =)