Monopoly Deal

Monopoly Deal was an impulse buy. It was relatively cheap. Well, it was arguably free, since I bought it with vouchers redeemed using loyalty bonus points. I read one positive review about it recently, saying it's quick and fun and good for casual players. And that's probably it, in a netshell.

Monopoly Deal is a card game. You draw 2 cards (5 if you managed to exhaust your hand on your previous turn, which is a tactical consideration) at the start of your turn. You can play up to 3 cards during you turn. You can convert cards on hand into money in front of you. You can lay down properties. You can play action cards. There are many types of action cards. Some let you charge someone else rent. Some let you swap a property with another player. Some let you rob a property, or even a completed set of properties from another player. The objective of the game is to complete 3 sets of properties.

Some of the cards. Money come in different denominations. When you are forced to pay, you don't get change. So having only $10 notes when asked to pay a $2 bill means you are giving someone a very big tip.

My daughter Shee Yun and my wife Michelle.

I played two quick games with Michelle. The games took less than 10 minutes each. There is a fair bit of luck in terms of what properties you draw. There are some interesting uses of cards. Some cards have multiple uses so you will need to make some decisions, but overall the decisions to be made in this game are not many, and are often not hard. With 2 players I think luck becomes too big of a factor. The game is not very interesting. You can use it to pass time. With more players things may be better (but I haven't tried that), since there can be some beat-up-the-leader if any one player appears too far ahead, and the properties being more spread out makes it less likely that one player will draw all the properties of the same colour (just like the boardgame).

For gamers, I wouldn't recommend this game, unless you intend to play with casual players, or children. Even if you are looking for a lighter filler game, you'd probably want something a bit more interesting and has a bit more tension in the decision-making, like Lost Cities, or For Sale, or Mamma Mia, or Coloretto, or 6 Nimmt! / Category 5. But I'd say it is better than Monopoly Express. At least there is more interaction, and there is no tedious calculation.

Now I have to agonise over whether this counts as a game purchase for 2009. I tried to set myself a quota of 20 games per year. I will have to agonise over whether I should force myself to play it 3 more times, to meet the 5-plays-in-first-year-of-purchase criteria. Well, the criteria should probably have been used as a gauge before I bought the game. Moral of the story - don't impulse-buy.

Well... technically I didn't pay for it...

(this can go on and on)