Monopoly has gone all hi-tech!!
We are big fans of Monopoly in this house and currently own three boards – Star Wars, Original and a local version. The boys tend to play with Daddy whilst I field off Eliza as she will run off with the contents of the board at any given moment, however Daddy always has control of the bank and always seems to win. He claims it is skill – well we’ll see!!
What they say:
Monopoly Zapped is an amazing new game experience from Hasbro. Now you can bring your favourite game to life with loads of awesome mini games on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
Landed in Jail? No problem! Just play the Get out of Jail app mini game…if you can launch Mr MONOPOLY over the prison walls to his getaway car, you’re free!
Plus you can transfer MONOPOLY dollars directly to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch using your own personal Touch-banking cards! The whole family will love this exciting new way to play MONOPOLY!
Setting the game up started easy enough as there were clear instructions on the screen, however we did have an issue registering our cards and spent quite some time tapping them onto the screen. The iPad kept saying “Scanning” and then beep with “Try Again”. We gave up in the end and used my sons iPod instead.
The board itself was very traditional looking, with the exception of the space for the iPad in the middle. The dice are translucent with silver spots, making them difficult to see in dim light. I think it would have been much better to have the dice on the iPad screen. The player tokens are clear with a silver base and coloured pictures on and we often went to move the wrong ones when it was each others turn.
The rules are exactly the same as normal monopoly. You need to buy your land and then build property in it. You still get physical cards to “own” and green houses and red hotels to place on the board.
The real difference is the Chance and Community Chest features. Instead of drawing a card, you hit the relevant button on the iPad and you get to play a mini game. This is great fun and really kept the younger ones engaged with the game – it is very competitive!!
Once we finally got the hang of using the money cards (it’s a flick of the wrist onto the left hand side of the screen with the arrow pointing the right way), it made the whole game much simpler. I love not having a designated banker (I swear hubby cheats), and it teaches the kids to manage their money electronically as the screen tells you how much they have in their bank and then how much they have left after their purchase.
I do have one more grumble though – there are 6 player tokens and only 4 bank cards in the box, meaning that only 4 of you can really play.
Upon reading other reviews online, the issue with the iPad seems universal and it is recommended that you remove the iPad from its case and this did work for us. My other tip is to make sure your iPad / iPod is fully charged as there is nothing worse than getting halfway through a game and the battery dies!
Features:
• Play your game board and iPod, iPhone or iPod touch together.
• Touch-banking cards transfer MONOPOLY dollars to your iPod, iPhone or iPod touch.
• Play mini games when you land on Chance or Community Chest, or need to bust out of Jail.
• No more adding up – the app announces the winner!
• Includes hints and tips for a smart game!
Ages 8 and up.
I like the idea of this re-vamped version of Monopoly, and it does have some fantastic features but because of the lack of money cards and the issue we had with them, the dice and the tokens I can only give this game 5/10
Monopoly Zapped was sent to me to review by Littlewoods.