Tag Archives: Monopoly

Games That Do Monopoly Things!

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Last week, I tried to define what makes a board game the worst board game.

Obviously, I tried to keep it light. I genuinely strive for the tone of PuzzCulture to be positive. I love puzzles. I love games. I love RPGs. And writing about them, for the most part, is a blast, and I hope it’s fun to read about them as well.

And last week, I avoided discussing Monopoly because, well, it’s difficult to maintain a positive tone about Monopoly. I don’t particularly enjoy playing Monopoly.

monopoly

Monopoly has its issues. It takes a long time to play, and if you fall behind, it’s incredibly difficult to catch up. Plus, if you get eliminated, it’s not much fun to watch other people keep going.

But Monopoly is a best-selling game. It’s one of the most well-known games. Clearly there are things about Monopoly that many people quite enjoy.

So that’s the notion behind today’s post. Let’s take a look at different aspects of Monopoly that people enjoy, and then look at other games that do those things as well or better!

That’s keeping it positive, isn’t it?

Here we go!

Maybe you enjoy buying property and building it up with enhancements and generating money with it.

That’s great. You should check out Lords of Vegas.

It’s a casino-building game set in the early days of Las Vegas. It’s got play money, dice, all sorts of strategy, plus a gambling mechanic where you can make up for monetary shortfalls. It’s a brilliant game and so so much fun.

It recently got a six-player refresh and some new mechanics, but at heart, it’s a lot of the guts of Monopoly in a more streamlined, more immersive package.

Other recommendations for property games: The Estates, Suburbia, For Sale.

Maybe it’s collecting valuable cards, negotiating and trading with other players that you enjoy most about Monopoly.

Terrific! You should try Sheriff of Nottingham.

In Sheriff of Nottingham, players collect cards that represent different goods for you to take to market — apples, chickens, bread, and cheese — as well as cards of contraband items (like spices, mead, and weapons).

Each turn, one player is the Sheriff, trying to stop the other players from sneaking contraband into the market. So you can bluff, or bribe, or try to sneak goods past the Sheriff, or just play it straight with regular goods.

The game allows for trading, cutting deals, being sneaky, and bonuses for being the person with the most of certain goods (apples, for instance) at the market. It’s a blast, and allows for lots of fun interaction throughout the game, since nobody is ever eliminated.

It’s the bargaining and negotiating aspect of Monopoly turned up to 11, but with some craftiness built into the dealings. It’s a can’t-miss choice.

Other recommendations for negotiating games: Bohnanza, Chinatown, Illuminati.

Do you like completing colored sets of items? Outmaneuvering other players? Claiming valuable property that other players want? Pretty much everything involved in Monopoly is also part of Ticket to Ride.

In Ticket to Ride, players collect cards and play cards on a map in order to complete different train routes to earn points. Not only can you score by completing those routes under your banner, but you gain bonus points if you can connect distant locations through your railways.

It covers a lot of the strategy and forward planning that made Monopoly famous, but in a sleeker, quicker package. (And like Monopoly, it has different varieties set in different locations!)

Other recommendations for Monopoly But More: Food Chain Magnate, Cosmic Encounter, Power Grid.

Oh, and if you want a totally off-the-walls Monopoly-inspired game, there’s always The Doom That Came to Atlantic City.

In this game, you crush houses to claim properties, play Chants (instead of Chance) cards, and basically try to be the best doomsday cultist at the table. It’s a race between various Lovecraftian cults, all hoping to summon their particular monstrous world-ending god before the other players can.

It’s delightfully tongue-in-cheek, a riotous time, and a hilarious inversion of a lot of classic Monopoly tropes. I highly recommend it.

Are you a Monopoly fan, fellow player? Please tell us what you love about Monopoly in the comment section below! And if you’re not a fan, tell us what you prefer to play instead!

The Worst Board Game?

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I was talking about board games with a friend of mine over the weekend, and he asked me what I thought the worst board game was.

That’s a difficult question to answer, because a lot of factors go into it. Some games are fundamentally flawed, while others might not connect with you personally, but other folks love them.

Some games simply don’t explain their rules well, leaving players scrambling and baffled on their first playthrough. Some games have a simple gimmick that is fun once, but has very little replay value. Are those bad games?

A game can be mechanically bad, but if you still have fun at the table with your friends while playing it, is it a bad game?

It’s a lot to unpack.

Many of the old classics end up on lists of worst games: Risk, Battleship, Twister, Candy Land, Trivial Pursuit, Chutes & Ladders, Guess Who?, and of course, Monopoly.

I don’t know that it’s necessarily fair to put simpler children’s games on a list of worst games, simply because they’re not as fun to play when you’re older. (Or if you don’t have polio, in the case of Candy Land.)

I also don’t think that games belong on the list simply because they can take a long time, like Risk or Monopoly.

To be fair, some of these games aren’t games at all. Candy Land and Chutes & Ladders involve NO player agency and NO meaningful choices. (Though, in the past, we’ve suggested ways to make Candy Land better.)

And some of the major flaws of these games can be fixed with house rules.

The main issue with Trivial Pursuit, for instance, is that you have to be on very specific squares to earn your wedges, so a lot of the trivia-answering and die-rolling feels pointless or tedious.

But you can fix that with a house rule like “answering three questions of the same color earns you a wedge” or “answer two questions in a row and you immediately proceed to a wedge spot.” Simple fix!

As for Monopoly… well, it has earned its reputation. And yet, it remains one of the bestselling games. Clearly some people are out there enjoying it. (And I wish to know their secrets.)

But newer games aren’t immune to ending up on lists of the worst games.

Munchkin often appears there, but I think that’s due less to gameplay and more to how difficult it can be to get into the gameplay, given how child-friendly the art style is.

The Oregon Trail Card Game appears on some lists, which I found surprising. Sure, the game is hard, almost unfairly so, but that’s kinda the point. My work team and I had a blast chronicling our attempts at beating it every week at lunch, as well as the numerous deaths I personally endured during play. It was a Sisyphean joy!

A lot of pop culture tie-in games are generally awful because they’re cash grabs, not genuine attempts to make a fun game. (The Twin Peaks Murder Mystery Game is truly wretched, for instance. But, then again, The Golden Girls version of Clue is delightful. It’s a mixed bag.)

Personally, I would put Cards Against Humanity on the list, because it encourages lame edgelord humor and reaching for low-hanging fruit, comedically. Cleverness and wit often loses to shock value.

But then again, it can be the seedling for a better game. I’ve played Charades Against Humanity (where you have to act out a White Card from the game) many a time and had an absolute blast. Again, house rules save the day.

So, at the end of the day, what is the worst board game?

Whichever one you enjoy the least.

Or Monopoly. Who can say?

I can, however, with one hundred percent certainty, tell you the worst card game. And no, astonishingly, it’s not War. (Though War suffers from the same flaw as Candy Land.)

The worst card game of all time is Guess the Card.

Here’s how to play, if you’re a masochist:

  • Shuffle a deck of cards.
  • Put the deck of cards in front of you.
  • Try to guess the card on top.
  • Flip over the card and see if you’re right.

That’s it. It’s maddening and insane and barely a game, and I have a friend who makes us play it before every game night she hosts because it makes her laugh hysterically.

So, while it’s the worst card game in the world for most of us, it’s her favorite.

To each their own, I guess.

What’s your least favorite card game or board game? Or, better yet, what’s your favorite? Let’s end on a positive note, shall we? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.

When UNO Becomes Dos

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A few years ago, there was an amazing moment in internet history. The entire internet rose up as one and agreed on a single topic. It has never happened before and will most likely never happen again.

So what was it? What was that one idea that the entire world embraced and agreed upon?

That you can, in fact, stack Draw 2 cards or Draw 4 cards in a game of UNO.

unocards3

Yes, the official UNO Twitter account posted there is no stacking of Draw 2 or Draw 4 cards in the rules, and everyone in the world unanimously agreed they were wrong about their own game.

It was an entertaining moment in the history of gaming, and one that came to mind recently when I stumbled upon another UNO story.

unocards

Two siblings (brother and sister) were brainstorming how the brother could propose to his girlfriend in an original, memorable, and surprising way.

Their subterfuge involved pretending that the sister and her boyfriend were going to get engaged instead. Friends and family were recruited into the planning of this fake proposal, including, quite crucially, the brother’s girlfriend.

Yes, she had unknowingly been roped into planning her OWN proposal.

Image courtesy of the WikiHow for “steepling your fingers.” Seriously.

So what does all this have to do with UNO, you may ask?

Well, on the day in question, the brother’s girlfriend was there, calling over the sister to get her in position for the fake proposal, when the sister handed the girlfriend an UNO reverse card.

The girlfriend, understandably baffled, stared at the card as the brother snuck up behind her, got down on one knee, and waited.

She turned around, realized the entire proposal plan had been a ruse, and immediately accepted the genuine proposal.

The plan was a success!

I’ve seen proposals with Scrabble boards, Monopoly boards, Rubik’s Cubes, and Penny Press puzzles, but never with an UNO card before.

And yes, apparently the matching dresses worn by both sister and girlfriend/fiancée were a total coincidence!

We wish them joy, success, and comfort in the years to come. (And won’t be surprised if there’s a Draw 2 card involved in the pregnancy announcement if they have twins!)

What’s your favorite story involving puzzles, games, and romance? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

The Fastest Way to Wordle: By the Numbers!

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I’m a sucker for statistical analysis, especially when it comes to puzzles and games. In previous posts, I’ve looked at improved strategies for playing Guess Who, Hangman, and Monopoly.

And now, we’ve got solid data that might indicate the best method for tackling your daily Wordle solve.

Last week, as the world celebrated five years of Wordle solving, the New York Times posted an article analyzing 730 MILLION games of Wordle from the past year, and they came to an interesting conclusion:

Players in Hard Mode solve in fewer turns on average.

That seems like an contradiction in terms. Hard Mode limits letter choices and flexibility based on which letters are locked in (green), whereas Standard Mode allows you to play any letter at any time, which should offer a solving advantage.

But it doesn’t seem to, as Hard Mode solvers average more efficient solves than Standard Mode solvers.

While it’s possible this could be attributed to the pool of solvers — Hard Mode likely attracts better or more efficient solvers in general — the article theorizes that Hard Mode’s constraints push players to guess less wastefully.

This, combined with better starting-word selection — apparently vowel-heavy words like ADIEU and AUDIO are statistically less efficient! — leads to better results overall.

These are certainly helpful guidelines, but I do think an overall change in tactics can also help solvers in both Standard and Hard Mode.

The article mentions one of the dangers of Hard Mode solving, “the rhyming trap,” where you end up with most of a word in green, like _ATCH, but you’re left with all the rhyming possibilities, which could result in a worse score or even a failure to complete the day’s solve at all.

Standard Mode solvers can play a word like BLIMP, which would confirm or eliminate BATCH, LATCH, MATCH, and PATCH, covering most of the possible answers in one fell swoop.

This isn’t an option in Hard Mode, but it has led to players attacking the puzzle in reverse, trying to eliminate letters early, rather than trying to confirm letters early.

After all, if you go vowel-heavy and confirm, say, two letters, that’s two spots taken up in every single guess. But if you go one vowel at a time and burn through consonants with words like CHILD or MONTH, you whittle down the alphabet quicker. (I remember David Kwong writing about this technique in his email newsletter a while back.)

It’s interesting to have actual data to examine, even if the data seems counterintuitive at the start.

It’s certainly not as straightforward as the connection between the decrease in pirate populations and the rise of global warming…

Of course, if you want the answers the fastest way possible, you could just do what I did last week and get the next day’s Wordle spoiled for you by Google AI.

Yeah.

You see, my mother solves Wordle every day and keeps track of her results on her calendar. Every word, every number of guesses. It’s her ritual and I respect that.

But on Thursday of last week, she realized she hadn’t written down the previous few days’ words and results. And we are completionists, both of us, so around 8 PM that night, I did a quick Google search of the week’s answer words to help her out.

And lo and behold, the stupid Google AI told me Friday’s word ahead of time.

Yes, I suppose it is my fault for not typing “-AI” into the search bar. (And unfortunately, as entertaining as it is to type “shut the f*ck up bot” into the search bar and see the AI’s momentary contrition, that only lasts a few searches at most before it returns.)

But it also sucks that this was a possibility at all. I genuinely didn’t think I’d be spoiling the next day’s solve for myself with a casual search of the week’s words.

Hopefully WordleBot doesn’t figure out this trick. It’s smug enough already.

Did you learn anything from the NYT’s deep-dive into Wordle solving statistics, fellow solver, or do you already have your starting word of choice that you’ll be sticking with? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.

Board Game, But BIG!

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I was surfing social media on my lunch break when I stumbled upon a video on Twitter (not X, never X) featuring a giant balancing game with Tetris-style game pieces.

It’s called Tetris Tumble XL and it’s apparently available at Walmart. And although it’s not a one-to-one gameplay comparison, it is interesting to see Tetris super-sized as a gaming experience.

It’s neat. It’s not building-sized Tetris neat, but it’s neat.

Of course, it’s only the latest example of a traditional game experiencing Godilla-like growth to turn it into a party game.

The most traditional form of “board game, but big” is undoubtedly Chess.

There are literally dozens of places where you can enjoy a gargantuan game of Chess. Wooden cutouts, full wooden pieces, sculpted stone… the aesthetics are all part of the experience.

Plus you can easily play with humans as the chess pieces, which adds a fun element to the sheer scale of the game. I’ll never forget seeing a game just like that decades ago in an episode of The Prisoner.

There’s something about people as literal pawns being controlled that adds some serious philosophical spice to the game’s proceedings.

For a more lighthearted, but no less impressive translation when it comes to scale, there’s Mark Perez’s life-size Mousetrap.

Now, this isn’t playable because there’s no game board, but if we’re all being honest, did anyone actually play the game? Or did you simply set up the contraption and let it tumble and turn and clatter in delightful motion?

This 25-ton version of the board game’s colorful selling point toured festivals and fairs for years, concluding with a car-smashing weight rather than a plastic diver and a little net over some hungry mice.

Hammacher Schlemmer used to sell a wall-sized giant Scrabble game that they dubbed The World’s Largest Scrabble Game, and it retailed for $12,000!

There are some more affordable large Scrabble games out there now for players to enjoy on a sunny day outside, but nothing that rivals this Hammacher Schlemmer monstrosity.

You’ve probably seen outdoor versions of Jenga. There’s a wooden version that still remains relatively portable, and an XXL gigantic edition that dwarfs the man playing it in the photo.

I’m not a huge fan of the cacophony that ensues when a regular game of Jenga ends, so I don’t really enjoy the larger versions either. Give me Catch the Moon any day, or maybe a nice round Junk Art or Rhino Hero instead.

Have you ever wanted to play Yahtzee but wished the cup for the dice was garbage-can sized? Well, your mediocre dream has come true! With big foam dice, you can turn Yahtzee into a yard game.

Look at how much fun these people are having! And no, I did not crop the photo that way. That’s the promotional photo as intended, crouching half-man and all!

Operation has always been a finicky little beast of a game, and it seems like no two versions of the game are the same.

Some are more sensitive, while some — like the version at my babysitter’s house — had a buzz that was downright painful.

But this giant version? I could see this being a pretty fun challenge, depending on how heavy the pieces are.

Family-Size Settlers of Catan, Caracas Comic Con 2011

Settlers of Catan is not just a modern addition to the classic board game pantheon. It’s also the only possible challenger to Chess’s dominance as a build-it-big board game.

Life-size versions of Catan have been played at numerous gaming conventions and other events, and it’s hard to get an accurate number of how many giant sets of this resource management game are out there in the wild.

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That’s not the case for the fictional game turned real life game Cones of Dunshire. As far as I know, there’s only one larger-sized version of the game, produced for a charity event at GenCon by Mayfair Games (the same company that created Settlers of Catan).

And you know, for the most part, I can see the appeal of these inflated, occasionally inflatable versions of classic games.

I take that back. I do not get how making Battleship bigger makes it more fun in any way, shape, or form. It seems so easy to cheat, intentionally or otherwise. Unless I actually get to lob stuff at my opponent’s ships over the wall, I’m not interested.

And while this giant Monopoly board is impressive, I still don’t think it’s enough of a whimsical gimmick to actually get me to play Monopoly.

Clearly there is a market for oversized versions of classic games. And I have some suggestions for board games that should, nay, MUST make the jump to human-sized for the betterment of play all over!

Let’s start with a Canadian classic: Crokinole.

This would be so simple. Get a bunch of curling stones, a hockey rink, draw out the board, and secure some posts with sandbags or something. Then get tossing!

Next, there’s Chutes and Ladders.

Yes, there was a life-size version of this from 2010 when Indonesia’s University of Surabaya honored the original version of the game — Snakes and Ladders — with a 45-foot game board and 105 players.

But that’s just a big flat board. I want a version with actual ladders and actual chutes! (Sorry, no snakes in this one.) Imagine if we could find the right hill OR wide-stepped public staircase so that you could actually ascend the board and slide down in delightful misfortune! That sounds awesome.

Oooh, what about Crossfire?

Image courtesy of SAHM Reviews.

In this game, you used little marble-spewing guns to knock targets into your opponent’s space. Imagine getting to sit sidecar-style next to a dodgeball launcher and trying to outwit your opponent!

Sorta like this, except with dodgeballs instead of a laser.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to constructing my life-size version of Fireball Island.

I’ve almost got all the kinks worked out of the Indiana Jones-esque giant fireball chase sequence.

Oh, hey, I need a couple of game testers. You’re pretty fleet-footed, right, fellow puzzler?

Answers to our International Tabletop Day Puzzle (Plus a Special Offer!)

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a story to die for box

Before we start with today’s blog post, we’ve got a special offer for you from the puzzly folks at ThinkFun!

Have you checked out our reviews of their new unsolved crime series of puzzle games? In Cold Case, you’re tasked with going through the evidence and solving the case!

There are two editions of Cold Case; A Story to Die For is available for preorder now, and A Pinch of Murder will be available for preorder on June 14th!

And if you click this link and use the promo code 20COLDCASE, you’ll get the puzzle game for 20% off!

Enjoy!

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Last week, we celebrated International Tabletop Day with some puzzly recommendations, suggestions, and an anagram mix-and-match puzzle, all in the spirit of celebrating gathering with friends and loved ones — in person or virtually — to play games together.

The challenge was to unscramble the names of famous board game characters from the entries on the left, and then match them up with the correct board game from the list on the right.

We’re sure you managed to unravel all those jumbled phrases, but just in case, let’s take a look at the solution.

First, let’s look at the anagrams.

  • Resist Clams = Miss Scarlet
  • Screenplay Bunching = Rich Uncle Pennybags
  • Niceness Fir Sport = Princess Frostine
  • I, Hyphen Pro = Henry Hippo
  • Air Ma = Maria
  • AI Zag Rug = Gigazaur
  • Cam Sat Ivy = Cavity Sam
  • Be Brother = The Robber

And now, for a splash of color, here is the solution for the matching portion of the puzzle.

tabletop-day-mix-and-match-solution

How did you do with the puzzle? Did you enjoy International Tabletop Day? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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