This installment of the Board Game Night Playlist is all about money. This set of games is all about stacking that paper, making it rain and stacking more paper so you can make it rain again. The most obvious choice almost didn’t make the cut, but there are some lesser known games that really make this list pop. Time to get out your wallets and let the money fly!
With millions of copies sold and a countless number of variants and evolutions since the 1930s, Monopoly is a board game institution. Even in 2014, you can go to any board game section and find at least three different versions of the game available for sale. Heck, I don’t even remember the last time I played a physical version of Monopoly with people, yet I happen to have the Nintendo and Family Guy editions of it on my shelf.
No one will argue the game’s ubiquity, but can it stand on its gameplay alone? The further I delve into the hobbyist gaming community, the more I see people label it as a bad game. Do I agree with this notion?
Before I became a board game enthusiast, I didn’t put much behind why I liked or didn’t like a particular game. But as I’ve played more of them, I’ve become more cognizant of the components that create an experience while developing my own taste when it comes to theme and mechanics. One aspect of the board game experience that seems to be a point of contention with more serious players is the element of chance. I find that there are extremists that have a real problem with their livelihoods being determined by a roll of the dice or the flip of a card from a shuffled deck.
For those who prefer to have as much control over your experience as possible, that’s great. Everyone is free to play what they like and there are no shortage of games that are designed to minimize chance. However, I don’t think it’s fair to disregard chance as a whole as a bad thing. When it’s implemented correctly, the element of chance can positively contribute to the enjoyment we get out of a game.
For those of you who regularly check out my blog to view the video game world through my perspective: my apologies. Life has been nothing short of hectic these last few weeks with a full-time job, Chistmas preparations and a personal life. I still play games on a regular basis. However, finding the time to write about them has been very difficult.
I’ve got a lot to write about, having played Left 4 Dead 2, Assassins Creed 2, Modern Warfare 2 and a bunch more. But I thought to get back on the saddle, I’d talk about the game that arguably has taken up most of my time; Monopoly on the iPhone.
Monopoly, really? Yes, really.
In Third Person 