39 out of 40 people found this review helpful.
Everything You Need to Star in Your Own Board Game!
Date of Review: Aug 7, 2003
The Bottom Line: Here's your chance to create a game that is unique to you!
This game is by far the most unique I ve come across yet. Okay, so the play of the game remains essentially the same as all the other Monopoly versions on the market (I ve seen everything from Disney to the Grinch), but this version is limited only by your imagination. It has one thing that no other game does it s as much fun to create as it is to play.
The idea behind the game is that you personalize everything from the money to the spaces to the box itself using your PC and a printer. When you are finished, even the box will bear the name that you have created for it - ____________ opoly. The game can be personalized to fit your family, with spaces for specific rooms of your house, and family member s photos on the play money, or it can be based on your home town, a sports team, favorite club, or almost anything else.
I purchased this game on ebay for $17.50 US. I was still in my learning phase on ebay and had yet to realize just how much duty, exchange, and shipping can add up when buying something in Canada. I ended up paying over $50.00 Canadian by the time everything was said and done (see, I learn lessons the hard way), but I would have to say that it was still worth the money. However, I held off actually making the game until now because I wanted to include my baby in our family version of the game and I needed to know what her name would be first.
MAKING THE GAME
The game includes a program with templates to create everything from the money to the deed cards, to the Chance/Community chest type cards (called Good News & Bad News on this game. Clip art is also included (25 images on the floppy, over 1400 on the CD), but you can import your own BMP images as well. The publishing guide included in the box makes it easy to create all the pieces you will need. It includes two worksheets with all the spaces and cards listed that will need to be personalized. To make sure that you don t leave anything out, it is recommended that you fill out these sheets first. That way you can edit and make changes before you print. There are also pieces and instructions included for hand drawing your game instead of using a PC.
THE GAME PIECES
1 CD ROM
1 Floppy Disk
1 Paper and Label Set
1 Game Board
6 Colored Pawns
2 Dice
1 Publishing Booklet
The CD ROM & Floppy Disk
These are used to install the Myopoly program, which will guide you through the printing of the necessary game pieces. I installed the CD ROM (system requirements follow). The program includes clipart and templates to create all the cards & money needed for the game, as well as three samples to give you ideas on what your game may look like. The images are black and white, but you can also import your own BMP or WMF images.
System Requirements (for the original version, which I have)
PC with 486SX Processor
Windows 3.1 or later
8 Megs or RAM or better
A mouse
Dot Matrix, Ink Jet, Postscripts or HP compatible Laser Printer
System Requirements (for the new Version, 2.5)
PC with Pentium Processor or better
Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0
Color Ink Jet, Postscript, or HP compatible Laser Printer
Paper & Label Set
There are a lot of pieces here. Rather than listing each one, I assure you that there is enough to personalize the deed cards, each space on the game board (with images and names ie The Kitchen & a picture of a sink), the titles on the box (front and all 4 sides) and game board, the Good and Bad news cards, and the play money. The labels all contain adhesive, so all you need to do is cut, peel and stick.
The Game Board
Similar to Monopoly, the game board is broken down into color coded property spaces. This board is also labeled with The South Side, The West Side, The North Side & The East Side. There is one Good News and one Bad News spot on the board, as well as a personalized Start space, Lose a Turn space, and Free space. There are two Lotto squares, where you bet on whether or not you can roll the same number again, and a Fate square where you roll the dice to determine whether or not you get a Good or Bad news card.
The Colored Pawns & Dice
Nothing fancy here, just two run of the mill dice and six colored pawns. This is the only part of the game that I found a little disappointing, although I m not sure how they could improve on it. After all the personalization, I would suggest getting your kids to sculpt something a little more personal, similar to all the unique pieces in the original Monopoly game.
PLAYING THE GAME
The game is played just like the original Monopoly game with the exception of a few things. There are no houses or hotels, but rather rent increases with the number of same colored properties owned up to the entire color side (south, west, east, or north). The money denominations go up to $5000, instead of the measly $500 that I m used to from my childhood. There is no jail, unless you create one, and the Go to Jail space is replaced by the Fate space. There are also two utilities, but no railroads. The Lotto spaces, mentioned earlier, are also unique to this game, and replace the Luxury Tax space, and the other penalty type space (the name of which escapes me right now).
The game is designed for 2-6 players, ages 8 to adult.
I ll just assume that, unless you ve been hiding under a rock for the past 50 years or so, that I don t need to explain the game play of Monopoly. If you really have never played or heard of Monopoly, I would suggest playing the original game before attempting to create your own version. Essentially, the one with the most money at the end, wins, while all others crumble beneath the monopoly of the winner. At the time I wrote this review, there were also 204 reviews of the original version of Monopoly, many of which cover the rules quite nicely.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Although I have yet to gather enough guts to actually begin creating this game (I m a perfectionist in many ways, not wanting to start just in case I come up with a better idea tomorrow), I have come up with a lot of ideas. The possibilities are endless when you actually sit down and start to plan. Once I do start, I d like to have a little input from my kids, which is probably the main reason that I haven t finished it yet my kids are a little young to create or play the game. However, I know that I would have loved something like this when I was around 8-10. Plus, if you use your computer to create the labels, there are a lot of pieces intended for hand drawing leftover, such as the play money. I can see a lot of kids having fun creating their own money to play with, never mind the game. More information on the game can be found at www.tdcgames.com
