Building Games

 I had originally planned to write an article soley about Monopoly Builder. This was a game I found in a thrift store but decided not to purchase. I thought it looked like it was for kids and another version of Monopoly Jr. It's true what they say, never judge a book by it's cover, or in this example never judge a game by it's packaging. I wish I had taken the time to research this online while I was in at the thrift store. Of course I later realized this game is not Monopoly Jr. and I experienced my own buyer's remores. 

As I researched Monopoly Builder, I encountered several Monoply games I would classify as physical building games. These are Monopoly Builder, Monopoly Hotels, Monopoly City and Monopoly U-Build. Each games is some what of a stand alone in itself. These games are a lot more complicated then the standard Monopoly. I would consider most of them educational games and definitely recommend buying for children who have already shown an interest in Monopoly. Monopoly Hotels seems like the easiest one of these to play. I would rank Builder a 3 on a diffuculty scale of 1-5. Similarly I would rank City and U-build  a 4 on a difficulty scale of 1-5.

I'm going to provide a basic overview of each game with out going into detail. The instructions for all these games, except Monopoly Hotels is available on the Hasbro website. There are several websites and youtube videos which also feature tutorials. 

Monopoly Hotels (2012) is a game for only 2 players. The object of the game is to build a 5 story hotel before your opponent. To start cash is placed in one pile, each player starts with $250. All cards are shuffle together, each player takes 5 cards and the rest are placed faced down in the draw pile. The youngest player goes first. 

Each turn a player will draw 2 cards, and play up to 3 action cards. At the end of a turn a player can only have 7 cards. If you have more, discard the extra. If a player has no cards, then they pick up 5 instead of 2 from the draw pile on their next turn.

To build a level of the hotel you will have to play a "build/rent" card. You pay the bank the cost to build that floor and insert in on top of your hotel. The cost to build gets more expensive the higher the floor. 

You may play "rooms" or "celebrity" cards into your hotel. Room cards display the amount of rent for a room. Celebrity cards can only be played where a room card has already been played and blocks a "bill card." Bill cards can be played on your opponent's property and prevent rent from being collected. Bill cards can only be removed once the player pays the bank the amount owed. There are a variety of action cards that add to the game play. They can both help or hinder a player. Examples are demolish cards, thief cards, no deal cards, pass Go, etc. 

Monopoly Builder (2021) features a smaller board with 2 properties per color group. In addition to buying properties and collecting rent, players collect resources and use them to build physical properties in the center map. The game ends when the penthouse has been built. Players add up their points and the player with the most points wins. 

There are 4 types of resources; dump trucks, cranes, excavators and boats. Players earn resources based on the roll of the dice, properties you own and landing on specific spaces. Players must pay the bank the required resources in order to build. The cost (resources) required will vary by floor. If a player finds they are in need of a certain resource, they can trade with other players. 

The community chest spaces have been removed from the board. They have been replaced with resources spaces, if a player lands here they collect 2 resources pictured. The railroads have been replaced by roll for resources spaces. In this case the player would roll again to determine which resource to collect.

This added element of resources is very educational. It teaches that building costs encorporate more then a flat cash cost. This is also teaching resource managment game play mechanism. There is a whole category of games based on this popular game play type.

Once the game ends players may earn 2 bonus cards. The Community Builder card goes to the player who builds the most buildings next to each other and the Billionaire Builder card goes to the player with the most money at the end of the game.

Monopoly City (2009) is the predecessor of Monopoly Builder but much more complicated. There are 8 types of buildings that can be constructed. Residential buidlings are cheaper to build then Industrial, however they become worthless if an opponent builds a hazard in your district. This game also includes an electronic trading unit to guide game play. Before the game starts players will decide how long to play for. Either a set amount of time, or until all but one player is bankrupt. At the end of the game, total all cash and property values. The richest player is the winner. 

While this game does not encorporate resources it is still an excellent teaching tool. Players are allowed to build up to 8 blocks on each district. To build, press the build button on the trading unit to find out whether you can buy 1, 2, or 3 blocks, or build a railroad.

Players may also build a stadium, skyscraper or Monopoly tower in their district which does not count towards the 8 building limit. Buy a stadium to increase your income; There are only two stadiums available in the game. Once you own two districts of the same color, you can build a stadium on either one of them during your turn. Collect 1Million per stadium you own every time you pass GO (in addition to your wages). You can only build one stadium in each color group.  Stadiums do not increase your rent value. Build a skyscraper to double the rent value of all the districts in a color group. The cost of a skyscraper is shown at the bottom of each District card. Once you own all of the districts in one color group, you can  build a skyscraper on any one of them. Once you own all of the districts in two color groups, you can buy the Monopoly Tower and build it on any district in those groups. This doubles the rent value of every district you own.

 The Railroad spaces on the board have been replaced with "Planning Permission." These spaces will direct a player to build a bonus building in their own district, a hazard in an oppents district, or a bonus building/hazard in an unowned district. Building either a hazard or bonus building is free and does not count toward the 8 block limit. 

Bonus buildings are schools, parks, wind farms or water towers. Hazards are power station, sewage plant, prison, or rubbish dump.

This is definitely for those who are already experienced in standard Monoploy game play. They've added a whole new dimension to the game. 

 

Monopoly U-Build (2010) encorporates hexagonal tiles used to build your own game board. This game was released a year after Monopoly City and is based closely on that game. Players have the option to build residential, industrial, bonus buildings, hazards, stadium, skyscrapers and the Monopoly Tower. There are also planning permissions tiles. The instructions provide directions to set up the tracks for classic or pro play. However this game can be played freestyle and tracks setup however the player chooses. The game ends when one player goes bankrupt, the richest player is then declared the winner.

What's new for this game is "Bridge" tiles. When you pass a bridge, if it's up the player must pay $1Million and close it as they pass. If it's down, the payer passes for free. 

It's hard to conceptualize how any of these games will play with out actually playing the game. Standard Monopoly involves some strategy but the game play is mainly dictated by the rules and roll of the dice. In most games players buy properties they land on in the first rotation around the board, then seek to purchase or trade for additonal properties in the same color group. These games are much more complicated then that. I feel they offer more of a real world simulation then standard Monopoly. I am interested in playing each of these versions, simply for a new and more complex challenge. I defintely feel like it's somewhat of a natural game progression. If you do have kids I would start them on Monopoly  Jr, then standard Monopoly, then Monopoly Builders, then Monoply City and finally Monopoly U-build.