Uncle Pennybags

  I found this limited edition Monopoly Etch A Sketch at Big Lots for $18. It would make a great Christmas gift for a Monopoly fan. Imagine taking pictures of your sketch creations with a Monopoly border. The added bonus are the left and right knobs are the "Go to Jail" and " Pass Go" spaces.

  This past weekend I found these 3 games while thrifting at Unique in South Plainfield. I think one of the reasons I like thrifting board games is because I stumble upon games I've never heard of. My general reminder for thrifting is to open the box, look for the instructions and piece/contents list. Make sure all the pieces are there before you decide to purchase. If there are no instructions check to see if they are available online for free. Then vet the pieces from your online list. I've definitely regretted a couple purchases made at the beginning of the year. Luckily for me after opening these games the Tetris Link and Monopoly Hotels were both new with the pieces enclosed in plastic. Twister Hoopla also had all the pieces, instructions and a large instruction card with 5 different games that could be played. Monopoly Hotels was released by Hasbro in 2012 and is a combination of a building and card game. I had previously passed on this variant assuming it was a kids vers

  I found another UNO variation at the dollar tree. After bringing the deck home I realize this is actually a standard 52 card deck with 8 wild cards. The deck advertises the wild cards add a twist to classic card games like Go Fish, Rummy, Poker, etc. However the deck does not actually include those instructions. I assume they would be used like a joker card. The deck does come with a QR Code to scan which brings you to a video on how to play wild race. Wild race is classic UNO, but when a wild card is played players must rush to place there hands over the cards. The last player to place their hands must take all the cards from the pile that match the wild card. The cards are 4 suits but only two colors; red, black and wild being either or a combination of both.    I'm looking forward to playing with this deck and seeing how the variations of classic games pan out. It's a shame I don't have more people to play cards with. My detailed reviewed will be sometime in the future

 I found this Mr. Monopoly game night trophy while thrifting for $2.99. My research shows that this is a vintage 2009 piece which was released as a Toys R Us exclusive. Aside from the fact that I think a game night trophy is a great idea, this is one of my best finds. With Toys R Us now defunct it could only be worth more. Starting price for this trophy is $30+ on ebay. I'm not sure I'm ready to part with him just yet. I like the idea of competing with my friends to get to take the trophy home and display for a couple weeks until the next rematch, where I will have to let him go or prove my status as deserving champion.

  This sounds like it shouldn't go together but the powers that be at Hasbro and Winning Moves have come up with another creative Monopoly mashup. Monopoly Scrabble was announced in June 2023 and released on July 1, 2023. Instead of rolling dice, players must add up points from game play to determine how many spaces to move. Players must complete a word over a property title to purchase that property. Although it sounds more complicated, the game is advertised to be played in less then one hour. I recommend researching this version by watching some YouTube reviews/how to play videos. At the moment no instructions are available online, so I will hold off any personal opinions until reading those in detail.

  I was lucky enough to find these 4 board games as part of a curbside dump listed on Facebook marketplace. Easy Money from 1996 appears to be a re-release of the old 1935 board game. This one is still on my list to write about. It will be interesting to compare the differences after over 60 years.  I also acquired uno spin, which I somehow missed while writing my article on uno variations. This was a 2005 release, it features a wheel that gets spun and dictates the next players move. Drawing one of these cards will start the wheel action. I definitely think this is one for the uno fans that might be looking for a challenge. It would take a couple rounds to figure out the best strategy. Tri-ominos I've never heard of before. Each tile is a triangle and has 3 numbers, one in each corner. After reviewing the instructions, my first thought is happiness, it states 56 tiles included and all 56 are there. This is a game for 2-6 players.  Like regular dominoes game play starts with all ti

 I had the privilage of playing the game Sorry for the first time. I've seen this game growing up and know it's one of the more popular games. At first I liked the ease of game play, we definitely were able to chat while playing. It wasn't too serious, a light game, until. . .my little guy was bumped back to home. It was horrible, all my progress gone. My friend said "sorry," while I contemplated to my self that she wasn't sorry at all. This was begining to feel like a white elephant game, where anyone can steal from you. It wasn't fun, and we had several issues about the rules. Just like Monopoly it seems people had their own house rules growing up. The instructions were simple but almost too simple, they didn't answer our questions and we were left to decided by majority vote how we would play. The updated instructions can be found on the Hasbro website. These instructions do clarify some things, like moving backward behind your own safety zone. It

 I ended up finding two great Scrabble games at a church yard sale. I never knew Scrabble even had variants. Of course I had to purchase both, the price was right. I paid .25cents for Scrabble Crosswords/Dominoes and $1 for Scribbage. Fast forward 3 months and I found even more Scrabble games while thrifting. This time I was at Unique in South Plainfield. I grabbed Scrabble Slam! The Card game for $2.99. I bought a bag of baseball tiles for crafting for .99cents, but after noticing little numbers on the letter tiles I guessed this was from a Scrabble game. Sure enough Scrabble MLB edition was a limited release in 2007. I played the Scrabble Crosswords/Dominoes with my two brothers. It was fun and challenging. If your tired or bored playing Scrabble I definitely recommend purchasing it used on Ebay. The game play is somewhat different. First of all there is no game board, we used a large box that my vacuum cleaner came it. However we were running out of space, a large table or even the

 I love when my many worlds collide. If you have spent anytime with me in the last year you know that I'm a discount shopper. Dollar General is one of my favorite stores, I love following their sales and hidden clearance. While I've been trying to cut back, I do watch the youtube videos and I'm a member of several facebook groups dedicated soley to Dollar General deals. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Monopoly and all yellow dot toys were on 90% off clearance. Having been writing my Monopoly blog for month's I was already aware that the Roselle location had the Cats vs Dogs Edition and the Cranford location had the LOL Suprise Edition. In one day I hit 3 stores and was able to purchase 3 Cat vs Dogs, 2 LOL Surprise, and 6 Rivals Edition. So, are you wondering what I'll be doing with these games? I'm also wondering the same thing.  I definitely regret donating the other versions of the games I had written about. I was soley looking to save space. I nev

       Recently while discussing my Monopoly blog with a friend, she compared Monopoly to The Game of Life. I had a lot of questions about this comparison, considering I'd never actually played Life (for short). As a child we had a limited selection of games at home. I owned playing cards, chess, checkers, Chinese checkers, Scrabble and Monopoly. Other popular games were known to me, but I have never actually played them.  While my friend insisted that this game was some how derived from Monopoly, my research has proved the opposite. The Game of Life was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley, it was called The Checkered Game of Life. The game simulates a person's travels through life. Wikipedia describes game play as: The game board resembled a modified checkerboard. The object was to land on "good" spaces and collect 100 points. A player could gain 50 points by reaching "Happy Old Age" in the upper-right corner, opposite "Infancy" where one began. Ins

The original concept for Monopoly was invented by Elizabeth (Lizzie) Magie in 1903. Her game was called The Landlords game . It featured a square board with properties, rotating around the board more then once, buying properties and renting them out. Originaly the game was created to highlight the negative aspects of monopolies. Lizzie Magie was an Georgist/anti-monopolist and hoped to show that land grabbing and expansion would only benefit land owners while the rest of the population lived in poverty.  Originally Lizzie's game came with two sets of rules. There were anti-monopolist rules in which everyone was rewarded when wealth was created and monopolist rules where players were rewarded for creating monopolies and pushing opponents out of the market. Unfortunately, the monopolist rules set was the one that gain popularity. For many years Charles Darrow had been incorrectly credited as the inventor of Monopoly. The real story is that he took an already existing game and put his

There are a handful of Monopoly Editions I consider to be apart of American Pop culture history, they are Americana.  Game play for these is the same as standard Monopoly. The names of spaces, tokens, art work, and box are based on famous American figures/companies.   I Love Lucy Monopoly Betty Boop World Tour Opoly Elvis Monopoly Coca Cola Monopoly QuickTrip Quikopoly (old gas station chain) John Wayne Monopoly

I found this Monopoly Mad Libs selling on Amazon for just $4.99. This is another gem that appeals to kids, teens and adults alike. It's 48 pages long, so I'm assuming somewhere around 40 Mad Libs to complete. Most of us will remember Mad Libs from our childhood. These are short stories with blank lines found through out the story. Before reading the selection you are asked to pick a series of words. They maybe nouns, verbs, adjectives, proper names, etc. This is listed as an educational tool, it helps improve grammar. Aside from the educational aspect, Mad Libs is ment to be funny. By adding words before reading the story, the results are akward and hillarious. Make sure to use a pencil when filling in the book, because you will want to re-use with many friends to get different results. If I do end up playing this "word game." I will write an updated post. In 2017 Fully Baked Ideas released Adult Mad Libs: The Game. This is ment for ages 18+ and up to 8 players. This

  I spotted this activity book at my local Dollar General. It includes stickers, coloring pages and some other simple activities like a maze, etc. The price on this was $3.50 and definitely worth it. This appeals to both kids, teens and adults. I'm sure you're aware that adults use coloring books to destress and unwind.  My tip for books like these is to make photo copies of the pages. Then you can try multiple color schemes. You can even have a little party, where everyone gets to put there own twist on the same pictures. Lastly these pages would look nice colored and then framed. I imagine them in a kids bedroom or a home office to keep us motivated. Always hustling, as Mr. Monopoly would remind us.

 June 2013 is the half way point of my one year Monopoly blog. I'm happy to report that I have covered most of the games I set out to research and write about in January 2023.  What is left to cover? It seems I've left the more complicated games for last. I still hope to write about Finance, Easy Money, and the origins of Monopoly. My almost completed list is below. I do feel a sense of accomplishment. I'm hoping to get these articles in by the end of June. Then I will spend the remainder of the year continuing to write about Monopoly, but I hope to shift my main focus onto other vintage board games I've found while thrifting. I also hope to spot light the Monopoly card games which turned out to be my absolute favorites. I hope to cover: Finance by Parker Brothers 1932 Easy Money by Milton Bradley Company 1935 Add Stock Exchange by Parker Brothers 1937 Game of Rich Uncle by Parker Brothers 1946 Advance to Boardwalk by Parker Brothers 1985 Free Parking by Parker Brothers

The show "The Simpsons" is one of my favorite shows, I've been watching it since I was in the 3rd grade. I still remember the couch gag from the first episode. Of course I'm intersted in The Simpsons Monopoly Editions. I have come accross 3 different versions. They are all currently on my bucket list. There have also been several scenes of the show featuring Monopoly being played.  For more on Monopoly featured on The Simpsons check out the Monopoly Wiki site. 

  In 2005 a fan expansion pack was released by RAD Games. It consists of a smaller board that is placed in the center of the standard Monopoly board. It also adds: 12 New Property Deeds and 2 New Utilities 20 New Action Cards 20 Travel Cards and 20 ROLL THREE Cards 17 New Houses, 7 New Hotels, and 1 Die The goal was to shorten game play. I have read a number of reviews and they all agree that it does make game play shorter. Unfortunately our mascot Uncle Pennybags has been replaced by a business woman in a suit. Well you have to applaud the gender inclusivity.

  Monopoly Chance is the newest release from Hasbro in the Monopoly line up. It was release on April 23, 2023. It is a "card" game but does feature a board and buildings. This is advertised as another fast play version, with game play of under 20 minutes. If you have been following my blog you have probably realized that Monopoly card games are my favorite. I enjoy the fact that these card games are easy to learn, they are great for both kids and adults, and they don't require hours of your day to play. In most cases if your trying to kill a couple hours, you can play best 3 out of 5 full games. Here is the product description "Risk it all with the flip of a card! The Monopoly Chance game is the high-stakes, card-flipping version of the Monopoly game—and it only takes about 20 minutes to play! Instead of moving a token around the board, each player receives a token deck with Cash cards (no paper money!) Bankrupt cards, and strategic cards that lend an edge. Roll the

  Advance to Boardwalk is a Monopoly spin-off released in 1985 by Parker Brothers. The game is set on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The goal is to be the richest builder on the Boardwalk by owning properties with the highest total value. This is for 2 for 4 players. To begin players roll both dice and the player with the highest number goes first.  The first player rolls 3 dice, 2 number dice and the color die. The numbered dice indicate the funds available to build with and the color die indicateds which color zone they can build in. If a "W" is rolled on the colored die, it's a wild and the player can choose any of the color zones. If a "F" is rolled on the colored die the player takes a Fortune card and disregards the numbered dice. The spaces on the board have an assigned million dollar amount. A player may build on a space that is equal to or less then the amount rolled. They may also choose to build on more then one property, with the sum totaling the amoun

 Monopoly is not the only popular game out there with variations on game play. Uno is another game that has stood the test of time. The game was originally developed in 1971 by a barber in Ohio. It was later bought by Mattel in 1992.  Uno is a shedding card game, meaning the goal is to get rid of all your cards while also preventing opponents from getting rid of their cards. Here is the basic game play from unorules.org Here are some variations: Uno Dare Uno Flip Uno Flex Dos Skip-Bo Phase 10 Wild Twist

  In 1973 a University Professor Ralph Anspach released Anti-Monopoly intending to show that monopolies were harmful. The game has been updated and rereleased through out the years. The board resembles Monopoly, however properties are replaced by businesses.  The goal is to break the trusts of 3-business monopolies, trusts or oligopolies. The players are trust-busting lawyers who rotate around the board bringing lawsuits against the monopolies. Players earn social credits, at the end of the game the player with the most social credits is the winner.  In 1974 Parker Brother's sued Ralph Anspach for trademark infridgement. The case played out over the span of 10 years with several appeals and overturned rulings. Finally Anspach and Parker reached a settlement, permitting him to continue using the name Anti-Monopoly and distributing the game. Wanting to "capitalize" on the success of Anti-Monopoly, Hasbro released Monopoly Socialism in 2019. Ultimately Monopoly Socialism was