Uncle Pennybags

  My coolest/cutest find while thrifting was "The Board Game Geek Game." If you don't already know the website Board Game Geek is one of the most popular site among gamers. It provides a description of the game, ratings, photos, and links to tutorials. Players can rank games and the games are given an average rating out of 10. The site also allows members to log the games they own, trade games, interact through forums and private messages. This game was released in October 2009 by R&D Games, to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the BBG website. It was designed by Richard Breese and authorized by Scott Alden and Derek Solko, the BBG creators. The game involves two main concepts, the player acts as a boardgame publisher delivering games to 6 shops and also as a Geek who is trying to purchase games for their groups collection. The game consists of 6 rounds, and each round has the following 6 actions: 1. Games arrive at the warehouse. 2. Deliver games to the shops. 3...

 May 27, 2024, Memorial Day, finally the day has arrived for me to close out the Rich Uncle Pennybags blog. Originally started in January 2022, I couldn't handle new home ownership and writing the blog at the same time. The blog sat silent for most of 2022, I picked it back up again in January 2023, and unfortunately became sick in November 2023 until the end of April 2024.  To say I learn a lot would be an understatement. Halfway through 2023 I changed direction of the blog to include all the vintage board games I found while looking for Monopoly games. It was a fun unscripted ride. You never know what will turn up when thrifting, picking up a curb side dump, at a game night, or even talking to a friend.  Initially I toyed with the idea of writing a blog about solitaire games. I regret not following through, many of the games I acquired I wanted to play but didn't have anyone interested in playing with me. There is also a huge time commitment to learning to play a new ga...

 One last game to write about from my curbside finds. WordSpiel was released in 2017 by Play Monster LLC. It's a word card game for 1 to 6 players. Players start with 10 letter cards. The deck is place in the middle of the table, the first card flipped over, and the timer starts. Each player has 60 seconds to complete their turn. The first player must make a word using the flipped card as the first letter of the word. Play then passes to the next player who must use the last letter or letters (going as far back as they wish) to make a new word. The cards must be used in the order played to make the next word. If a player runs out of time or can't make a word they must pick the top card from the deck. Before looking at it the player must decide if they will add the card to their hand or place it at the end of the played cards.  Their turn is over and play moves on to the next player, if the card was placed on the board they must use this letter to form their word.  A round...

  Another mistake that could have been avoided. I purchased "Stock Block" from a antique dealer at the barns in Red Bank. He told me that it was the predecessor to Monopoly. Upon reviewing the game board and instructions I realize that I'd been had. This game was first released in 1976, and is almost a clone of Monopoly. The major difference being there are no property deeds, instead players purchase Certificate Cards. Players may then purchase additional shares of stock once they own a certificate.  They may purchase 4 additional shares per certificate and once they own a stock block, or all certificates of the same color, they may build one blue chip per square. The amount of interest they collect increases with each additional share or blue chip owned.  The goal of the game is to bankrupt all other players. In this game it's referred to "29ing" or "Crashing." Chance and Community Chest cards have been replaced by What? cards. When players draw a...

 Solar Quest is a Real Estate game set in space released in 1985. It is based on the Landlord's Game, I no longer say based on Monopoly since we now know that these types of games originated from the Landlord's Game. Players build monopolies by purchasing planets, moons, and fuel stations. There are 11 color groups to build monopolies from and 48 properties to own all together. Players roll dice and move along blue dots to get from planet to planet. There are also black dots which represent the planets gravitational pull, players must use fuel to get past the black dots. At times a player maybe stuck rotating around the same planet/moon. The game play is not as linear as Monopoly. Players must also fuel their spaceships, they can buy fuel stations, and both refuel/charge others to refuel their spaceships. If a player runs out of fuel with no way to replenish, they are out of the game.   Game play also involves laser blast and laser battles. Players that are close enough t...

Billionaire is a wealth building game released by Parker Brothers in 1973. The goal of the game is to be the first to become a Billionaire. Luckily this is not another Monopoly clone, the similarity is that the game play involves bidding and auctions. The game can be played by 2-4 players. At first glance you'll notice a smaller board with only 20 action spaces, and 4 headquarters.  This leads me to believe that it's a much shorter game to play than Monopoly, reviews list average game time as 60 minutes. Players rolled the dice and can land on profit, power play, sealed bid, analyze or headquarters spaces. The profit cards are cash in this game, each player starts with 5 profit cards. When they land on the space they take the top card from the pile.  Power play cards may be played at once or held for future use. They are returned to the bottom of the pile after use. They come in the categories; Power Play, Security, Disaster, Espionage, Proxy Fight, or Analyze Any Investment. ...

  The game of Easy Money was released by Milton Bradley in 1935. It was so similar to Monopoly that Parker Brothers sued and as a result the game was released again in 1936 with changes to the board. The new version no longer had deed cards, the property information was placed on the board, and the "give-or-take" space was removed, instead a player would pick up one of these cards if they rolled double. Railroads and utilities spaces were updated so there were no longer the same number  as and rent increases would not copy Monopoly.   The board is not color coded, players need to buy one property on each side first. Once they own these four, they can start to build houses and purchase more than one property on the same side. Like Monopoly when a player lands on an un-owned property they can purchase it or it goes for auction. Utility and Public Buildings don't have a set purchase price, when a player lands there for the first time in the current game it is auctioned ...

  I stumbled upon an old Parker Brothers game called Finance. It was originally released in 1932 and was a predecessor to Monopoly. It's based on the landlord's game and features similar mechanics. The version I will be writing about is from 1958. The major differences from Monopoly are there are no property cards, the information is found directly on the board, the railroads can not be purchased, there are no community chest cards, there are no hotels, and house come in a variety of colors.  This is a game for up to six players, each player has a different colored piece and matching color property circle. The banker will give each player two $500 and five $100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. Players roll the dice to determine who goes first, play continues in a clockwise direction. Players add the sum of the two dice, move to space indicated and performs the action. If they roll double they roll again.  If they land on an unowned property they can either purchase for the amount indic...

  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 futu...

 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 w...

 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 ...

 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