Uncle Pennybags

 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...