Game: Monopoly Express

Thread: Re: Required to place a die?

Verkisto — 2008-11-23T15:08:02+00:00

I don't think it's required. I don't have the rules in front of me to confirm it, but I've played this a lot, and we've frequently re-rolled all dice on a turn.

Thread: Required to place a die?

wkover — 2008-11-23T14:27:13+00:00

On any given roll, are players forced to place dice on the board? Or can players re-roll all dice?

Thread: Re: Simple Overview of the Dice Faces

reapersaurus — 2008-11-22T05:59:14+00:00

I think they are in this order (left-->right) in the online implementation (in case people want to refer to them while playing, like I do)TVis wrote:
The seven regular dice,

[c]
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
RR RR RR RR 150 Water Electric
RR RR RR RR 200 Water Electric
200 50 50 200 250 100 100
250 50 50 250 300 100 100
300 500 100 300 400 150 150
400 ? 500 400 ? 150 150[/c]

and the four special dice.
[c]
(1) (2) (3) (Extra)
Office Officer Officer House
Officer Officer Officer House
blank blank Go House
blank blank blank Hotel
blank blank blank House Wreck
blank blank blank Get Out of Jail[/c]

Thread: Re: true monopoly variant?

caroper — 2008-11-15T22:45:34+00:00

Having played the game a few times now, but never seeing anyone achieve a hotel, I don't relay think that your proposed variant will be needed in the context that you proposed it ie the game killer bonus.

I do, however, think you are onto a good idea. I propose the following:

You get the $1000 bonus once only for each house gained.
You retain the house until you roll a 'Broken House'
You must hold all 4 houses to score a Hotel, but the 4 houses do not have to be obtained in one turn or for one set.
Other Players may make an offer to buy the house from you.

additional thoughts that require physical game modifications to enhance the above rules.

add 4 more houses to the game.

or an easier option:

on one blank side of a police die add a house destroyed Icon.

Thread: Show me the Money

caroper — 2008-11-15T20:08:25+00:00

I made a simple addition to this game, that had such a profound effect on play I am honestly surprised it was omitted in the first place, especially as it is so obvious.

MONEY, what is Monopoly without it.

On a laser printer I created 5 sheets, on 4 different colours of paper plus white. 3 notes per row and up to 9 rows per sheet. They are small enough to fit in the tub, large enough for adult hands to work with and sufficient currency for much more then 4 players.

The result?

1) It totally eliminates the need for scoring pads and the tedium of jotting down scores.

2) Each Players score, the games current status, is clearly visible to all other players.

3) It adds a tactile element to the game as the player receives something tangible at the end of the turn (or may brood on the fact that they didn't)

4) It makes each roll of the dice feel more like a gamble than a cold hard consideration of the odds. You are Looking at that pot of cash, it is yours for the taking, or should you go for more and risk it all?

5) Optionally allows for an extra player to be the banker, helping the game along with such taunts as "I can offer you $1800 to quit now. Do you want to Bank it or take a gamble?"

It only took 15 minuets and a few cents to make hundreds of bank notes, and boosted the fun factor considerably. My Ready to print bank notes are in my Gallery here on the Geek:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/images/user/21026

Try it you will be glad you did

]]>

Thread: Re: true monopoly variant?

skeletorrobo — 2008-10-30T23:13:13+00:00

I understand what your saying I'm just wondering how to integrate the gameplay between players to make it less of a solitaire experience which original monopoly of course is not.

I tested the variant i suggested above last night where players held onto any acquired houses and scored an additional $1000 for each property they continued to hold (unless of course they were kicked out of their round by going to jail, still holding the property but not collecting any income for it that round.)

Quickly enough the players realized it was safer to hold onto one or more houses and collect the passive income each turn without risking finishing any of the streets (and thereby rolling the house dice and risking losing their houses) Pretty soon all four houses were snapped up and players became too conservative to take higher risks to end the game outright. This also made loss and reacquisition of property between players rare at best.

I'm thinking of a number of solutions to this problem among them;

* Make the income from the houses a one off $1000 bonus for the round but allowing them to keep the property.
* Make the rolling of the house dice a necessity on the first roll if a player has already acquired a house, but only able to acquire an additional house with that die once they have acquired a street(monopoly) on or after the roll the monopoly was acquired.
*Make the hotel roll on the house die a house destroy roll until the player is eligible to acquire a hotel by acquiring all four houses as per normal.

that at least would have the players struggling to acquire and keep the same property as the other players like in the original game.

Thread: Re: true monopoly variant?

Karlsen — 2008-10-30T20:01:45+00:00

skeletorrobo wrote:
This would also make obtaining a hotel more difficult (which i consider a good thing as the $5000 hotel bonus- only possible with four houses in the regular rules, a whopper $9000 bonus for a $15000 point game- a bit of a game ender anyway

A bit more difficult??

This is the quickest way get the hotel bonus. It takes six rolls and you have to avoid rolling the three go to jails as per usual.
You need to roll a property set (let's be kind and assume you do this on the first roll)
Roll a house (not any of the other results)
Roll a house (not any of the other results)
Roll a house (not any of the other results)
Roll a house (not any of the other results)
Roll the hotel (not any of the other five results)

Thread: true monopoly variant?

skeletorrobo — 2008-10-30T10:28:26+00:00

I thought this game could be played with only 4 available houses for the players. When a player acquired a house they kept it until losing it in a destroyed house dice roll and all the while collecting $1000 per turn per house while they possessed them.

I liked this rule as it would more truly make players play together (vs. merely playing a solitaire game side by side)as the houses would become important acquisitions (with their loss still possible by the house destroyed roll.) A single player keeping their houses during the course of the game seems more in keeping with the, monopolistic theme of the game as i see it.

This would also make obtaining a hotel more difficult (which i consider a good thing as the $5000 hotel bonus- only possible with four houses in the regular rules, a whopper $9000 bonus for a $15000 point game- a bit of a game ender anyway.

Anyone care to agree or differ?

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

Hoodlumsx4 — 2008-10-06T20:20:19+00:00

Thank you for posting these. I played the game this weekend for the first time and I was confused about what to do with the houses. I really enjoyed the game, and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it more now that I know what I'm doing.

Thanks again!
Wendy

Thread: Extra Scoring Sheets

punkzter — 2008-09-28T11:26:41+00:00

Just in case anyone is interested, I may have a scanned image of the scoring sheet that I may be able to e-mail to anyone who needs extra scoring sheets. This also applies to Clue Express.

Thread: Re: What happens when you combine two of the most hated concepts in Eurogames?

Septyn — 2008-09-28T06:24:14+00:00

Yahtzee is a set collection/ push-your-luck game too.

Except that you don't "go bust" in Yahtzee, like you do in this game.

Thread: Re: What happens when you combine two of the most hated concepts in Eurogames?

DJ Kuul A — 2008-09-05T21:13:00+00:00

Yahtzee is a set collection/ push-your-luck game too.

Image

chaosbreaker — 2008-09-04T23:52:36+00:00

Monopoly Express online AI at http://host.exemplum.com/hasbro/monopoly_express/monopoly_ex...

Thread: Repeat Offender (or, How I Essentially Got Shut Out at Don't Go to Jail)

trebro — 2008-08-30T22:08:51+00:00

The love of my life and regular game partner, Erica, was on her way to see a show. We had a few minutes to kill, so I offered a game of Don't Go To Jail, which I figured would last just long enough.

Don't Go to Jail is the earlier version of what is now called Monopoly Express, but only has 10 dice and no money bonuses. (I am not entirely sure why it shares the entry with the newer game. To me, an additional die and bonuses would seem to radically alter how the game is played.) However, the base concept is the same--roll as long as you'd like, try to get properties, and don't roll "go" "to" "jail".

Apparently, I forgot that last part.

First turn and first roll, Erica gets a $500 cube and a wild. She presses her luck for a second roll and finishes the yellow group for a slick 6200 points on turn one.

"This is not good," I thought to myself. My thoughts, eventually vocal, would get worse from there.

It only took me two rolls to end up with all three jail dice and no points. But hey, it's early yet.

Erica's second turn netted her another 3500 points, 2500 of which she got on the first roll. Now I'm really in the hole, so it's time to play some catch up. 2700 on 2 rolls and 1 jail cube? No good. But I should have taken it, as my third roll netted me the two other words in the
phrase and an almost impossible position. But hey, part of the fun of dice games is that you never know what luck will bring. I still had hope.

Remember that hope? Try another 3500 points for Erica on her third turn and three safe rolls. Now she's at 13200 with me still on the goose egg. I am no longer thinking bad things, I am saying them out loud, and my wording is totally not appropriate for a family forum! But I soldiered on, and tried three rolls as well.

For zero points, as those three rolls came up "go", "to", and "jail."

But hey! It's not over till it's over, and, wonder of wonders, Erica's 4th turn is...0 points! She rolls all three jail dice on her first try.

Aha! Now's the time to make my move! Come on, dice!!!

Clearly, they were playing with me. I had a lot of points on the first roll of my fourth turn. I also had the three jail words.

Erica put me out of my misery on turn five, getting 2500 points on her first roll for the win, it being mathematically impossible to get 15000 points on my final turn.

Per the rules, I got a final turn, and was able to grab 600 points on the first roll. But for all intents and purposes, the Gods of Dice rolled Erica a shutout!

I was not the least but upset about this, as it gave her good vibes before the show, and I'm sure to have my revenge on another day. This is a nifty press your luck dice game that I am happy to have on my shelf. Dice game fans should, too.

Thread: Re: A Monopoly game that even gamers can enjoy

stormseeker75 — 2008-08-15T19:37:22+00:00

The one major difference is that you will have a finite number of dice rolls on each turn in Risk. However that main idea of each game is to roll sets of dice. In Risk you take countries while in Monopoly you score points. Risk is basically the player interaction version of Monopoly.

That is taken from my review above in the "Compare it to..." section.

Thread: Re: A Monopoly game that even gamers can enjoy

gamezendo.com — 2008-08-13T13:02:36+00:00

This review describes the game very well except when comparing it to Risk Express. It is NOT AT ALL like Risk Express, other than that you roll dice.

Risk Express is not a press-your-luck game like Monopoly Express; once you commit to taking a region, you roll a finite number of times until you succeed or fail.

In Risk Express, you usually have many options of regions to try for based on the initial roll of the dice (almost every initial roll beats a front line on multiple regions); In Monopoly Express, if you roll two or three green properties, you're going for that set for sure.

In Risk Express, one roll of the dice cannot end your turn (as happened a few times in the Monopoly Express game we recently played.

In the end, Risk Express is won with victory points based on how difficult a region or set of regions is to conquer. Monopoly Express is won with money earned on random association with the colors of the sets. The orange, red, yellow, and green sets are all worth different $ amounts though they all are equally likely outcomes. The 4 possible dice faces that make the dark blue set (worth 3500) are not that much harder than the 6 dice faces that can make the brown set (worth 600).

The player interaction as mentioned in the comparison also makes these totally different experiences from a player mindset standpoint.

The upshot is that you shouldn't necessarily purchase one of the games if you like the other. They are animals (dice games) of completely different stripes.

Thread: Re: A Monopoly game that even gamers can enjoy

dbmite — 2008-08-12T23:13:56+00:00

I love press-your-luck games, and Monopoly Express is one of my favorites!

It's a great game to take in the car on a trip. You can roll in the dice bowl and the dice will pretty much stay put on the board. I introduced it to a friend on the last loooong trip and we had a lot of fun with it.

What's so surprising is that for around 12 bucks you get a FUN game that has "Monopoly" in the title and widely available at local toy stores.

Highly Recommended!

Thread: Re: Knizia-type First Roll Variant

GaryP — 2008-08-12T19:45:03+00:00

Verkisto wrote:
Well, I guess it's obvious to everyone but me. My mistake.
Obviously.

Re-rolling everything seems fine. However, I just have the player keep two of the cops (or words for the old Go to Jail version) and continue their turn normally. They re-roll the third cop if they choose to roll again.

Thread: Re: A Monopoly game that even gamers can enjoy

anarchy — 2008-08-12T19:18:13+00:00

I agree. We picked this up at Target (while looking for some Agricola animals) and we've had a really good time with it so far. It's lite, it's dicey, but those are good qualities in this case. It plays fast enough that you don't care if get some bad results on a roll.

Thread: A Monopoly game that even gamers can enjoy

stormseeker75 — 2008-08-12T18:23:10+00:00

“Let's play Monopoly!” If you're a gamer, there are few sentences that can instill more fear in you than that sentence. Monopoly is generally reviled as a never-ending snooze fest. We've all played Monopoly at one point in our lives and most of us have played a game that just wouldn't end. Of course, nobody plays by the right rules, but that’s beside the point. The point is that gamers look at Monopoly with hatred and disdain. But what if there was a Monopoly game that was quick to play and didn't drag on endlessly? What is there was a Monopoly game that provided fun without taking itself too seriously? Enter Monopoly Express, a dice game based around the basic pretenses of Monopoly. This game promises to play in about 20 minutes with easy rules and a finite ending. So does Monopoly Express deliver on its promises, or is this just another member of a long hated game family?

Rules

The complete rules are online for you to read at your leisure. The game works by having players roll dice to try to complete sets which represent the property groups on a normal Monopoly board. Players score points by completing these groups, by rolling Go, or by getting houses. The houses can only be gotten once the rolling player owns a Monopoly. In the group of dice are three Police dice. If a player rolls 3 Policemen, his turn is over and he loses any points he might have scored.

There are a few rules ambiguities which are not addressed in the rulebook. This should not happen for such a simple game so it leads me to believe that the simple rulebook is poorly written. For instance, there's almost no mention of what to do with houses at the end of a turn. Luckily, all of these questions have been answered on BGG so you will be able to find all the help you need right here.

Components

Like all the games in the Express series, Monopoly Express is light on components. The game comes in a plastic cylindrical container which has a snap-on lid. This is the same container as all the Express games come in.

Monopoly Express has a nice plastic board for setting the dice. As you can see below, the board is a round tray that displays all the different color properties along with the railroads, utilities, and Police spaces. Each space on this board is recessed so that the dice stay put when placed on the board. While this little board is unnecessary, it’s really nice. They could have gone with a cheaper route and used cards, but instead they gave us a nice plastic tray.

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The main component to the game is of course the dice. Each die is made of good sturdy plastic that has good weight for its size. My favorite feature of the dice is that they are stamped instead of just printed or stickered. I think this is a really nice touch and makes the dice look great. If you'd like to see a breakdown of the dice as far as the sides of each die, there's a great file here on BGG.

Also in the container is a small rulebook as well as a score pad.

Probably the biggest thing to note is that ME captures the look and feel of the original game perfectly. The property spaces match the colors from the original. The look of the railroads is also very similar. The Chance icon and Go arrow are also present. This helps bring an air of familiarity to the game which will make it easy to introduce to people familiar with the original.

Gameplay

How does it compare to Monopoly?

The only things common between Monopoly and ME is that both games revolve around rolling dice. Other than that, they are completely different. Monopoly revolves around moving around a board and managing your money to purchase property and improve it. In ME, you're rolling dice to collect sets. Whereas Monopoly is an economic roll-and-move game, ME is a press-your-luck dice game. Please don't be put off by the name Monopoly. There's nothing similar in the gameplay.

It’s a dice fest

That’s right. This is a dice game, pure and simple. There's no negotiation or trading. It’s all about the dice. If you don't like dice games, then stay away from this one. There's nothing to it other than rolling dice. With dice rolling comes luck. This is not the kind of game that is won by the better player. This is the kind of game that is won by the luckiest player.

So there's no strategy?

That’s not entirely true. There's some decision making in the game as there is with any press-your-luck game. The basic decision is which dice to set and how far to press your luck with the second being the most important. You do have some control over your fate as you can choose to stop rolling at any time. However, making wise decisions about when to stop rolling is probably not as important as getting lucky and rolling well.

Number of players and downtime

ME is listed as being for 2-4 players although I can't see any reason why you couldn't stretch the game to have more players. Also, I can't see why you couldn't play solitaire, trying to get a high score in the least number of rolls possible. The only problem with adding more players would be that you would be adding downtime. There is absolutely no player interaction in this game, so other players have nothing to do when it’s not their turn. In a 2, 3, or 4 player game, players shouldn't be waiting too long between turns so the downtime will be minimal. Also, there's no real decision making, so you won't have any AP slowing down your game.

Multiplayer solitaire

This game is most definitely a multiplayer solitaire game. There is no player interaction at all. One player rolls the dice and makes decisions while everyone else waits. The game is a press-your-luck race to $15000 with no way to affect each other in any way. If you’re looking for interaction, please look at some of the other Express games.

Compare it to…

The obvious thought would be Monopoly. That is not quite right however. This game is actually really similar to another Express title which is widely sought after: Risk Express. That’s right, there is a lot in common between these 2 games. The one major difference is that you will have a finite number of dice rolls on each turn in Risk. However that main idea of each game is to roll sets of dice. In Risk you take countries while in Monopoly you score points. Risk is basically the player interaction version of Monopoly.

Theme

The theme is classic Monopoly. All the colors and icons you’re already familiar with are here.

Overall

ME does a great job of creating a Monopoly game that I actually want to play. This game is base almost completely on luck, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that it’s fun to play. The playtime on the game is about perfect for the type of game that it is. Any longer and it would feel random to a point of being boring and tedious. But as it stands, they’ve designed a fun dice game that captures the feel of Monopoly while removing all the things that make it strongly disliked in the gaming community. Heck, they could have dropped the Monopoly name altogether on this one and it would still stand on its own as a fun dice game.

I rate Monopoly Express a solid 7. It’s a good game and I’m usually willing to play it. Its fast and easy enough to play that I can’t see myself turning this down. The game is fast and fun and for me that’s enough to get some regular table time. I probably won’t suggest it very often, but I might on occasion.

If you’re looking for a simple dice game to use as filler or a time killer, this is a great choice. The game can be had for about $11 in most stores and its certainly worth the price. It’s not a classic, but it will definitely find its way to your table. This could also be a great game to play with your kids as the rules are very simple. Even young kids can grasp the concept of completing sets. Overall, this is a great choice for most game collections and a wonderful way to get your Monopoly-loving friends started towards the dark side of the gaming hobby.

Thread: Re: What happens when you combine two of the most hated concepts in Eurogames?

Verkisto — 2008-08-07T16:45:02+00:00

Oh, that was another point I wanted to make: This is not just a Yahtzee remake, either. It's a set collection/push-your-luck game, and it works surprisingly well.

Thread: Re: What happens when you combine two of the most hated concepts in Eurogames?

mikoyan — 2008-08-07T13:54:54+00:00

Dice aren't hated by Euro folks. Just look at the number of dice games that are coming out from the favored Euro publishers. Never mind that they all are pretty much Yahtzee.

Thread: What happens when you combine two of the most hated concepts in Eurogames?

Verkisto — 2008-08-06T19:35:54+00:00

Monopoly. Dice. Mentioning either word to a hardcore Eurogamer elicits a particular response:

]]>

So why in the heck is a game about Monopoly using JUST the dice so strangely addictive?

For one thing, the game allows you to make choices with the dice. Instead of thinking, "Man, I really, really need a seven so I can make it to the last property in that chain," only to then roll a twelve and wind up in jail for the next three turns, you get to roll ten dice and decide what to do with some of them. Seven of them represent properties, and you want to complete a chain of them to score maximum points. Once you get a monopoly of a particular property, you roll an eleventh die, which represents the houses and hotels from the standard game. These are worth more money. Three of them, though, are the Police dice, so once Sting, Andy, and Stewart roll up on the dice*, your turn is over. This represents the push-your-luck element to the game, which is part of what makes it work so well.

Of course, it IS a dice game, so you're subject to some wildly improbable rolls at the worst (or best) times. But for the most part, the number of dice, the distribution of properties among the dice, and the different values of the properties makes this more a game of managing your resources and playing the odds than being subject to the luck of the dice. But you’re still going to possibly roll all three of the Police on your first roll**, or after having a nice run of luck up to that point, and there's no doubt that it's frustrating. But that's part of what makes the game a little more fun than, say, In the Year of the Dragon.

Another good thing going for the game is that each player starts his or her turn with a clean slate. You don’t have to follow up from what another player has started, or change your plans because someone else cut you off from that one purple good you needed to deliver to stay out of bankruptcy***. You have the same odds as you did on your previous turns, and the same odds that all your opponents had on their turns. I'm sure this will bring up points regarding the game's "multiplayer solitaire" issues, or complaints regarding how the game is strictly dependent on the roll of the dice. I think there's some validity to both points, but I also think that it overlooks the choices that one CAN make during the game.

To wit, not all the dice are the same. If you commit yourself to completing the railroads, then you've pretty much confined yourself from going after any of the other high-value properties, as well. You’ll always have a pretty good chance of completing either the utilities or the Baltic Avenue monopoly, but the higher your aspirations are, the more you're pushing your luck. So you can go after the slow-and-steady strategy, or try to go balls-out to get the higher properties, at the risk of crapping out in the process. The frequency of the higher-valued properties on the dice is much lower, and you're more likely to bust trying to complete those monopolies.

Also, knowing the distribution of the properties among the dice will give you an advantage. As such, I tend to play the game where players can pick up and examine the remaining dice. There’s no sense in pushing your luck when there's no chance to complete the monopoly you want, and since the distribution isn't intuitive enough to grasp at the start of the game, it only seems fair to do so. Others may feel differently, though I expect that once everyone is familiar enough with the game, this wouldn't be necessary to do.

Monopoly Express won't replace Can't Stop as the quintessential push-your-luck game, but for a 20-minute dice game that everyone will already be partially familiar with, it's not bad. In two days, I managed to play more games of this than I had managed in the previous month****. That's definitely worth something.

*Not really. It's the same policeman that you see on the "Go Directly to Jail" space on the game board.

**I've adopted the "Re-roll your first roll if you bust immediately" rule to compensate for this issue. Busting on your second roll is no less frustrating, but at least less likely to happen.

***Thanks, Malachi, for taking that one back.

****I only played 5 games in July.

(reprinted from Veni Vidi Verkisto)

Thread: Re: Knizia-type First Roll Variant

Ponton — 2008-08-04T10:44:55+00:00

I'm not everyone.

It's always good to share these good pieces of advice.

Thread: Re: Knizia-type First Roll Variant

Verkisto — 2008-08-04T00:47:21+00:00

Well, I guess it's obvious to everyone but me. My mistake.

Thread: Re: Knizia-type First Roll Variant

Ponton — 2008-08-03T20:52:57+00:00

I didn't know Exxtra, but we play this variant since I own Monopoly Express. Seemed pretty obvious to me to add such a variant.

Thread: Knizia-type First Roll Variant

Verkisto — 2008-08-03T19:43:16+00:00

In Exxtra, if you roll a "bust" on your very first roll, you're allowed to re-roll everything for free. Of course, if you bust again, your turn is over, but it at least eliminates that initial "Nothing you can do about it" bust. After a couple of frustrating turns in Monopoly Express where this happened to us, we adopted that rule, and it reduces some of that frustration from the luck of the dice.

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

steveoliverc — 2008-07-28T22:54:57+00:00

Thanks for posting that!

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

hermi — 2008-07-28T14:13:58+00:00

Yes, if you need clarification about the get out of jail die in writing, here is the official Hasbro UK reply:

Thank you for your email.

Further to the instructions, when you roll a Get out of Jail Free die, you can return a Go to Jail die to the bowl, therefore you would only have 2 Policeman on the board and your turn would continue. Your turn only ends when you have 3 Policemen on the board.

If you require any further assistance, please contact us on the freephone number below.

Kind Regards

ASK HASBRO
00800 22427276

I'm still not sure the wording given here does not leave scope for argument but the intention is clear.

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

DjFIL — 2008-07-09T06:29:13+00:00

I love this game. Me and my GF found a copy when searching for some quick travel games to play on a ferry ride. This is a great dice varient of Monopoly. Love the risk and reward gameplay. And I never knew about Risk and Clue versions, I'd love to look for those. We did see the Scrabble and Sorry versions, but wasn't as interested.

And yes... getting a hotel is next to impossable. I don't think we've ever seen it happen in 50+ games.

Thread: Add a die per turn Variant

SVan — 2008-05-23T16:50:02+00:00

This variant makes sure that you don't get screwed on your first or second rolls each turn. It also gives the player another choice.

Each player's first turn: Roll only 1 Go to Jail die.
Each player's second turn: Roll 2 Go to Jail dice.
Each player's third and higher turns: Roll all 3 Go to Jail Dice.

There is an exception to this, which is whenever you have a Monopoly, no matter which turn it is, you roll all three Go to Jail dice.

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

songbird — 2008-03-07T05:55:07+00:00

steveoliverc wrote:
That is correct, according to the printed rules. But the online version plays it the way Tom has described, and that's how I've been playing it (otherwise its just too hard (impossible?) to get a hotel.
It appears this online version has some bugs. Sometimes when I roll a cop plus a "get out of jail", it takes a cop off the board plus cancels one I rolled. I've also seen where if I start a new game before finishing my existing game, it will start me with one or more cops on the board before my first roll!

So who knows what the correct rules are supposed to be on this... the printed version does seem to indicate you end your turn immediately if you get 3 cops, but doesn't really say when the "house" die is resolved.

Thread: Re: Simple Overview of the Dice Faces

steveoliverc — 2008-03-07T04:21:02+00:00

I posted a color chart of the dice in the files section that's helpful when you're playing. As you've pointed out, you really need to know what's possible to get with the dice you have left.

Thread: Simple Overview of the Dice Faces

TVis — 2008-03-06T20:38:02+00:00

If you play the online (*see below) game for Monopoly Express often enough then you will come to recognize that the Railroads all appear in the first four dice. Set aside one of those to make a color set instead and you will never complete the Railroads except by also rolling a wild Chance ("?" question mark.).

Something that is not readily knowable there is that the Railroads appear twice on each of those dice. Here is the distribution found on the faces of the dice when examining a physical copy of the game:

The seven regular dice,

[c]
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
RR RR RR RR 150 Water Electric
RR RR RR RR 200 Water Electric
50 50 200 200 250 100 100
50 50 250 250 300 100 100
500 100 300 300 400 150 150
? 500 400 400 ? 150 150[/c]

and the four special dice.
[c]
(1) (2) (3) (Extra)
Office Officer Officer House
Officer Officer Officer House
blank blank Go House
blank blank blank Hotel
blank blank blank House Wreck
blank blank blank Get Out of Jail[/c]

Using a pivot-table format, here is a count of the same info for the regular seven.

[c]
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) Total
RR 2 2 2 2 8
50 2 2 4
100 1 2 2 5
150 1 2 2 5
200 1 1 1 3
250 1 1 1 3
300 1 1 1 3
400 1 1 1 3
500 1 1 2
Electric 2 2
Water 2 2
? 1 1 2

Total 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 42[/c]

All of which may tell you something about your odds of completing any color set, but that's a topic I'm not willing to calculate in public.

*see[c] [/c] Hasbro's Monopoly Express

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

steveoliverc — 2008-03-06T18:37:02+00:00

Melsana wrote:
TomVasel wrote:
If the player rolls a broken jail window, they may take a policeman die from the board into their hand - even if they rolled all three this turn!

I don't have my rules in front of me to check but I don't think this is right. Becuase the first thing you do is check for policemen... and if you have all 3 your turn is OVER, never giving you a chance to check for the "get out of jail" icon.

That is correct, according to the printed rules. But the online version plays it the way Tom has described, and that's how I've been playing it (otherwise its just too hard (impossible?) to get a hotel.

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

Melsana — 2008-03-06T18:07:34+00:00

TomVasel wrote:
If the player rolls a broken jail window, they may take a policeman die from the board into their hand - even if they rolled all three this turn!

I don't have my rules in front of me to check but I don't think this is right. Becuase the first thing you do is check for policemen... and if you have all 3 your turn is OVER, never giving you a chance to check for the "get out of jail" icon.

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

deacondavid — 2008-03-06T15:35:03+00:00

I have the original Don't Go to Jail and have recently played the revised Monopoly Express. The new edition is a major improvement in form and it preserves the press-your-luck flavor of the original. While it will never be a top choice for me, it is a fun game that is very portable.

I've just got in a copy of Clue Express and look forward to seeing how it works out.

Thanks for the review, Tom!

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

dbmite — 2008-03-06T14:06:58+00:00

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Hasbro Express line of games. Monopoly Express is my favorite so far, followed by Risk Express. Scrabble Express is also good and I haven't played Sorry Express yet.

All of these games are quite fun to play. For $10 Monopoly Express is well worth it. Risk Express cost quite a bit more (imported), however it's been a blast to play and we've played a lot. Scrabble Express is also good if you want to play Scrabble but short on time.

I highly recommended the Express line.

Thread: Re: [Review] Monopoly Express

Sagrilarus — 2008-03-06T13:42:20+00:00

it certainly has been a defining game of the last generation

I'll leave it to the original poster to revise this small snippet so that it more accurately reflects the magnitude of Monopoly's impact.

Sag.

Thread: [Review] Monopoly Express

TomVasel — 2008-03-06T12:18:08+00:00

Whatever people may say about Monopoly, it certainly has been a defining game of the last generation, and it's only inevitable that spinoffs and variations are going to occur. As a teenager, the one that I was most interested in was Don't Go to Jail, a game that tended to mix Monopoly and Yahtzee. I found it an interesting diversion, but it seemed like a smaller, quicker version of the trading properties game. I found a newer version of this game on the internet (http://host.exemplum.com/hasbro/monopoly_express/monopoly_ex...) and enjoyed my snappy playing of it enough to seek out a copy of the new board game.

Monopoly Express (Hasbro, 2007 - Garrett Donner and Michael Steer) is a remake of this older game, and it's a snazzy production. Sold in a small, compact container with high quality dice, it makes a few changes to the older game to bring players the theme of Monopoly in a much more succinct version. It could simply be known as Monopoly: the Dice Game, and it would be an accurate description. It's light, possibly too light, but with the plethora of dice games being produced these days I actually enjoyed this one, likely because of the theme.

Each player takes a turn in order, attempting to gain $15,000. On each turn, the player takes ten dice and rolls them. After the roll, they check the dice.
- First of all, there are three dice with policemen printed on two sides. The player places any police rolled immediately on the board. If there are three policemen on the board, the player's turn is immediately over; and they score no money for that turn!
- One of the police dice has a green arrow on it; if a player rolls that, they immediately score $200, marking it on their score sheet.
- After this, the player looks at the other seven dice. These dice show different properties colors, railroads, and utilities from Monopoly - each with a number value on them from "50" to "500". Players may place any of these on the appropriate spaces on the board, attempting to make complete color groups. When in a complete color group, properties are worth more points. Brown (50 each) - 600 points, Light Blue (100) - 1000, Pink (150) - 1500, Orange (200) - 1800, Red (250) - 2200, Yellow (300) - 2700, Green (400) - 3000, Dark Blue (500) - 3500, Railroads (200) - 2500, and Utilities (100) - 800. If the player rolls a question mark (chance), they may place it in any group as a wild.
- At this point, the player may stop and take the score of all completed groups and one uncompleted group. Chance dice only have value if in a complete group. If the player decides to roll again, they start over, leaving any dice that they have placed on the board.
- BUT if the player has a complete group of properties on the board, they may add an eleventh die to their hand - the House/Hotel Die. On future rolls (as long as they don't roll three policemen), this die will have special effects based on what is rolled. If the player rolls a broken jail window, they may take a policeman die from the board into their hand - even if they rolled all three this turn! If they roll a house, they take a plastic house and place it in front of them. If they roll a broken house, they must lose a house if they possess one. Finally, if they roll a hotel, they score $5000, but ONLY if they have all four houses.

After a player stops rolling of their own will, they add their score (including $1000 for each house they have), writing it on their score sheet. Play passes to the next player. This continues until one player reaches $15,000 (or whatever players decide to aim for). That player is declared the winner!

Some comments on the game...

1.) Components: No box is included for this game; it comes in a small round plastic container with a snap on lid. As much as I like this container, it doubles as a cup for the dice to be rolled in; the lid comes off without too much trouble, and the dice tend to spill out if you carelessly pack it away. The dice themselves are fantastic - with engraved sides and very clear colors and numbers. The board is a small plastic board with raised clear slots that hold the dice you are going to keep; and four plastic houses ,which are really the size of a hotel piece from the actual Monopoly game, are included. The pad of paper included is a good way to keep score; although if you use one sheet per player, you'll run out. I used the same sheet for all players to conserve them. I like the portability of the game, and it's bright and colorful - attractive especially to those who enjoy Monopoly.

2.) Monopoly: Seizing on that for a second, I don't think that the game will appeal to those who haven't heard of Monopoly before. Yes, you can play the game without knowing that the Dark Blues are Park Place and Boardwalk (or whatever the incarnations are in your respective country); but it does enhance the game, and it helps you understand why the red properties are worth more than the orange ones and why you need four railroad dice to finish a property but only three yellows. The only change I notice here is that the two cheapest properties are brown, while they are purple in the main game (likely a better choice, actually). Does the game feel like Monopoly? It's not about trading and buying; but it does bring about a feel of the game - if only for collecting sets.

3.) Rules: The rules are printed on two sides of a small sheet of paper with a nice layout of each die, and what it does. You can learn the game from the link I mentioned above - in a flash game that's an excellent tutorial but slightly annoying if you want to play it multiple times; since it explains each rule every time it occurs. I was able to teach the game to older children and have them run the game without my supervision - and they easily understood the rules.

4.) Luck: Let's face it; the game depends on a tremendous amount of luck. The only way a player is ever going to get a hotel (and I have seen it happen) is to have chance weigh extremely generously on their side. A player can still weigh out their options, and it's a good thing to check the sides of the dice at all points; but the player who rolls best will likely win. It's certainly not for everyone, but in this age where dice games do tremendously well - such as the ever popular Pickimino, I'd rather a game like this one - in which players already know the theme.

5.) Fun Factor: Is it fun? Well, for about twenty minutes, once a month, I can enjoy this game. More than that, I'll find it monotonous and get annoyed at the extreme randomness. However, I have seen the game find a very happy home with teenagers (who don't mind short lucky games), and folks who are fans of the older game Monopoly. It's entertaining, easy to understand, and fun to play. I liked the original name better - Don't Go To Jail - but admit that the newer name makes more sense.

This is an easy recommendation for me - simply go to http://host.exemplum.com/hasbro/monopoly_express/monopoly_ex... and try the game out for yourself; if you like it there, it's pretty much identical in the published form. Some folks will not like the random rolling, and I can completely understand that; this game has less strategy than Yahtzee, but others will revel in the simplistic rules and high quality components. And in ten minutes a play it's going to be much more enjoyable to folks used to marathon sessions of Monopoly.

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com

Thread: Re: How to turn a long boring game into a slightly abstract fun dice game.

johnweldy — 2008-02-24T18:56:40+00:00

I agree. I like all 3 Express games released in the US so far (Sorry, Scrabble and Monopoly) and this is my favorite of the bunch. Looking forward to Clue & Battleship later in the year!

Thread: How to turn a long boring game into a slightly abstract fun dice game.

Websteria — 2008-02-18T17:11:06+00:00

Let me start by saying this is Monopoly in name and heiroglyphics only. There is no physical money, there are no tokens, there is no "Free Parking"

In the package come an array of dice, some with property values and colors on them, and some with police officer icons. The game is really a dice set collection with a press your luck element rolled in.

Each turn a player rolls all of the dice (minus the house die, we'll get to that) in an attempt to match the sets on the tiny board. The board is nicely colored, with indentations for the die, and indications of how much the completed set is worth.

The player looks at the dice rolled then takes any police officers and places them in the center. If there are 3 of them there the player loses all possible income this turn (Can't stop anyone?) and ends their turn. If not then they choose any dice they like and place them on the appropriately colored space. There are also "Chance" dice which act as wild cards. You can only use one chance die per group.

If the player completes a set, they can then add the "house" die to their next roll which has 4 houses, 1 broken house which causes you to return a house, and a hotel. Houses are worth $1000 each at the end of your turn and if you roll 4 houses and then roll a hotel you gain $5000 more.

The game is played to a set dollar limit with the dice going back and forth between the players.

I really enjoyed this game, as it was more fun than most dice games, and did not have too much of the Monopoly theme. Don't get me wrong, I only hate monopoly because it's long and boring, not because of the theme. The only bits which use elements from them original are the pictures of the police officers and the colors of the properties (Which are not named).

This is a great quick game, and very portable. At $12.99 street it's worth every penny. I wouldn't want to play it constantly, but I think it'll find a space as a fun filler and a nice game to play on the go.

The player may then choose to stop

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

steveoliverc — 2008-02-17T15:08:14+00:00

droberts441 wrote:
My biggest complaint is if there are that many asking these questions on BGG, how many more have the same questions out there? This is a nice quick game they made, but it seems they underachieved with the rules.

Agreed! It shouldn't take an FAQ to play a fast, family-friendly game like this.

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

droberts441 — 2008-02-16T18:05:18+00:00

Great Post! I just recently bought this game, and after reading the instructions (I am one of those OCD people who read the rules entirely before playing), I had some of these questions.

My biggest questions were returning houses at the end of the turn and the Policeman/Get Out of Jail on the same roll.

I had to read the rules three times before I had the impression you should return all of the houses at the end of the turn, but IT WAS NOT CLEAR. Since you return all of the dice when your turn is over; you don't have ownership/monopoly over that color group anymore, so you shouldn't be able to keep the houses, but IT WAS NOT CLEAR (to Hasbro if they are reading).

The Policeman/Get Out of Jail is not clear, and can be interpeted both ways. I interpreted it as if you roll the Get Out of Jail, you can remove one of the Policeman on the board, and then if you rolled a Policeman on the same roll, you put that Die on the board.

My biggest complaint is if there are that many asking these questions on BGG, how many more have the same questions out there? This is a nice quick game they made, but it seems they underachieved with the rules.

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:56:08+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - the dice and stickers (intended for sticking over the 'Go', 'To', 'Jail', and 'Wild')

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:53:52+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - the stickers provided with the game to convert the dice to the French version

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:50:47+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - the dice

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:47:38+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - the score pad

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:44:43+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - cannister that holds the dice and doubles as dice shaker

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:43:04+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - the board (note the bilingual title)

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:41:44+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - box end (the other end is in French)

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:40:02+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - box side (the other side is in English)

Image

Keng Ho — 2008-02-07T13:38:28+00:00

Don't Go To Jail - bilingual edition - box bottom

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

steveoliverc — 2007-11-19T05:29:40+00:00

tonyfung1205 wrote:
From the printed rulebook, it says your turn is over immediately once the three Polices are rolled. It doesn't mention the exception for a resolution from the Get Out of Jail result.

Agreed, and that's how I played it at first, but it's very hard (nearly impossible?) to ever get a hotel that way, and now I play it this way. And as posted in another thread, an intrepid geek called up Hasbro customer service and they claim that the online version uses the correct rule regarding the get out of jail die.

Thread: Re: Go to Jail AND an Escape from Jail on same roll of dice?

davidme — 2007-11-19T03:45:44+00:00

Agreed. I must not have read carefully when I was agreeing with them.

Thread: Re: Rules Clarifications

tonyfung1205 — 2007-11-18T19:58:50+00:00

The online version is not a reliable source for rules interpretation.

I noticed that the online version gives you the House Die even if you just complete a set of trains or utilities. It treats train stations and utilities for monopoly purpose. It's definitely incorrect. In addition, the online version treats Chance for scoring a partial group as well! Therefore, I still doubt the #3.

From the printed rulebook, it says your turn is over immediately once the three Polices are rolled. It doesn't mention the exception for a resolution from the Get Out of Jail result.

Thread: Rules Clarifications

steveoliverc — 2007-11-18T14:00:38+00:00

I copied these from another thread. #3 is based on how the online version is played. #5 is a rule from the original version of the game.

Add the house die to your dice pool after completing a color group (not railroad or utility). It stays in play the rest of your turn.

Return any houses at the end of your turn. Remember to score $1000 for each house.

Place the Go to Jail dice before any other dice. Your turn ends immediately when three are placed on the board. EXCEPTION: a Get Out of Jail in the same roll as a Go to Jail can be used immediately before any dice are placed.

Chance does not count towards scoring a partial color group, railroad, or utility.

Every player gets the same number of turns. The game ends at the end of the round when one or more players has reached the target score. Highest scoring player wins.

Thread: Re: Go to Jail AND an Escape from Jail on same roll of dice?

steveoliverc — 2007-11-18T13:53:14+00:00

It seems that in the online version of the game, a Get out of Jail immediately cancels a Go To Jail in the same roll, so I've edited #3 above.

Thread: Re: Go to Jail AND an Escape from Jail on same roll of dice?

dbmite — 2007-11-17T23:58:30+00:00

Just made a call to cust serv. Guy didn't seem to really know the game, but said the turn continues. I asked him if it was a guess or if he was reading from something and he assured me that it was based on his "knowledge of the game" and that he wasn't just telling me "to be telling me something". Oh, well. I guess that's as good as Hasbro can do. They should turn over all their handling of game rules to WoTC.

I'll be playing by all your clarifications above except the turn continues (against my interpretation of the printed rules).

I have to agree with Hasbro and the online version regarding the Get Out of Jail die.

Under Going to Jail it states: If you fill all 3 of the Go To Jail squares with Policemen dice, your turn immediately ends. (not, if you roll the third Policemen die)

You are winning a Get Out of Jail free at the same time that you're rolling the third Policemen die, so why can't you use your Get Out of Jail Free immediately? This would prevent you from having to fill the last space with a Policemen die as stated in the rules.

Thread: Re: Your only hope is to build a hotel...

gashlycrumb — 2007-11-14T20:09:26+00:00

For the record, and to defend myself: When I played the game against the computer at the Hasbro website there were a number of times when I had two police and then rolled a third policeman and get outta jail at the same time. They do cancel each other out!

Also, between players, the houses did go back to the pool after the turn was over.

The game at the website is pretty fun actually, although the computer player isn't the brightest.

Monopoly Express was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed it and now I want Risk Express!