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Great_Mazinga — 2008-10-09T19:36:42+00:00

Rear box of New Hannah Montana version.

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Great_Mazinga — 2008-09-24T18:48:13+00:00

Hannah Montana version components...note: apparent glare is on the box art.

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Great_Mazinga — 2008-09-23T21:39:39+00:00

Rethemed with the characters from Hannah Montana.

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Lampbane — 2008-07-13T22:25:58+00:00

Closeup of fake credit cards included with original edition

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Dutch Boy — 2008-04-30T01:30:00+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness (2004) - Rulebook cover

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Dutch Boy — 2008-04-30T01:26:11+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness (2004) - The Ladies

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Dutch Boy — 2008-04-30T01:24:43+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness (2004) - The Gents

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Dutch Boy — 2008-04-30T01:21:59+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness (2004) - The Cash

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Dutch Boy — 2008-04-30T01:16:00+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness (2004) - Store Front module

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Dutch Boy — 2008-04-30T01:14:24+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness (2004) - Shopping List samples

Thread: Shop quick. Shop Smart... But Don't Shop Here

Wyll — 2008-01-15T20:38:45+00:00

Christmas is coming so it means that work is a lot busier for me as well as my household. The shopping fever is hit and we are frantically trying to finish of shopping before the second week of December.

All this running around reminded me of a game from my youth. Some of you may have heard about it: Electronic Mall Madness. It was my sisters’ game, but I’d play it all the same because it was one of the few games they would play.

I often wonder if that is where I get my “window shopping” madness from. I could wander for house in a store, just looking at things. My wife is much more direct: get in, get what you need and get out.

Needless to say, we usually shop separately. Anyway, on to the review.

Initial Thoughts

This game reminds me of quite a few games with electronic components: Dark Tower and Stop Thief. However, I don’t have as good as memories of Electronic Mall Madness as I do of the others games I mentioned.

Maybe because at the very core of Electronic Mall Madness, all you have is a move and roll game with some cash management thrown in. If you could go on a destructive rampage in one of the stores, maybe I would have liked it better.

Object Of The Game

Be the first player to buy the 6 items on your shopping list and get back to the parking lot.

Components

Inside the rather large box you get a gameboard, four colored pawns, 4 shopping list cards, 4 credit cards, play money, 3 sign stands and a label sheet.

Nothing to mention about the art except that it serves its purpose. A few brightly colored stores might have been cool to mimic the real life attempts of vendors to lure you in. Even some parodies of commonly known stores would have been a good idea.

Gameplay

All players pick a color and place their starting pawn in the matching mall entrance. You must also take a shopping list matching the color of your pawn, a credit card and a set sum of money from the baker.

Once are all set to go, turn on the magic box in the middle of the board. When it says “Hi COLOR ”, you press the Move button. Once all the players are entered, the magic box will tell you where to place the 3 signs (two sales, one clearance). Their location will change every few minutes. The magic box will also tell you whose turn it is.

On a players turn, they press the MOVE button and move their pawn as directed by the magic box. The also push the MOVE button the end their turn.

If a player manages to move into a store, they can buy an item on their list by putting their credit card in the magic box. The magic box will tell you if you are successful or not.

If a player runs short on money, they will have to go to the bank. There is a slot on the magic box to determine how much money you get from the bank.

When a player has finished their turn, they push the MOVE button. The magic box will announce whose turn it is next.

When one layer has collected all is items on their shopping list and reached the parking lot, they are the winner.

Strategy v.s. Luck Factor

The electronic doo-dad in the middle makes this a heavy game of luck. Even if you can reach a store that you need to buy something from, there is no guarantee that it will be there. Worse yet, you may wind up paying more than another player.

My friend recommend that you follow another player around and hope the machine would give you better deals than your opponent, but the randomness factor seem to cancel out this strategy pretty quick.

One tip that comes from my sister helps when you need to hit the bank repeatedly. Since you need to buy an item before you can revisit the bank after a successful visit, my sister would hit the pizza shop, drop $5 and then head back the bank. Clever girl.

Shop quick. Shop smart. Shop S-mart.

Closing Thoughts

I’m going to give this one a high fun factor because I had a lot of good laughs from it, but I don’t think I will give it a recommendation to be picked up.

While it does have its fun moments, the electronic voice can get annoying after a few plays and the theme doesn’t seem to appeal to a lot of people. Even as far as luck games goes, many of my friends would rather play something else. I think young teenager girls would give this a lot playtime and have a lot of fun with this.

If you get a chance to play someone else’s copy, give it a whirl, but I wouldn’t recommend picking it up to own.

Recommendation Summary

Wyll's Recommendation:

Fun Factor (5 Point Scale):

One Line Summary: A roll and move game with some cash management and a cool electronic centerpiece that can be played by ages 8 and up.

Thread: Quick Comments

sOCKsgirl — 2005-11-25T20:50:50+00:00

I have had this game for years and I really enjoy it. I just played it with my neices who are aged 11 and 10 and they had a blast playing it. The only downfall I have to say is that the game takes a little longer to set up than most other games but once you get going you won't want to put it away!

-Shannon

Thread: User Review

quozl — 2004-11-28T14:42:18+00:00

Electronic Mall Madness is a very simple game of money mangement. Each player gets the same amount of money and a "shopping list" from which they have to buy a certain number of items. The electronic gadget tells each player when it is their turn, how many spaces they can move, and, most importantly, what stores are having a sale. The decisions to make are simple (and appropriate for a children's game) such as "Do I travel across the mall to get the clearance sale or grab this cheap item close by which isn't on sale?" My 3.5 year-old daughter likes this game and I think it's pretty good too.

Game: Electronic Mall Madness

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Thread: Shop quick. Shop Smart... But Don't Shop Here

Thread: Quick Comments

Thread: User Review