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| The Dungeons & Dragons-themed board |
It turns out that another geeky hobby of Pete's (besides roleplaying games) is collecting variant sets of Monopoly, but from the sound of it his family aren't as keen about playing as he is.
And so, yesterday, he and Clare joined Rachel and I for the inaugural meeting of our "Monopoly Club", utilising the new games table.
We then proceeded to play a lengthy game of Dungeons & Dragons Monopoly (the properties are monsters, the stations are classic dungeons etc), sped up with the addition of the official Monopoly die (a bonus six-sider that either adds to your movement score or has other special effects for your turn).
Straight out the gate, Pete stormed ahead collecting a ton of property, while Rachel seemed to have an uncanny ability to end up in jail, and Clare stealthily plotted her eventual victory.
After it became obvious the dice gods were against me as I plodded slowly behind everyone else (including getting lapped), I hatched a cunning plan to become a "kingmaker", and try to hold on to key properties that would prove to be powerful bargaining chips.
Unfortunately, I dithered on an early deal with Clare, missing out on a game-changing property, and before we knew it Clare was controlling huge tracts of land in the most expensive corner of the board.
Pete ended up going out first, followed some time later by Rachel, then me almost immediately afterwards, leaving Clare the worthy winner of our first game.
Great fun was had by all and there was immediate talk of future meet-ups (I'm keen to play Pete's Scooby-Doo Monopoly and Clare mentioned Carcassonne - which I'd conflated, in my head, with Settlers of Catan).
Following my games of Labyrinth with Nick and Alec the other week, it's brilliant to see our new table being used for other games as well as the monthly RPG meetings of the Tuesday Knights.
And so, yesterday, he and Clare joined Rachel and I for the inaugural meeting of our "Monopoly Club", utilising the new games table.
We then proceeded to play a lengthy game of Dungeons & Dragons Monopoly (the properties are monsters, the stations are classic dungeons etc), sped up with the addition of the official Monopoly die (a bonus six-sider that either adds to your movement score or has other special effects for your turn).
Straight out the gate, Pete stormed ahead collecting a ton of property, while Rachel seemed to have an uncanny ability to end up in jail, and Clare stealthily plotted her eventual victory.
After it became obvious the dice gods were against me as I plodded slowly behind everyone else (including getting lapped), I hatched a cunning plan to become a "kingmaker", and try to hold on to key properties that would prove to be powerful bargaining chips.
Unfortunately, I dithered on an early deal with Clare, missing out on a game-changing property, and before we knew it Clare was controlling huge tracts of land in the most expensive corner of the board.
Pete ended up going out first, followed some time later by Rachel, then me almost immediately afterwards, leaving Clare the worthy winner of our first game.
Great fun was had by all and there was immediate talk of future meet-ups (I'm keen to play Pete's Scooby-Doo Monopoly and Clare mentioned Carcassonne - which I'd conflated, in my head, with Settlers of Catan).
Following my games of Labyrinth with Nick and Alec the other week, it's brilliant to see our new table being used for other games as well as the monthly RPG meetings of the Tuesday Knights.
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| Pete begins to suspect that just because it's his game doesn't mean he'll automatically win |
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| My meagre property portfolio early in the game |
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| Clare celebrates her victory with wads of cash and a massive collection of properties |