This month's entry for our regular Monopoly Club meet-up was a genuine surprise submission by resident Monopoly King, Pete, who'd brought along a Walking Dead-themed set for us to try out.
Adorned with gorgeous Charlie Adlard art from the Image comics, and using comic book fonts for the cards and board text, this was a magnificent game board that very quickly got the thumbs up from all of us.
Not that any of us were experts on the comics - I'd read the first few volumes and then the final issues of the run when it was announced it was coming to an end - but it didn't really matter, most of the material was analogous to aspects of the TV show (which Pete and I knew better), and we all got the vibe it was aiming for.
Instead of Monopoly dollars/pounds the cash was supply vouchers, instead of houses and hotels you were erecting "walls" and "guard towers" (I do think they missed a trick by not replacing the standard Monopoly houses with actual mini walls and towers) and so on.
Adorned with gorgeous Charlie Adlard art from the Image comics, and using comic book fonts for the cards and board text, this was a magnificent game board that very quickly got the thumbs up from all of us.
Not that any of us were experts on the comics - I'd read the first few volumes and then the final issues of the run when it was announced it was coming to an end - but it didn't really matter, most of the material was analogous to aspects of the TV show (which Pete and I knew better), and we all got the vibe it was aiming for.
Instead of Monopoly dollars/pounds the cash was supply vouchers, instead of houses and hotels you were erecting "walls" and "guard towers" (I do think they missed a trick by not replacing the standard Monopoly houses with actual mini walls and towers) and so on.
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| Supply vouchers in lieu of hard cash |
Pete won the dice-off to choose his counter and selected the bucket of body parts (!); Clare was the telephone; Rachel picked Dale's R.V.; and I went for Rick's lucky hat... not that it did me much good in the end.
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| Counters |
As now seems to be mandatory, everyone else got off to great start while I slowly dragged myself around the board.
The Dice Gods were against me. By the time I eventually got my first property (The Kingdom), in an auction by the way, Pete had lapped me and my three fellow players had already purchased numerous properties, utilities, and methods of transport.
The Dice Gods were against me. By the time I eventually got my first property (The Kingdom), in an auction by the way, Pete had lapped me and my three fellow players had already purchased numerous properties, utilities, and methods of transport.
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| My first property |
Much like everything else associated with this Monopoly set, the property cards were beautifully designed with random "weathering" effects, such as fading and finger prints.
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| Card detailing was top notch in this set |
My poor start meant I missed out on any chance of accumulating a large portfolio and even though I was 'cash rich' for a while, the first time I landed on one of Clare's guard towers I had to fork over most of my money.
Talking of money, somehow we managed to go most of the game without landing on Free Parking, meaning the accrued collection from fines and other random events amounted to almost 2,000 "supply tokens" before Clare finally found her way to Free Parking and picked it all up.
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| The Free Parking loot tray |
Rachel was the first to be bankrupted (having spent surprisingly little time in jail compared to her usual games) and I didn't stay solvent for much longer (despite my cunning 'spoiler' ruse of refusing to sell certain key properties I owned).
It finally came down to a head-to-head battle between Pete and Clare, with Clare eventually having to concede after she landed one too many times on a "guard tower" belonging to her foe.
Another victory for Pete further cements his commanding position at the head of our league table, although I reckon we're all now getting savvier about the rules and tactics of the game.
Clare has equalled me on points, but has a game in hand since the early days of the club, so has slipped into second place, while Rachel still brings up the rear of the main pack.
I had to doublecheck all the points this month and actually used a calculator to tally the scores - rather than relying on my addled brain - and taking the tied match between Pete and I at the end of last year, I think the scores are all correct now.
Clare has equalled me on points, but has a game in hand since the early days of the club, so has slipped into second place, while Rachel still brings up the rear of the main pack.
I had to doublecheck all the points this month and actually used a calculator to tally the scores - rather than relying on my addled brain - and taking the tied match between Pete and I at the end of last year, I think the scores are all correct now.
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| League Table, as of July 31, 2024 |
The theme of the set was well received, although there were issues in spotting the pewter counters on the generally dark squares (as well as the missed opportunity with the houses - see above), but we still ranked it equal to the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror and Star Wars.
