A Game of Thrones Monopoly unbox and review.
As you may know I am a huge A Game of Thrones fan, so when I saw the mother in law had picked up this for my dearly beloved one I was pretty excited. Mainly as I knew this was a game she would actually play.
The box is nice, very subtle, very simple on the front, showing the major houses, with of course the familiar Monopoly logo.
The back gives you a great picture of the Iron Throne from the TV show, and a contents list.
Lets take a look and see what comes in this game and is it any good?........
You get everything you would expect in a normal copy of Monopoly, just in Game of Thrones form. The rules play exactly the same as normal Monopoly, so if you can play that then you can play this, it also makes this nice and accessible for anyone as most people know how to play Monopoly already.
I have no problems with the rules, I learnt them growing up as most people did, so I wont go into the rules here, but its a family favourite so good for all.
The Board follows the same layout as traditional monopoly, with locations grouped by colours. The locations all have photos from the TV show on them, which I like, and the map of Westeros in the middle is also nice. Houses replace the utilities in normal monopoly, which is getting shaky in theme, unless of course you are buying their loyalty. Roles in the small council replace the travel locations, again I can kind of see it, buying members of the small council, so yes theme wise it works..... until that is you look at the rest of the board. It has the same in jail and just visiting as normal monopoly, this just ruins the look of the board, they could have themed it with very little effort by replacing it with dungeons perhaps or taking the black for the nights watch where you then buy your freedom like you could buy your way out of jail.? or something just in fitting with the theme and design. The same with Free parking.... parking? in Westeros...... Dragons yes, cars no.... awful..... they could have put images of the Greyjoy raiding ships, or anything else there. Same with the go to Jail square, same art as normal, it could have some great "Get to the wall" photos, or art in it, so these really detract from the theme, the same as the go square, but I guess that does serve a purpose. The others though..... really ruin the look of it.
Instead of the normal houses and hotels, they have changed the components to fit the theme more, with villages and keeps replacing the models and terms, but function the same as traditional monopoly, no issues with that, it makes more sense.
Instead of community chest and chance cards you have Valar Morghulis cards (quite a worrying name for a deck to draw from if you know the show) which replaces it trying to be in theme by the wording on the cards, so at least they get points for trying with that instead of the exact same text as the original game. The other deck is the Iron throne, similar to the above, but I had to show the card that gains you 50 gold as it just says Hodor, and that made me laugh when I saw it. on a whole though both decks feel cheap, and poor quality, flimsy and likely to tear or rip in minutes.
The money has the symbols of the great houses of them, which is a nice touch I like, but it does feel cheap and they are single sided. I haven't had a copy of monopoly of my own since the 80s, but the money just feels... cheap.
The property cards are familiar to any players of Monopoly, and work in the same way, showing you the different rents you can gain for the different properties on there. Disappointingly these cards feel again cheap and nasty and flimsy, and I am not sure how they will stand up to regular play. Its like all the cards in the game, they look poor quality, and do not feel like they should belong in the game.
Lastly we have the metal playing pieces, they come in a little monopoly draw strong bag which is nice, and they are weighty. They are ok sculpts for a board game, not up to miniatures of course, but ok for the job, my favourite being the 3 eyed raven. I know they are only markers, but they again are a random cobbling of theme together, White Walkers with Dragons eggs moving around the board..... and the Dragons egg is a boring piece, worse then the Iron!
Overall, I am very disappointed to be honest, the cards and money feel cheap and nasty, the board is ruined by non theme graphics, and the pieces are average. If you do not own a copy of monopoly and are a Game of Thrones fanatic then it may.... may... be worth it, and only then if you can put up with the poor quality components, you can probably design and print better quality cards yourself.
The box is nice, very subtle, very simple on the front, showing the major houses, with of course the familiar Monopoly logo.
Lets take a look and see what comes in this game and is it any good?........
You get everything you would expect in a normal copy of Monopoly, just in Game of Thrones form. The rules play exactly the same as normal Monopoly, so if you can play that then you can play this, it also makes this nice and accessible for anyone as most people know how to play Monopoly already.
I have no problems with the rules, I learnt them growing up as most people did, so I wont go into the rules here, but its a family favourite so good for all.
The Board follows the same layout as traditional monopoly, with locations grouped by colours. The locations all have photos from the TV show on them, which I like, and the map of Westeros in the middle is also nice. Houses replace the utilities in normal monopoly, which is getting shaky in theme, unless of course you are buying their loyalty. Roles in the small council replace the travel locations, again I can kind of see it, buying members of the small council, so yes theme wise it works..... until that is you look at the rest of the board. It has the same in jail and just visiting as normal monopoly, this just ruins the look of the board, they could have themed it with very little effort by replacing it with dungeons perhaps or taking the black for the nights watch where you then buy your freedom like you could buy your way out of jail.? or something just in fitting with the theme and design. The same with Free parking.... parking? in Westeros...... Dragons yes, cars no.... awful..... they could have put images of the Greyjoy raiding ships, or anything else there. Same with the go to Jail square, same art as normal, it could have some great "Get to the wall" photos, or art in it, so these really detract from the theme, the same as the go square, but I guess that does serve a purpose. The others though..... really ruin the look of it.
Instead of community chest and chance cards you have Valar Morghulis cards (quite a worrying name for a deck to draw from if you know the show) which replaces it trying to be in theme by the wording on the cards, so at least they get points for trying with that instead of the exact same text as the original game. The other deck is the Iron throne, similar to the above, but I had to show the card that gains you 50 gold as it just says Hodor, and that made me laugh when I saw it. on a whole though both decks feel cheap, and poor quality, flimsy and likely to tear or rip in minutes.
The money has the symbols of the great houses of them, which is a nice touch I like, but it does feel cheap and they are single sided. I haven't had a copy of monopoly of my own since the 80s, but the money just feels... cheap.
The property cards are familiar to any players of Monopoly, and work in the same way, showing you the different rents you can gain for the different properties on there. Disappointingly these cards feel again cheap and nasty and flimsy, and I am not sure how they will stand up to regular play. Its like all the cards in the game, they look poor quality, and do not feel like they should belong in the game.
Overall, I am very disappointed to be honest, the cards and money feel cheap and nasty, the board is ruined by non theme graphics, and the pieces are average. If you do not own a copy of monopoly and are a Game of Thrones fanatic then it may.... may... be worth it, and only then if you can put up with the poor quality components, you can probably design and print better quality cards yourself.
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