Hasbro sent us a massive package of holiday gifts, and inside we found the Monopoly Super Electronic Banking and Monopoly Travel World Tour. Here, we talk about the former. We took the games to almost all our friends and family, and they all loved the innovation Hasbro has put in to evolve Monopoly.
Monopoly Super Electronic Banking is available at your favourite e-commerce retailers and toy stores. For an attractive price, you get a deck of property cards, chance cards, avatar tokens, avatar banking cards and the best of all – The Banking Unit.
Making the original form of Monopoly faster, better, and a thousand times more convenient has to be the best variant of Monopoly any player should go for.
Here’s our review of Hasbro’s Monopoly Super Electronic Banking.
The 21st Century Model of Monopoly
Monopoly Super Electronic Banking brings many innovative ideas to the game board. From unique avatar tokens having their own perks to the complete retirement for the role of a banker.
This might sound slightly like AI and computers are taking over our jobs, but we are discussing something else!
The most important attraction of this board game is the – Banking Unit. The Banking Unit independently manages cash and perks, organizes auctions, sells and purchases properties, and much more. So the need to have one dedicated banker working money is completely gone.
Having your identity is super important. The tokens you select before starting a game will have their own perks, defining how you play the game. There are four different tokens, and their roles are as follows:
- World Traveller: The yellow Car token has a passive perk of acquiring 50 Monopoly Money as a bonus every time you roll a 6.
- Frequent Flyer: The blue aeroplane token allows you to fly for free every time you land on the Flight Space.
- Super Saver: The grey locker token will grant you 50 Monopoly Money every time you enter the Chance Space.
- Big Spender: The red dog token will grant you an additional 50 Monopoly Money whenever you purchase a new colour set property.
You’ll be able to find familiar spaces like Free Parking, Go to Jail, Go and Collect, and Flight.
Some new spaces include Chance and Forced Trade. When you land on Forced Trade, you may immediately trade your property with an opponent not already a part of a coloured set. Landing on the Chance Space will force you to pick a card randomly and do whatever it says. This might be paying some fines or collecting funds from your opponents for free. May luck be with you.
The Rapid Action Game
The game’s primary objective is to collect the most amount of wealth. Once every property is sold, the round comes to an end. Rent is paid for each property the players own; after that, the one with the maximum amount of bank wins the game.
But to experience the real thrill, we invited our original veteran Board-Game testers from Monopoly BID! – Aarav, Namrita and Anindita.
The game was set, and we didn’t need a rule book to tell us what to do. We quickly tapped our respective cards into the banking unit and started off with different strategies but the same starting capital. Rolling the dice, Namrita went straight to the chance mark and had to pay the bank a 200 MM (Monopoly Money) fine. Aarav went next and proceeded to bag ‘The Angel Islington’. Anindita successfully bought Whitechapel Road, and I landed at Flight Space.
Since I was using the Aeroplane token, the perk waived my flight charges, and Aarav was awarded 50MM for purchasing a new colour property.
Soon, the game picked up the pace. Everybody was buying properties or waiting for opportunities. On the other hand, I landed in jail back to back for two rounds, missing my Go and collecting money twice.
Soon everyone was focused on collecting as many properties as possible, waging in Auctions, throwing each other completely off their game with forced trades and often disrupted by the chance card.Properties were sold for a mere 50MM and sometimes highly overpriced than their original pricing.
But as the game neared its end, we all crossed our fingers because almost everyone had the same amount of properties. It was only a game of avoiding fatal consequences and dodging the need to pay rent and drain the bank. Anindita, on the other hand, had rolled at least five 6’s on the dice, winning 50MM each time for free.
Finally, it was time; the final property sold out, and the banking unit started flashing celebratory icons. However, to everyone’s shock, Aarav won the game. Even if he was the 3rd in being the wealthiest before the game ended, he had two coloured sets, which increased the rent prices on each property and made him earn far more than others.
Verdict
Monopoly Super Electronic Banking is one of Hasbro’s most fun and innovative experiences. The Banking Unit is a unique, convenient and fun way to transact each turn with only a few taps of cards. This gives the game a much better pace and flow, allowing many sets of games to be played in one sitting.
Having its own sets of twists powered by the chance cards, the passive perks of tokens also play a significant role. Overall, Monopoly Super Electronic Banking is our favourite tabletop game among all other alternatives.
Final Rating: Essential
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