Product Description

The world has voted, and the numbers are in! A worldwide vote determines the properties in this new twist on an old classic. Move the cool tokens that are iconic to life in the world here and now, and own popular destinations from around the world. Buy and sell at values reflecting currently market pieces, and own them all to win! Game even comes with an electronic banking calculator for faster banking (requires two "LR06" batteries, not included). For two to six players.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4203 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Parker Brothers
• Model: 01612
• Released on: 2008-08-22
• Dimensions: 10.51" h x 15.75" w x 12.00" l, 2.60 pounds

Features

• Get ready to wheel and deal in the millions of dollars with your own monopoly credit card
• Each game includes six randomly selected movers based on items that are iconic to the continents
• Join in the biggest MONOPOLY game yet, where the deal button adds an extra element of excitement so, for a fast and frantic game, deal away
• As you play discover interesting facts about the world on the chance and community cards
• Contents: 1 game board, 1 banker unit, 6 randomly selected movers, 28 Title Deed Cards
• A digital banking device that keeps track of your balance
• Includes 16 Chance cards, 16 Community Chess cards, 6 Monopoly Bank Cards, 32 houses, 12 hotels, 2 dice and instructions

Amazon.com Review
Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition is an exciting, contemporary update to the classic board game. Featuring the same mix of strategy and chance that has made the original Monopoly an international bestseller, this version features cities from around the world, renewable energy utilities, and electronic banking. It's a sure bet to keep two to six players ages eight and above busy for hours.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Fun family game combines chance, strategy, and financial savvy The Bad: Electronic banking prevents cheating In a Nutshell: A contemporary twist on the best-selling board game At a Glance Ages: 8 and older Requires: 2 AA batteries; 2-6 players

Updated pieces and properties give this special edition a truly global feel. View larger.

Electronic banking eliminates bill counting. View Larger.

Get Ready for a Global Financial Game
Getting ready to play is as easy as familiarizing yourself with the rules and inserting two AA batteries (not included) into the banker unit. Even though the electronic unit does all the hard work, you'll still need to assign one player to be the banker. This person will be in charge of handling the banker unit, the title deed cards, houses, hotels, and deals throughout the game. Each player will need to pick a mover piece and a monopoly credit card before the game begins.

The rules of play are simple. On each turn, a player rolls the dice and moves that number of squares. When you land on an open property, you have the option to buy it. If another player owns the property, you'll have to pay them rent. Special spaces allow you to draw a community chest or chance card, require you to pay taxes, or send you jail. Once you own all the properties in a color group, you can build houses and hotels on them, increasing their value. Options like mortgaging property or trading it to your creditors keep the game interesting if you start running out of cash.

Traditionally, the game continues until only one player remains. However, the instructions also offer options for speeding the game along. You may appreciate playing for a set amount of time, since the world record for the longest Monopoly is 70 days!

Unique Pieces Bring the World of Monopoly up to Speed
Here and Now: The World Edition of Monopoly features cities from around across the globe, including New York, London, Shanghai, and Istanbul. Before the game was produced, millions of people from all over the world voted on which cities should be included. Each property space is completed with a colorful photograph, which makes the board itself a unique centerpiece and conversation starter. Traditional utilities and railroads have been replaced with modern transportation options and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.

Six movers are chosen at random from the 24 available pieces for inclusion in each game. You might find a windmill, a soccer ball, or a kangaroo in your set. Similarly, the houses and hotels have been updated to reflect international structures. Another nice touch is the community chest and chance cards featuring quick "Did you know?" facts. These let you learn tidbits about Rio Carnival, Munich's traditional Christmas market, the earliest British "passport," and more while you play.

Electronic Banking Comes to the Monopoly World
Perhaps the biggest addition to this version is electronic money management. The banker unit offers two slots--one for paying money and one for receiving money. You'll have to keep tabs on the millions (M) and thousands (K) when entering numbers, and make sure each card is inserted correctly, but overall, the unit makes handling transactions easy. It also makes taking a break from a game and coming back to it later simple by saving player information until you clear it.

Another exciting feature of the electronic unit is the way it monitors deals. If a player lands on an unowned property and doesn't want to buy it for the asking price, then the banker must auction that property to the highest bidder. The deal button on the banker unit randomly times each auction, so players don't know if they have 13 or 50 seconds to try and outsmart other bidders.

All these features ensure that this edition will be a big a hit with new and veteran Monopoly players alike, making it a great pick for game night.

What's in the Box
Game board, banker unit, 6 randomly selected movers, 28 Title Deed Cards, 16 Chance cards, 16 Community Chess cards, 6 Monopoly Bank Cards, 32 houses, 12 hotels, 2 dice, and an instruction booklet.

From the Manufacturer
The world's number one game has gone global. This world-class MONOPOLY game board has you traveling to cities across the globe you'll cross six continents before you pass GO. Get ready to wheel and deal in the millions of dollars with your own MONOPOLY credit card and a digital banking device that keeps track of your balance. Each game includes 6 randomly selected movers based on items that are iconic to the continents. Perhaps you'll travel as a Thai Tuk-Tuk, an African Safari hat or a North American baseball glove-find out which movers your game includes. Once you've gained international attention as a real estate tycoon, why not build a skyscraper on your North American property, or a pyramid on your land in Africa? The world has voted, so find out which cities made the board--and join in the biggest monopoly game yet. The deal button adds an extra element of excitement so, for a fast and frantic game, deal away. As you play discover interesting facts about the world on the Chance and Community cards...do you know which country has the most bicycles or what the most expensive work of art ever created is? Also check out the international inspiration behind the movers, houses and hotels. Six unique movers are inside-randomly selected from a set of 24 unique movers.

Customer Reviews

Electronic Monopoly With a Twist
I will be upfront that Monopoly is not my favorite game, but I have several siblings & friends who love it... hence the purchase. The reason chose the world edition was because it had both electronic banking and the new twist (we have the original Monopoly.)

I love board games with the electronic banking, and this one was no exception. As a note though, the regular monopoly with electronic banking uses a different bank machine which is, for whatever reason, much quicker than the one included in this game. With that in mind if you are looking for electronic banking go with the other one. The electronic banking requires 2AA batteries (as do most standard board games, I use rechargeable).

This game is 2-6 players, ages 8+, and is played like regular monopoly. (The idea is to purchase places, try and get all (2-3) of the same color so you can add houses and hotels, create a "monopoly" and cause the others to go bankrupt, therefore becoming the winner.

One neat aspect of the game is that you don't know which 6 pieces your game will come with. The options are: (North America) Canadian Mountie, Cowboy Hat, Baseball Glove, Nascar, (South America) Inca Mask, Inca Statue, Easter Island Moai, Football, (Europe) London Cab, Pretzel, Matador, Windmill, (Africa) Safari Hat, Egyptian Head Mask, African Mask, Camel, (Asia) Chinese Dragon, Tuk-Tuk, Russian Dolls, Sumo Wrestler, (Australia) Kangaroo, Koala, Surfer, and Boomerangs.

You also get a mix of houses and hotels from each location which are really interesting. The locations, starting from "GO" are: (Brown) Gdynia, Taipei, (Light Blue) Tokyo, Barcelona, Athens, (Pink) Istanbul, Kyiv, Toronto, (Orange) Rome, Shanghai, Vancouver, (Red) Sydney, New York, London, (Yellow) Beijing, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, (Green) Paris, Belgrade, Cape Town, (Dark Blue) Riga, and Montreal.

The four what would be "railroads" in the original game are "Monopoly Rail", "Monopoly Air", "Monopoly Cruise", and "Monopoly Space."

The two that are normally the water company & electricity are "Solar Energy" and "Wind Energy."

Game Play:

The board comes with standard dice and cards (the electronic system is just for banking). The instructions recommend that if you have several people playing making one person's job the banker (and that's it). You will need it with this banking system. It has a noticeable lag in transactions and once the game gets going where every turn has bank transactions occurring it will take one full person to do this job.

Pros:
*Banking system is easier to keep up with and add up (in the end) than the paper money. Also you don't run into the problem of running out of paper money
*The 6 pieces from the 20-30 available are interesting
*The "world" theme adds an interesting twist. My little sister said on the first game "Woo! I got Boardwalk, uhh I mean Montreal" :)
*The houses from each different country are very creative

Cons:
*The bank system has a noticeable lag (especially compared to the original electronic monopoly) this can be frustrating, particularly if no one in your group wants to just do the bankers job

Overall we enjoy this game and are not disappointed with it. We especially love the creative touch the "World" aspect adds to it.

show me the money
Cool images but had problems with money device; it would zero out sometimes and no on wrote their dollar amounts down so it was kinda annoying. Wish they would offer this board but with paper money. I could use the old Monopoly money I have, but translating bills from the new "million" system is not worth it when playing with kids.

A world of difference from the original? Not really
Monopoly Here and Now World Edition has fun components. Tokens are six from 20 created to commemorate each city on the board; houses and hotels are fun little sculptures based on real buildings and abodes.

The infamous Internet vote for which cities to include means world-class places like Venice, Vienna, Moscow, Munich, San Francisco, Dubai and Buenos Aires missed out, while the positioning of others on the board is very much open to debate, but that's part of the fun.

Greasy piles of banknotes being replaced by a credit card may or may not be an improvement, depending on your world view. But it's certainly novel, if you have a head for numbers, because there's no way to check your balance without inserting the card in the bank machine -- which you will soon grow tired of doing, especially if you're the nominated banker.

Monopoly is always going to be Monopoly. I don't care for the over-colourful and crowded board design, but this is still the world's best property trading game at the end of the day.