Wii Monopoly: Fun for Family Game Night Just Got Even Easier!

When Santa made his special delivery to our house on Christmas, he left Nintendo's Wii Monopoly for our oldest daughter. This was one of the top items on her Christmas list. She was so thrilled to have received this gift she wanted to play it on Christmas morning.

We had planned a lazy morning until we had to meet the grandparents for a Christmas lunch, so we started a game. Needless to say, we became quickly addicted to the game. It was so easy to play, and so much fun, that we were late for our lunch plans!

We have a family of 5, and only 4 people can play this game, that is probably the only downfall that I can find with this game. If it comes down to it, we can always have 2 people team up so we all can play because it is just too much fun to not play all together!

The graphics are very good, but not phenomenal. Of course, with a game like Monopoly, you don't expect out of this world graphics. The sound quality is good. However, if I had to find another negative it would be that Mr. Monopoly talks an awful lot. You can quiet him by hitting the B button though. There may be a way to set it for him not to talk, but we haven't really poked around to find that at least not yet.

Now when it comes to playing the game it is flat out fun. You can play classic Monopoly or a variety of other themed boards. You can switch up the rules to have higher pay outs at GO, among other rules differences. It is so much easier than pulling out the board game and counting out the money and passing out the property cards. No need to worry with any of that just put the disc into the Wii and you are ready to play!

There are 3 different ways to play. You can play the Classic game, the Richest game, or you can just play mini games. All of the mini games are related to Monopoly in one way or another. They include things like Get Out of Jail, Go to Jail, Elected Chairman of the Board, and Advance to Go just to name a few.

The board choices are such a creative and fun way to play Monopoly in a different way. Of course there is the Classic board which is the original board which takes you from the imaginary streets of Meditterranean Ave all the way to Boardwalk. Then you have other options as well. You can play on the Future Board, the Sweet Board, the Cheese Board, the Jungle Board, the Ice Board, the Deco Board, the Cardboard Board, and the World Board. Each different board has its own set of characters to choose from as your piece to move around the board. Plus they each have a set of fun new imaginary places to buy and call your own Monopoly.

In the classic game mode, you shake up your remote and press A to roll the dice. It is played just like the regular Monopoly board game, yet on a television screen. Games can still take hours, however, they do go quicker since you don't have to worry with physically passing out money or count the money. The game does all of that for you. Mr. Monopoly follows each player around the board and tells you what you have landed on and what your options are at each turn. When it is your turn, the Wii remote vibrates, and alerts you to play your turn with a sound. On many boards this sound is a sound that your Monopoly piece would make. On the Jungle Board, when you choose the frog piece, your Wii remote will ribbit at you. If you choose the dog on the classic board, your remote will bark at you. As with the board game, you play until all but one player goes bankrupt.

In the Richest mode, you can choose from 3 different types of play, Developer, Industrialist, and Tycoon. Each mode has different options. However, in each of these modes you don't play until someone bankrupts all of the other players, you play for a designated amount of rounds, and then whoever is the richest at the end of those rounds is declared the winner. This mode does take some getting used to if you have been playing the regular Monopoly for a while. It is a quicker way to play, and still fun. In the Richest mode, you get to play Mini-games in between each round to determine who gets the first pick of the dice that were rolled by the computer.

In my opinion, Nintendo has hit a home run with Wii Monopoly. My kids want to play it any chance that we get. Not to mention, my husband and I love a nice friendly competition between the two of us! If you have a Wii, and you enjoy board games, don't miss out on getting this game. I promise you will enjoy hours of fun!