The High-Tech Bling Of Rich Uncle Pennybags: God Ble$$ Capitali$m

Ahhh... the good old days. While the ribald Thanksgiving laughter and chatter of our extended family out-performed the turkey-induced snore of Aunt Helen's sofa snooze, brothers Tony, John, Ed and I would play Monopoly. Being cooped-up in our modest (but tastefully appointed) three-bedroom home with the perpetually howling New England winter at bay contributed to this labor-intensive and time-consuming tradition found in the world’s most popular board game.

Being the baby of the Fisher brood, my job as punching-bag served the family well; as any attempt on my part to purchase Park Place or Boardwalk was met with such capitalist strong-arm tactics as a wedgie or an open-hand to the back of the head. I eventually came to appreciate the opportunistic value of flea-bag hotels and the skid-row charm of the littered sidewalks and shadowy back alleys of Baltic Avenue.

Boy-O-Boy! - It’s a Hasbro Toy!

Although many regional versions of the game have been introduced through the years (with Atlantic City among the first and most famous), this review concentrates on the original gone digital. Since the late 19th century founding of Parker Brothers games by the Parker family of Salem, Massachusetts, the company has been owned by a series of corporations, including: General Mills; toy giant Kenner (eventually acquired by Tonka) and its current corporate incarnation as Hasbro Interactive of Beverly, Massachusetts (source: wikipedia.com).

Installation

Depending on the self-motivational abilities of your computer, the Hasbro Interactive Monopoly CD-ROM will either load itself (as it did with my Dell XPS 200 with Windows XP Media Edition) or can be loaded by means of your Run/Setup feature. The enclosed 23 page booklet offers comprehensive instruction, including a Quick Start guide for execution of the simplified installation procedure. Once successfully loaded with the CD remaining in the drive, operation can commence with the creation of a desktop shortcut icon, or - as in my situation - the “Uncle Pennybags” trademark icon was automatically added to my personalized “Start” menu.

Overview

Following the company credits and a short animated introduction, a well-designed series of steps appear where pre-game set up is quick and easy. A small window offers three options: the Person on Computer button allows the participant to type in a name and choose a representative token. Computer AI gives a list of 10 artificially intelligent (software generated) players from which to choose - including rather bizarre names such as Guybrush and Ruprecht. One of the traditional tokens (iron, dog, hat, cannon, etc.) is then appointed (by a human) to the selected AI player. This step can be repeated for a maximum of 6 players. All monetary transactions that occur throughout the game are handled automatically by the software. Once set-up is complete, a click on the Go button begins play.

Dat da da dat da dahhhhhh.... Charge!

The game board is situated in an expandable window with all player information vertically stacked along the left side. Color-coded deeds indicate which properties are owned by which player. The ownership status of all railroads and utilities is also indicated, as well as either of the Get out of Jail Free cards in a player’s possession.

Six inspirational trumpet notes signify that the first token (initial player turn selected by the software) is on its way. After the starting roll, players simply click on the dice when their name is highlighted; a feature that serves as their turn indicator. The player’s token not only circles the board, but the center of the board becomes a screen where all token activity is shown from a following-camera perspective. For each of the 40 spaces represented, the center screen also shows a 5 second video that identifies it as either a property to be purchased or one of the “community” squares such as Go or Free Parking.

When a token lands on a property for sale, the video sets the tone depending on the status of that particular property. Both Mediterranean and Baltic Avenue reflect their lowly status by way of a smoldering garbage dump with a for sale sign. Once a property is sold, the video depicts the property as gated. If a property is mortgaged, it is shown as padlocked. These videos are smooth-running, quality mini-morsels that can be quite humorous the first couple of spins around the board. The cheaper real estate is represented by either utter desolation or swamp land. The better properties toward the second half of the board are shown as well-manicured and desirable to reflect their higher value.

When a token lands on an unsold property, the deed appears in the center of the board with three button options. The player can buy the property outright if sufficient funds exist. The player can choose to auction the property in a separate window where alternating bidding takes place, or the player can choose to raise money by mortgaging previously purchased real estate.

The four railroads share an identical establishing video. In the first of these, the train sits idle amidst swirling smoke and steam accompanied by a ringing bell. Once purchased, the train’s whistle blows as it moves from the station when a token lands on its respective square. When a railroad is mortgaged, both the station and train are shown idle and in a significant state of disrepair.

Common Spaces and Familiar Places

In the Just Visiting jail mini-video, Uncle Pennybags is perched on the top bunk of a cell where he blows three smoke rings from his fat cigar. When you land on Go To Jail the square become spring-loaded and catapults your token cross-corners to be caught by the waiting Jail square. When simply passing over the Go To Jail square, tokens either tip-toe across, or, in the case of the wheelbarrow, a load of fruit spills-out and rolls away. The derby token overturns, releasing a trio of bunnies that hop helter-skelter out of the scene.

Options and Drop-Down Menus

Three game maintenance drop-down menus are situated in the top left-hand corner of the game board window.

Help gives access to FAQ related documentation.

Action gives the player a second menu with which to perform functions such as to mortgage and un-mortgage properties and propose trades by dragging-and-clicking property deeds, Get out of Jail Free cards and cash sums into the appropriate trader’s column.

Options lists an array of choices to customize your gaming experience. By checking boxes you can issue double payment when a token lands on Go, customize Free Parking fines and even allow cheating by the players. Somewhat excessive animation options also abound for Chance and Community Chest videos, where Pennybags himself lifts the corresponding card off the deck and shows it to the player.

International Options allows play to occur in 6 additional languages including Belgian and Dutch. When the game is won by a player, all property icons purchased collect in his or her mini-profile, while old Pennybags takes a bow accompanied by a congratulatory background of fireworks.

A choice of 18 generic background music tracks and 34 video game board background scenes (skyline, sunset, outer-space, etc.) round-out the excess baggage included on the CD. Fortunately, the music feature includes a disable option. I am a minimalist when it comes to unnecessary distractions, but others may welcome such features. Games can also be saved to file at any time, regardless of their completion status.

The option also exists to enjoy your Monopoly CD-ROM experience with friends around the world via the Internet. Although I’ve never put this feature to use, the CD apparently creates a URL that can be e-mailed to participants who then use this address to access the game on the host’s computer.

Requirements and Specifications

The Hasbro Interactive Monopoly CD-ROM requires a minimum of Windows 95, 486 MHz with 8 MB of RAM. A 2X or greater CD drive is also required. Also on-tap as a minimum are a 10 MB free hard disk, MSCDEX 2.2 or higher, a Sound Blaster™ card and a 640 x 480 256 color display. Internet play requires PPP/SLIP connection (specs sourced from packaging). Most current entry-level computers greatly exceed these antiquated requirements.

This CD did not operate properly on my former computer equipped with Windows 2000. While the installation was successful, a click on the desktop icon produced a distorted, non-working screen. I purchased the disappointing Atari-released (2001) version of the game, which worked fine from an operational standpoint but contains so many annoying voice-over prompts and animation features I would recommend it only for kids through the mid-teens.

The Hasbro Interactive Monopoly CD-ROM version discussed here is the most clean and efficient of the group - a game so perfect in its simplicity that I will never tire of playing it. Just so long as I can do my best to buy or trade for all the railroads and utilities by game’s end. Those Iron Horses of old are the real cash-cow-catchers.

Monopoly CD-ROM (1997)
Hasbro Interactive
50 Dunham Road
Beverly, MA 01915
Product # 99770
hasbro-interactive.com