Family Game Night: Hasbro's Empire Monopoly

I married into a family that's BIG on Monopoly. Me? Well, I'm more of a Life girl, but Monopoly has slowly worked its way into my heart. 

My mother-in-law picked up Hasbro's Empire Monopoly for a steal at Wal-Mart, so we had a family game night.

My father-in-law cooked us dinner. Pizza and spaghetti. Yes, we carb-loaded. Because that's what you do when you play Monopoly for 4 hours. Oh, and we ate peanut butter pie and apple pie. Because that's also what you do when you play Monopoly for 4 hours. You eat.

My husband, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and I sat down to play this game. We thought it would be exactly like Monopoly, but it's not. Only up to four people can play at a time. 

At first, we were kind of disappointed. But we pulled out our little game pieces--I was the Angry Bird--and placed them at Go.

I think to fully understand the extent to this game, it's best to play a practice round where everyone helps each other because the premise of the game is to stack billboards onto your "empire" tower. The first to the top wins.

It's also important to read the directions out loud to EVERYONE playing so EVERYONE understands the rules. We may have had to stop and reread a couple of times because directions were not made clear to EVERYONE. That, however, is not the game's fault. It was my husband's. Who only read some of directions out loud to us. Yes, it is safe to assume he won the practice round.

Once we got the hang of the game, we started to buy up billboards. Billboards are just like properties, except you're stacking them on your empire. 

There are still chance cards and new cards called Monopoly cards. They have all kinds of awesome moves I only wish the original Monopoly had. One of my favorites is the "Just Say No" card. Anytime an opponent tries to take a billboard, asks you for cash, etc., you can use the card and the action cannot be done against you.

There was also a "Reverse Rent" card. Your rent for each billboard is the total amount of all your stacked billboards (range $50-$800). If you land on someone's billboard and they ask you for rent, you can use this card to have them pay you the actual amount instead.

There are plenty other cards that are just as fun and make the game equal parts frustrating and awesome.

We really enjoyed this game and played several rounds. I ended up winning twice after a terrible losing streak. Yes, that is my single yellow Utility billboard all by itself while everyone else was stacking their numerous billboards high. 

This is the perfect family game for anyone who loves the Classic, but is looking for a fun, updated version.

How the games are similar:

1. Chance cards.

2. Go, Go To Jail, Free Parking

3. Buy up properties to collect rent (though versions differ on how rent is paid)

4. Utilities remain the same (though they do not collect rent when landed on in Empire)

5. Multi-player

How the games are different:

1. Stack billboards to reach the top of your "empire" vs. Hotels

2. Companies vs. Properties

3. Monopoly cards vs. Community Chest

4. Empire is a shorter board so make sure you COUNT your spaces (some rows are 9 vs. 10)

5. Only 4 players at a time

Visit MY STORE to find Empire Monopoly, Classic Monopoly and the Game of Life right now!