01.jpgMonopoly is one of those games that will never die, and I’m not certain whether it is improved by these “Special Editions”. Practically every franchise from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings has a version of it, whether it makes sense or not.
I have seen my share of electronic and video game editions of the classic game, and this particular “update” requires both the board and this electric tower. The tower accomplishes many of the necessary operations to playing monopoly, as it calculates rent, announces player turns, and keeps track of how much money every player has.
It even rolls some non-existent dice! That’s right, no dice is required. Apparently, the board gets scanned with infrared light and a camera detects the game pieces. The user initiates a roll by covering his or her game piece. I’m not certain if there is too much technology for this game.
Of course, you realize the danger of putting all of the game’s information on one electronic database. If the battery should go out, or if it gets unplugged, then how do the players truly know how much one has? Then again, I will have to admit that in the real world, much of my payments are tracked online. I always wondered what would happen if some pulse blast or catastrophe eradicated all financial records.
Okay, there’s no reason to contemplate this end-of-the-world scenario when I’m just reporting about Hasbro’s update for Monopoly. This new version of Monopoly Live costs $50.
