Roll the dice, get rich and own it all in this casual mobile game with a fun twist on the classic board game. Let everyone’s favorite zillionaire Mr. Monopoly be your guide as you explore new boards themed after world-famous cities and imaginative locales.
Despite bearing some of the worst hallmarks of overly monetized free-to-play casual games, Monopoly Go is still an enjoyable way to kill a few minutes with friends or family.
Safety
A classic game gets a new look and feel with Monopoly GO. This casual mobile game reworks the board game into a free-to-play experience. The game features recognizably familiar spaces on the board—including worthless Just Visiting and jail spaces, income tax, and annoying staples like chance spaces—plus it allows players to purchase property and build houses and hotels on them.
The gameplay also changes up a bit with two minigames: Railroads and Bank Heist. The former, a simple matching game that presents players with a grid of vault doors, rewards them with Money for each match—rings give the most and coins the least.
The Bank Heist is a more active way for players to profit from their friends’ misfortune. This requires players to land on train stations, which then triggers one of the two attack options: Shutdown or Bank Heist. Both of these attacks require Shields, which can be collected in the game or purchased with Money.
Ages 5+
A mobile version of Hasbro’s classic board game, Monopoly GO is a simple and light-hearted experience that is fun for players of all ages. Players can roll the dice to travel around the familiar board, earning property tiles and money as they pass by them. They can also collect story-filled stickers and trade them with their friends.
The app also offers many ways to earn in-game cash, including chance cards, paying taxes, and increasing your Net Worth. There’s even a tournament mode where you can compete against other players.
To play Monopoly GO, kids need to be able to read the property cards and the game’s rules. They also need to be able to perform basic math in order to make and spend money. Typically, a 12 year old is the age when they have developed enough reading and math skills to play Monopoly GO safely. However, the game is a little bit too light for older teens.
Ratings
Monopoly Go has the look and feel of the classic board game with a colorful mobile app that offers fast-paced gameplay. It features Money and Stickers that players collect to upgrade monuments in cities across the globe. Players can also play a minigame called Bank Heist, a guessing game where they open vault doors to see if there’s a stack of cash, ring or coin behind them.
The game has all of the visual style of the iconic board game and even some of the rules, like gaining wealth through property acquisition, charging rent, drawing Chance Cards, paying taxes, or going to jail. But with shallow gameplay, pushy monetization tactics, and a barrage of ads for in-game IAPs, the game isn’t worth playing.
It’s free to download and play, but there are some in-app purchases available. It also collects data and personal information to track player progress. This info is shared with third parties. It’s unclear if this info is used for personalised advertising.
Reviews
While it may not be as tactile as tying up the dining room table for a board game battle, Monopoly Go is a fun way to pass the time. It offers a mobile version of Hasbro’s classic with some interesting twists, including the ability to buy and sell property and expand your business empire. Players roll dice to advance their token across the virtual board, collecting money and avoiding debts, jail, or annoying staples like income tax spaces.
However, this game isn’t without its drawbacks. While its lighthearted nature and colorful graphics keep it entertaining, it’s also riddled with dark patterns of shallowness and pushy monetization that are hallmarks of free-to-play games.
Players can earn in-game money through various means, including winning tournaments and completing special events such as Cash Grab (where Monopoly money is dropped from the sky) and Free Parking House Rules Events (where you get to skip your turn). But if you’re not prepared to spend real money on the game, Monopoly GO isn’t for you.
