Let me start out by admitting that my family is slow to jump on any new technology bandwagon.  This is due to several things, one, we’re just naturally slow at everything, and two, any new gadget or game is usually not in our budget.

That said, when my kids pooled their money and wanted to buy a Wii, I let them.  They’ve played with and loved so many Nintendo products over the years, I don’t question the value at all.  And we all are in love with our Wii.

We don’t have many games for it, so when Blogher offered me the chance to do a paid review of the Wii Monopoly game for Electronic Arts and Hasbro, I jumped on it.  I could say that I wanted to do it for my kids, but honestly, I loved Monopoly as a child.  We’re talking favorite game ever, played for hours.  Now that my kids are older, and are more interested in their electronic games, it’s hard to get them to sit at the table for a board game.  Honestly, it’s hard to get them to sit at the table for dinner, much less family time.  And I am all over anything that gives us family time.

The Monopoly for Wii is very user friendly, even for a technophobe like me.  I was glad to see that it is very true to the board game.  If you’re at all familiar with the board game then you can jump right into the Wii game.  Up to four players compete to accumulate the most money by buying, renting or trading properties.  Just like the board game, the goal is to purchase real estate and rake in the cash as your opponents land on your property.  One new addition is that when you land on a property you can choose to auction it off.   Park Place,  Board Walk, even going directly to jail are all the same.  Everything I loved about the board game is in the Wii version.  You can also tweak the House Rules, if  you want to customize  your game.

My youngest son is a die hard gamer, but he wasn’t quite as familiar with the original board game.  He figured everything out very quickly.   You use the Wii-mote to roll the die, and to bid on auctions.  We used one remote, but you can use more than one if you want.   As  you play and buy properties you collect stamps in your passport which will go towards unlocking the other boards.  That’s one of the coolest things about the Wii version, the variety of boards.  There are 10 boards total, including jungle, arctic, future, cheese, and deco themes, along with the new World Edition, where the currency is millions.  The property names change with each board, and each have different backgrounds, tokens and music.

I like the little Monopoly man, moving along with us as we advanced in the game.  He’s really kind of cute, but don’t tell my son I said that or he’ll have to give me the eye roll.

Also like the board game, Wii Monopoly can last for hours.  The first time we played, it took a little over 2 hours to finish, using the Classic board.  That 2 hours was for just the Monopoly game.

My sons have played a lot of electronic games in their short little lives, so I was concerned that they wouldn’t be interested in an electronic version of a game their mom played when she was a child.  You know, centuries ago.  I was wrong, they liked it and especially the different boards you can unlock.  But for them, the main event was the Richest Edition. That’s where they shake things up a bit. It’s not at all similar to the Monopoly I remember, but it’s a great addition.  It’s fast paced party mode, and the kids loved it.  My sons have been playing the Richest Edition more than the traditional Monopoly, it’s a big hit.

The Richest mode  has 3 variations, Developer, Industrialist and Tycoon.  Each variation lasts between 30 to 60 minutes.  Each round of Richest mode starts with a mini game,  which takes about a minute to play.  Whoever wins gets to choose how many pieces they’d like randomly dropped onto the board. If your piece lands on an unoccupied space, you own it. If you land on someone else’s space, though, you have to pay them.  There are 12 interactive mini-games like breaking out of the jail cell and running away with all the loot (my personal favorite).  Each player has to have their own remote for the Richest Edition.  These fast mini games were my son’s favorite part of Monopoly for Wii.

I was excited to play Wii Monopoly as soon as I heard about it, but my sons were skeptical.  They’re 13 and 11, so they’re jaded game players.  It has to be fun and exciting to pass their litmus test for a cool game.  Wii Monopoly passed with flying colors.  They both enjoyed it, and especially the Richest Edition.  This is a great family game, and should definitely be included on your holiday shopping list.

For more Monopoly for Wii reviews visit Blogher.

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