Stat holidays are always great, but holiday Mondays are even more so, as they provide a rare opportunity to cook breakfast for the whole family (a rarity with Glory working most weekends at Hathaway's Diner). Today I fried some peppers and half an onion in some duck fat along with some shredded hash browns and diced chorizo, cracked some eggs on top of it and baked it all up right in the skillet. We served it along with mimosas and some toasted Easter bread and felt very satiated by the end of it all.
After eating we discovered that no one had any plans for the early part of the afternoon, so we trotted out an unlikely board game choice from our library of 60+ games: The Godfather Edition of Monopoly.
For most people my age, Monopoly is probably one of the first three board games we learned to play. but neither Glory nor Bobby could recall ever having played before, at least, not by the published rules. And basic Monopoly enjoys a chequered reputation due to two major factors: 1) the fact that you normally need to eliminate all other players in order to win the game, and 2) the hours (sometimes days) it can take to do this. Thankfully there are ways around both of these factors.
The first step is to eliminate all house rules; that's right - no money for landing on free parking, and all taxes and fines go straight into the bank. Unpurchased properties are auctioned off if the player who landed on it declines to pay, and no loaning of money to other players either.
The second step is to play the officially published "Shortened" version of the game rules - everyone starts with three randomly dealt properties, and you either play to a time limit or until the first bankruptcy, so everyone stops playing at the same time.
Honestly, player elimination mechanics are a brutal way to find entertainment - in a six-player game, two-thirds of the participants are sitting on the sidelines or have wandered off before a victor is ever declared. This is something that modern board games had to overcome on their way to becoming the entertainment juggernauts they are today.
Like most of the 300+ themed versions of Monopoly, The Godfather edition has renamed all the properties to match locales from the movie trilogy, from Hyman Roth's modest Miami bungalow to the Corleone family estate in Lake Tahoe. The railroads become various vehicles from the films, while the utilities become the Police and Politicians. All the player tokens are replaced with thematic metal pieces as well, from the ominous sedan and ubiquitous tommy gun to the cannoli and, of course, the horse's head.
In addition to these cosmetic changes though, Godfather Edition Monopoly makes one significant addition in the form of Don Cards. Randomly dealt at the start of the game, these cards assign the bearer a power associated with one of the crime families from the movies which can be used once per game. These add a new level of strategy and unpredictability to the game, and are also completely ruthless and cutthroat, in keeping with both the history of Monopoly and the world of The Godfather.
For instance, near the end of the game, I used the Stracci power of Blackmail to unilaterally trade Hyman Roth's Home (normally Baltic Avenue, the cheapest property in the game) for the Corleone Estate (Boardwalk) that Fenya had just purchased the turn before, She handed it over without complaint (because doing so would have cost her another $100, as clearly noted on the card).
A few turns earlier Fenya had used her own Cuneo card to force Glory to return her highest-priced yellow property to the bank, which Fenya then landed on it on her very next roll and bought it herself. Had Fenya landed on it with three hideouts (houses), she would have owed Glory over $800...
There was much back and froth like this over the course of the game. Tragically, Audrey and I, starting as players 4 and 5, were never really in it, but the last few turns saw the three younger players frantically exchanging money and property as the clock ran out.
When the properties were all added up, Glory had just managed to edge out Bobby for the victory, with Fenya not too far behind.
It was a great time revisiting the people and places of my favourite movie and its sequels as it turns 50 this year, and the quotes on the property cards add to the experience as well. But best of all was proving that a game of Monopoly can be fun even if you don't end up winning the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment