Saving Gotham City: Monopoly Batman

(Photo credits to Hasbro Games)

Written by Ed Carter, Staff Writer

 

Monopoly Batman

Hasbro games

1-4 players

Set collecting, income gathering, trading and dealing

Save Gotham City: Game overview 

Gotham City is overrun with villains and it needs your help to lock them up.  As one of the bat family, you have special abilities to help you gather and lock up the villains and restore safety to the streets. Batman monopoly has changed the old classic into a brand new game.  Instead of buying properties, the villains need to be stopped and your currency is batarangs.  Alfred and the bat signal cards can give you tools and the Batmobile lets you race in the streets to stop the criminals from causing havoc.  There are no houses or hotels, you lock the villains in Arkham Asylum and when you land on a villain already in custody, you pay in batarangs.  Once all the villains are captured, whoever has the most batarangs is the hero of Gotham City.

Patrolling the city: Game set up

Place the game board and have each player select a hero to play. Take that heroes card and matching figure.  Deal out the starting amount of batarangs to each player.  Have one player be the commissioner to collect and deal out batarangs and the villains calling cards. Shuffle and Place the Alfred and Bat signal cards in their indicated spaces on the board. Place all the heroes on Go and determine the first player. Give them the numbered and the action die to roll.

Stop the villains: A game turn 

The active player will roll the numbered and the action die.  Consult their character card to see what to do for each die face of the action die. The action die can trigger a heroes ability, and either earn or pay batarangs to or from the bank. Move your hero the number of spaces on the numbered die.  If you land on a villain that has not been collected, pay the required batarangs and take the villains calling card.  If you land on another players villain pay them the protection cost indicated on the calling card.  If a player has the matching set of villain’s calling cards,  they can pay to lock them in Arkham Asylum.  Place an Arkham Asylum token on the villain.  This increases the protection cost other players must pay when landing on them. If you land on a Alfred or Bat signal card space, draw the top card from the appropriate deck and follow the instructions on the card. Some cards may be kept to be used later and some are resolved immediately.

A Batmobile space allows you to move to any space between your starting space up to the next Batmobile space.  This mechanic is very handy in avoiding spaces you don’t want to land on. When you pass Go you collect 2 batarangs from the bank.  Even heroes can go to jail, and you can either pay 1 batarang, use a get out of jail free card, or roll a 6. If you don’t succeed in rolling a 6 on your second turn, you are released for free. Move your hero to “Just Visiting” and continue as normal on your next turn. Once all of the villain calling cards have been collected, the player with the most batarangs wins.

Gotham City is safe once again

With all of the changes, this version feels  like a completely different game experience than your standard Monopoly.  It’s more like how Pandemic Cthulhu is to Pandemic; it uses the same core mechanics but is a totally different game. I think Batman fans would really enjoy and have fun with this game. It’s simple with some clever mechanics (the batmobile space is really fun as well as the character abilities triggered from the action die)   Monopoly fans looking for a different version of  Monopoly may find it too different from the original to enjoy it.   Both Star Wars and Fallout monopoly are Monopoly with a different theme for example while Batman Monopoly is not.

If you want a game in the Monopoly style, but want a totally different experience, then Batman Monopoly may be one to consider. Until next time, keep moving those meeples and happy gaming!

Lynn Makes

Hi, I’m Lynn, and I Make.
Props, Cosplay, Scale Models, Home Projects, and just about anything else that involves me Making.

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