To whom it may concern; Board games.

[gtmtnbiker]

Quiddler, Set... these are all American-created, no?)

What did you dislike about Quiddler & Set? I have both and enjoyed them.

[Zing]

My friends and I had a period where we played Monopoly. This was after getting into Eurogames. After handful of plays, we realized that the game breaks down as soon as one person gain a monopoly. At that point, unless you also gain a monopoly, you will undoubtedly lose. So what usually happened is someone gained a monopoly via auction, then there was an immediate flurry of negotiations by the other players to each get a monopoly to "catch up". At that point, it was pure chance whether you won or lost.

[fastbilly1]

Monopoly is vastly superior if you change the dice out. Use a D4 and a D8, or two D20s.

[gtmtnbiker]

Monopoly is vastly superior if you change the dice out. Use a D4 and a D8, or two D20s.

So how does this improve the game?

Thinking of trashy games, a couple just came to mind. As a kid, I enjoyed playing Life but I can't stand it as an adult. My nephew has the game "Trump - the game" or something like that. That is really awful.

[crux]

Again, take the 'Ameri' and the 'trash' out of ameritrash. It's just a name. The bias is old, understood, and discarded. I think it's just easier to use than to come up with and have accepted a new moniker.

There are ways to make Monopoly better, yes, but then the question becomes; Why bother? The theme was great for 1933, but there exist games with better themes, better strategy, and better balancing. Even ones that rely on dice. Sure, the game has history, but that's not a good enough reason for me. Better to promote better games that are good right out of the gate, as at least those don't require any unsanctioned tampering to fix. The average person new to board games isn't going to know what to fix. Let's just avoid the bad taste in the first place.

And out of curiosity, as biker asked, why would changing the dice help? Changes the probability distribution, but to what end?

[fastbilly1]

To win at monopoly all you have to do is take the Reds. After you do that, it is statistically impossible for you to lose (Illinois Ave is the most landed on space after Jail in a standard game).

As for the dice, you have to take into account that the standard D6s provided with the title are created in China are tumbled for an extended period of time (this is standard fair for most dice makers but it causes them to be eggshaped). Thus creating a set of dice that will roll certain sets of numbers more frequently than others (again because of the egg shape). Dice are injection molded so they have a little bit of plastic that comes off of them. Typically they are dipped into paint then thrown into a tumbler (not unlike a rock tumbler) until the excess paint and the little flag are gone. Casino dice are milled, not molded. Due to this process your dice are more likely to land on a certain set of numbers, typically fours. The reason for this is that the low end plastic dice have the pips drilled out and thus the six and five sides weigh alot less than the one and two sides. Coupling that with the slight eggshape, most dice have you roll middle of the road most of the time. I am going to stop here, but if you dont believe my words on this, watch this video by a dice maker who came to the same conclusions but presents his findings alot more eloquently:

For the record, I discovered this information after losing in Risk alot in the mid 90s and did a study of dice for a project in school.

Changing the dice types, especially between rounds, makes the game far more exciting. 2 d20s means you can pass go in one round. It is the only way we could think of to add new life to the game. In the end, it makes it more random, but it is Monopoly, come on. Any change to a stale formula is welcome. Speaking of which, I am playing it at McDonalds right now...

[pakopako]

What did you dislike about Quiddler & Set? I have both and enjoyed them.

Nothing of the sort. I should have placed them in a new paragraph; they are great games and do not deserve any moniker that is equated with refuse.

Changing the dice types, especially between rounds, makes the game far more exciting. ... it makes it more random, but it is Monopoly, come on. Any change to a stale formula is welcome. Speaking of which, I am playing it at McDonalds right now...

The electronic gaming versions of Monopoly were always nice; they included kibbitzing and even added auctions. (And you won't get that last Red property.)

[vlame]

Atmosfear is one of my faves.

[gtmtnbiker]

Looks like Fortune Street (Monopoly variant?) will be coming out for the Wii in a couple of weeks. I plan to get it.

For the ipod/iphone, I just picked up Ticket To Ride pocket edition for $.99. It is a lot of fun. I'm trying to get some of my coworkers to buy it so we can play it over wifi/bluetooth at lunch time since we're all big games people. Each day at lunch, we play some sort of game. Rummikub is a big favorite.

I also bought ipad version of Ticket To Ride & Carcassonne.

Anyone else play board games on their handheld?

[Nintendork666]

^

Fortune Street sure does look like an odd duck, eh?