Monopoly Builder Game Review

If you thought buying up properties in regular Monopoly was fun, just wait until you get to build on those properties in Monopoly Builder. Each player gets a builder’s assistant, aka a game token, of either a T-Rex, a cat, a rubber duck, or a penguin. These assistants have matching reference cards that provide valuable information for how to play. Along with the assistant, you also get that assistant’s assigned resource chips, such as a dump truck, crane, excavator, and boat. You can trade these into the bank to place buildings. You’ll get 12 buildings that match your token’s color, plus start-up funds from the bank: 900 Monopoly dollars.

Basically, the game plays like regular Monopoly: roll the dice to travel the board, buy properties, and collect rent. But now there are the added activities of collecting resources based on if you roll a certain number and land on certain board spaces. When you have the required resources, you can use Builder’s Blocks to build your island city. The more you build, the more points you earn, and when the penthouse has been built, the game ends. The player with the most points wins.

The center of the game board kind of looks like a city map with holes for securely placing the first level of building blocks. And while the game spaces feature familiar Monopoly locations, they’re designed to look like building blueprints. You still collect 200 Monopoly dollars when passing Go, Go to Jail and Just Visiting spaces are still there, and so is Free Parking but with the added activity of trading resources with the bank if you land on it. Chance cards are still in play, but other new action spaces include collecting resources, rolling for resources, and stealing resources.