Monopoly Wicked, Monopoly Pokemon, and Monopoly Deal Harry Potter Review

Wizards and witches and pokemon, oh my! All three are making appearances in new Monopoly games this year. Fans of Wicked, Pokemon, and Harry Potter will find favorite characters and locations in themed versions of their favorite game.

Enter the world of Oz when you play Monopoly Wicked. The pink and green game board lets you purchase familiar locations from the movie, with the goal of building munchkin homes and emerald castles. Play as Elphaba’s hat, Elphaba’s broom, Elphaba’s bottle, Glinda’s crown, Glinda’s trunks, or The Grimmerie. The money in this game isn’t Monopoly dollars but rather Ozian coins. And Chance and Community Chest cards are now Defy Gravity and Totally Ozmopolitan. Be careful as you roll and move around the game board; you might land on Paws and Hooves Tax or Emerald Tax and have to pay the bank. Familiar spaces such as Go, Free Parking, Just Visiting, and Go to Jail are still there. The game comes with a gameboard, six tokens, 28 title deed cards, 16 Defy Gravity cards, 16 Totally Ozmopolitan cards, 32 munchkin homes, 12 emerald castles, two dice, and 90 cardboard Ozian coins. The game is for two to six players ages 8 and up.

Pokemon trainers can race to catch Pokemon when they play Monopoly Pokemon as one of four Pokemon characters. In this version, players move around the game board to control and explore different locations. Along with a regular numbered die, the game includes a Catching Die that lets you explore a location you control. If you roll a Poke Ball, you add a Pokemon type for that location to your tracker mat. If you roll a red X, you’ve caught nothing, but you can pay one Poke Ball to try and re-roll. Poke Balls are this game’s currency. This game also has trainer battles, giving you the chance to steal a location from a rival trainer. Battling involves rolling the die, adding one for each Pokemon on your mat, and whoever has the highest total wins. Adventure and Challenge are the new Community Chest and Chance cards, and the Lapras space allows you to move to any space between it and the next one. You’ll still find Go, Just Visiting, Free Parking, and Go to Jail. The game is for two to four players ages 8 and up. It comes with a gameboard, four plastic Pokemon tokens, four tracker mats, 16 location cards, 16 Adventure cards, 16 Challenge cards, four reference cards, a numbered die, a Catching die with labels, 48 cardboard wild Pokemon chips, and 90 cardboard Poke Balls.

Monopoly Deal is a card game version of Monopoly, and now it’s gotten a bit more magical with Harry Potter. In this version of the game, you’ve got to be the first to collect three different sets of magical items. These are what properties would be in a regular game. You can play the game as Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, or Cedric Diggory. Each player gets five cards with the rest placed facedown in the center of play as the draw pile. On your turn, you’ll draw two cards, and then play up to three cards of any type. You could add Point or Spell cards to your bank, add a magical item to your collection, or play a Spell card by reading it aloud and following the rules on the card. Once played, it gets discarded. At the end of your turn, you should have no more than seven cards in your hand. (Discard any extras.) Items in your bank can be used to pay another player if you owe them points, or you can pay with your magical items. When one player collects three complete sets of magical items, each set in a different color, that player wins. The game is for two to five players ages 8 and up. It comes with 111 cards and a game guide.