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A new version of Pokémon Monopoly has just hit the tabletop, but it’s surprisingly not just a copy and paste of the classic Monopoly game. Despite being one of the biggest media franchises ever, Pokémon has surprisingly few tabletop games outside the ever-growing Pokémon Trading Card Game. While Pokémon fans growing up in the 1990s may remember Pokémon Master Trainer, most recent Pokémon board games have simply been licensed versions of popular games like Labyrinth and Guess Who?
Earlier this month, Hasbro Gaming released a new version of Pokémon Monopoly. While two previous licensed editions of Monopoly were made using Pokémon, this new Monopoly game features several new mechanics that make the game feel very different from a simple Monopoly re-skin. The result is a different kind of Pokémon tabletop game, one that actually tries to capture the feel of the Pokémon franchise instead of just being a simple cash grab.
What Makes This Pokémon Monopoly Different
Pokémon Monopoly Has Several Unique Mechanics, Including Battle Options
The original Pokémon Monopoly games were basically Monopoly re-skins, with all the same rules and goals as the original game. In the new Pokémon Monopoly, players are actually vying to capture eight different types of Pokémon, which can be collected from various color-coded biomes. The first player to land on a specific biome must pay a Poké Ball fee to claim the area and explore it for wild Pokémon. Players don’t automatically catch Pokémon from these areas – they roll a special die that has a 50/50 catch rate. If players miss an initial throw, they can pay for an extra Poké Ball for another chance to capture the Pokémon.
Once an area is claimed, any other trainer who lands on it has to pay a Poké Ball fee to explore it, similar to paying rent in a normal Monopoly game. However, players also have the option of battling the trainer who controls the biome they landed on. When players battle, each player rolls a six-sided die and adds the number of all the Pokémon they’ve captured to the roll. The player with the highest roll wins, with ties going to the player who controls the area. As a note, trainers can’t try to seize an area if a player controls both areas of the same color.
Is Pokémon Monopoly Any Good?
Better Than Its Predecessors, But Some Flaws & Frustrations Remain
The capture and battle mechanics make Pokémon Monopoly feel very different from normal Monopoly, a game that’s largely dependent on area control and quickly becomes dominated by one or two players. A player can still achieve their goals even if they don’t control many areas, although they’ll need to figure out a way to collect a steady stream of Poké Balls as a result. Because players add all the Pokémon they control to their roll, a player can also simply grab as many Pokémon from their regions to build up their strength and try to bully other players into handing over their land.
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Still, there are some major drawbacks to Pokémon Monopoly. The game is largely luck-dependent, as even a player who controls a lot of land can still have a series of unlucky rolls when trying to capture Pokémon. The game also still has a large amount of power imbalance similar to the original Monopoly. A player who controls a lot of land will control the Poké Ball resources, while players who have lots of Pokémon can bully those who don’t. If you don’t like the unfairness baked into the original Monopoly, you’re not going to like Pokémon Monopoly.
Will There Be More Pokémon Board Games?
Pokémon Monopoly Bodes Well For The Future
While many other video game franchises have had ambitious board game adaptations, Pokémon has largely lagged behind until recently. While the Pokémon Trading Card Game is one of the biggest card games in the world, and Pokémon TCG Pocket‘s new Mythical Island cards continue growing its new digital counterpart, there are surprisingly few other tabletop games that really delve into the world of Pokémon. In fact, Pokémon Monopoly is one of the first board games to really try to capture the spirit of Pokémon in a meaningful way in years. That bodes well for the future of tabletop games, especially if other publishers can find a unique and engaging way to adapt the franchise through board games.
While Pokémon has kept a tight lid on tabletop adaptations, it seems to be loosening that grip in recent years. Pokémon Labyrinth was released a couple of years ago, and now we have a Pokémon Monopoly game that feels more like a Pokémon game than a simple Monopoly game. Currently, there are no other Pokémon board games announced for release, but we have a feeling that more Pokémon tabletop games could be making their way onto shelves in the not-too-distant future.
Pokemon
- Created by
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Satoshi Taijiri
, Ken Sugimori
, Junichi Masuda - Latest Film
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Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
Summary
Spanning over twenty-five years, Pokemon, known as Pocket Monsters in Japan, is the multimedia franchise created jointly by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. Conceptualized by Satoshi Tajiri in association with Ken Sugimori and Junichi Masuda, Pokemon is set in fictional worlds where people live together with tamable creatures known as Pokemon. Humans who catch, raise, and battle the creatures are known as Pokemon Trainers. They head out on extensive journeys across their continents to raise their Pokemon with the ultimate goal of competing in tournaments to become the champion. Pokemon spans several massive properties, from a long-running animated series to a successful trading card game, to the medium that started it all, video games. In addition, Pokemon began the “two-game” trend where two versions of a game would release and include different Pokemon/features between the versions, encouraging players to meet up with others and trade so they could “catch ’em all.”
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