Monopoly is a big hit in our family. It’s one of the staple games we bring with us on vacations so we can all yell, get mad, and laugh until our stomachs hurt at each other. Somehow, we all still love each other after all the constant games, even with the penchant for cheating some members of the family have… So, when Rachel found the Cheaters Edition of the game, our older sister and brother-in-law gave it to her for Christmas.
I don’t even remember how I came across it. I was looking on Amazon and it popped up like it knew. I’m notorious for cheating in any games as is our cousin. So when I saw this, I knew I had to have it to give it a shot.
I was a little skeptical at first because, as noted, cheating happens in regular Monopoly with our family, so I wasn’t sure what the difference would be. The Cheaters Edition, however, has rules on how to cheat (and supposedly you can’t cheat otherwise), giving you challenges that may reward you should you succeed and punish you — generally by sending you to jail with the handcuff — if someone catches you.
Of course, even though there’s no cheating other than the rules, I cheated anyway when Kris and I played together. There’s a small stack of cheat cards. Five of them go in the middle and at any time during the game, you need to secretly plan to do one. As Kris said, if you get caught, there’s a consequence, but if you don’t get caught there’s a reward. Once the next player rolls the dice for their turn, you’re supposed to announce you cheated and claim the reward.
We both did a bit of cheating — not paying the full price for a property, stealing unowned properties and money from the bank — especially since I knew Rachel is a sneak. If you believe someone is cheating on their turn, you’re supposed to call them out on it before the next player’s turn, but if the accused can prove their innocence, then the person calling them out owes them a fine. There were other little differences too, such as the board not having as many spaces, the railroads not being for sale, and no houses, only hotels, for properties.
The board is definitely made to make people fight. One of the green properties was free, one of the yellow properties was cheaper, one of the pink properties was only $20, and one of the light blue properties came with a free hotel already on it, despite the fact you need the whole color set in order to add hotels on. The railroads – which I kept landing on – were teleporting spaces. Once you landed on one you needed to advance to the next railroad. I kept skipping a whole side of the board because of that, which was where Kris had most of her properties.
Rachel utilizing the railroads didn’t help my ultimate demise, no. The community chest and chance cards were mostly different, as well. In regular Monopoly, we read our cards aloud specifically to minimize cheating. However, with the Cheaters Edition, we came to realize that some of those cards we had to keep to ourselves, as their instructions tended to be much sneakier than in regular Monopoly, so that was a difference we needed to get used to as well.
For example, one community chest card I got, I held onto. So, the next time I owed Kris rent, I could “pose as a celebrity” and have her pay me the rent instead. The overall ending of the game was different as well. When we play we always wait until there’s only one person left with money. In the Cheater’s Edition, once all the properties are bought, all players much return to Go and stop. Once all players are on that space, the game ends. Whoever has the most money, wins.
In a way, it’s a simpler version of Monopoly, with less spaces and a more definite end rather than one person buying everyone else out, but the incentives to cheat and beat the challenges the game gives you can make it chaotic. Rachel and I only played with each other and we each still did a bit of cheating, but nothing too elaborate considering we were watching each other like hawks. This game would be best with a larger party to make things a bit more chaotic.
I agree. We definitely need a crowd to play the game. I can’t wait to play this with our cousins!
Monopoly: CHEATERS Edition gets a rating of…
Skip It | Try It | Buy It
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