Monopoly Singapore: Then and Now – A Review

I’ve always love playing monopoly when I was a child. I remember back then it was one of the family games which I enjoyed playing with my cousins when we meet up during festivals. I also played this game with my family during the holidays.

The people at Hasbro kindly sent a set of the latest  Monopoly version – a two sided one for us to review. The boys couldn’t wait to  try out the game when it arrived by courier but I made them wait till their dad was back before letting them opening out the box.

I was really interested to know what are the two different ways we could play Monopoly and was intrigued by the double sided Monopoly board. One side listed the places of  Singapore back then while the other side showed the current (now) landmarks of Singapore.

 Inside the box after opening it up.

There were two stacks of cards. One with the listing of places for old Singapore while the other is for Singapore now. There was also the staples – counters, houses/hotels and dice.  We had the option of using cash if we were playing the old Singapore board or using credit cards and the handheld electronic banking unit.

The boys wanted to use the electronic device and the credit cards inside so we had a round with the “NOW” board.

Another reason was that the boys wanted to be free of having to do calculations while playing the game and dealing with actual cash.

The THEN board which we played on.

The kids couldn’t wait to start the game. They were busy taking out all the components and setting up the game board so that we could get started as soon as possible. Monkey boy felt that it was fitting to play the game on a square table instead of at our dining table so he took out the mahjong table and we played on it instead.

I love how solid the metal counters were and how they were representative elements of Singapore’s modes of transportation and history.  Any guesses on which kid took which token to play with?

A close up view of the tokens in play. before we started off the game.

It was a fun game for the boys and even Doggie boy who is 5 enjoyed playing it although it is recommended for ages 8 and above.  We didn’t get to complete the game that night as it was nearly bedtime after having played for almost an hour. We had to do up the tally there and then and Doggie boy was announced the winner as he has the most amount of cash left for the night. Since then the boys have been asking to play monopoly nightly after they have completed all their homework.

You can get  Monopoly Singapore: Then & Now   for S$79.90 at Toys ‘R’ Us and all major departmental stores.

It certainly makes a great family game and I’m sure you would enjoy bonding with your kids through playing it as much as I had.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Monopoly Singapore: Then & Now  for review purposes. All opinions are 100% my own.