I was going to post a bunch of stuff about Halo today, but then I thought it would make the blog a little video game centric. So, instead, I want to talk about the 2 card games I’ve been playing lately: Monopoly Deal and Lost Cities.
I first learned about Monopoly Deal earlier this year and I picked it up, mostly because I was tired of Lola beating me at this Peruvian card game that we’ve been playing for years, Casino. It took a little convincing to get her to play but once she saw that the game was a) super random and b) involved charging me rent and stealing property from me, she was hooked. Monopoly Deal is one of those games that you can play “just one more” very easily and we’ve developed a routine: best of 3 sets of games to decide who is the winner, but then bonus games tacked on in a sort of “double or nothing” which can decide the “ultimate winner”. You wouldn’t expect anything with the name “Monopoly” to be fast or exciting, but Deal has managed to hook everyone I’ve introduced it to: work friends, family members, etc. For a 5$ card game, you really can’t ask for more.
The thing about the games is that they can be as I said, incredibly random, and yet patterns emerge, especially when you play with the same person night after night. For example, there are 2 super powered steal cards in the game (dealbreakers) which let you turn things around pretty fast. There are 3 counter cards which can stop them. So, when Lola and I play, usually you don’t play a dealbreaker unless you also have a counter, so that you can counter if the other player has a counter. This leads to counter-counter-counters, which are just insane. Also, when you play 2 player, certain cards are totally nerfed compared to multiplayer.
When my conservative friend Jason was out visiting, we played a few games and he noticed that we always attack the people who have low money, since you stand a better chance of getting good property from them. This made him pretty frustrated. I needled him, “How’s cutthroat capitalism working out for you now?” I brought it on a ski trip and we played every night and even squeezed in one last game at the airport before we had to split up to fly back to respective cities. My little godson even started playing and it’s so sweet to watch him develop his killer instinct: he loves to smack you when you’re on the ropes. There’s that old Monopoly feeling.
Continue reading Monopoly Deal / Lost Cities
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