Monopoly Lifesized is a brand new, high octane way to play the planet’s favourite board game!

Monopoly Lifesized is very exciting and there is a lot of detail into this experience. The first thing to do is book your game and you can do this very easily online. You have the choice between 4 exciting themed boards, which all come with the same experience however, all have slightly different challenges and gives it replay-ability for returning guests. You can choose between the classic board and relive your favourite Monopoly memories. Take on the city board as you explore the streets of London landmarks. The luxury board has stealth-based challenges and for your chance to put on the glitz. Finally, the junior board which is a family-friendly experience and can be enjoyed by a more younger audience. 

If the above isn’t exciting enough, this is only the start of how crazy and exciting Monopoly Lifesized actually is. We love how each theme has different challenges and that they have managed to even put a Junior board into the mix so everybody is included. 

We booked onto the classic board as, who does not love the classic version of Monopoly?

We arrived at Monopoly Lifesized HQ around 15 minutes before our session as recommended. Here, you can grab a drink, check out the Monopoly themed shop and store any items away in some lockers (free of charge). You get given a buzzer to know when your game is about to begin, so you can turn up earlier to enjoy The Top Hat Restaurant & Bar. Once its your time to begin, you will get taken into the gameplay briefing room and this is where your experience will begin.

Placed into teams of up to 6 people each, they will create 4 teams for each session. Therefore and good to note, if you are a 2, 3 or 4, then expect to have another group or groups join you. Some basic rules of how the experience will happen is displayed around the room. No worries if you don’t want to pay attention to them, as you will watch a short briefing video before you get to meet the man himself, Mr Monopoly! 

Prior to playing, you need one key thing. A lifesized playing token who will guide you through your experience. We’ll explain more on this in our spoiler version as we don’t want to say too much for those who may wish to keep a surprise. Below you can find our non spoiler review or our spoiler review, depending on how much you want to know about Monopoly Lifesized!

SPOILER SECTION

Continuing on from the above, in the briefing room you get a lifesized token. During our gameplay, we had an ironing board, a t-rex, a thimble and of course, Scottie the dog! These guides will bring that token to life, if that is with their personality or some very bad puns, you have will have to experience that yourself. We got the thimble which came with a very camp, fashionable personality. We were called the Nimble Thimbles and our team chant was “Stich it up!”. Yes, very camp indeed! 

When on the gameboard, you get to do a quick walk around and tour. You can see they have shrunk the board from its usual known size and now it only includes 8 properties (1 from each colour), 2 utilities, 2 train stations, free parking, the go space, go to jail and of course, jail itself. 

There are 3 roles in each team, the team banker who makes the final decision on all purchases, the estate agent who keeps hold of all the properties, and not forgetting the dice roller. There are also 2 types of turn in Monopoly Lifesized. Only 2 teams get to roll the dice each go and when it is your teams turn to do so, you roll the dice and move the number of spaces accordingly. If you land on a property that is not owned, you will get the opportunity to buy it however, it isn’t that easy. You’ll have to complete the challenge behind the door as a team and then purchase it. Fail, then the property remains vacant. 

When it’s not your turn to roll the dice, you get to play in the strategy round. This turn gives you a Chance Card automatically. Then, you have the option to build a house or hotel (depending if you have any properties) or, play a Community Chest game to win some more money. You’ll need to think wisely and play tactically to make as much money as possible as in Monopoly Lifesized, all money, assets and anything else you gain on your way will add up to your final score. 

Whilst Monopoly Lifesized is very interactive and physical, your guide is keeping track of your game via a tablet. This tablet is them playing the game virtually on a specially designed system and allows for them to note which properties you have, how much money you have and so on. The only difficulty we found with this is on dice rolling turns, we weren’t sure who was where at first and where they would land. Equally, it sometimes wasn’t crystal clear who had purchased what and who had all the money. They do have signs to tell but they can be easily overlooked during the experience. 

We got to play in a number of different challenges. In fact, we landed on 5 different properties and managed to complete each of the challenges. Whilst some were very challenging, your guide can verbally assist you in solving them. They are like a 7th member of your team! Some were word based, others were puzzles or a search & find. It could be as simple as unlocking a padlock, it varies based on the property you land on. Each mini game room on the Classic Board actually had a story behind it based on the property location, which was a nice touch. With so many challenges and spaces, we probably only got to experience less than half of the board, which means you could play this board again if you wished. 

Ultimately, the game came together perfectly. Whilst it had chaotic elements and a lot going on with 3 other rival teams playing against you, your guide does keep you on track and help you achieve the best you possibly can. Although, you can only be as lucky as your dice roll which for us, was very lucky as we never ended up in jail whilst all the other teams did. Sadly, photos and videos are very limited but they do allow a team photo at the end which you can see above. We cannot wait to see the difference between the boards and come back in the future. 

Thank you to the Monopoly Lifesized team for inviting us to experience the Classic Board and offering us 4 complimentary tickets. Have you managed to play yet or are you just about to book? Let us know over on our socials as we’d love to know your thoughts!