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Monopoly but not as you know it.

A team game, a set of challenges, a chance to jump right in to the Monopoly board itself……… all of the above.

The Game:

The game is played in teams of 6 with a maximum of 24 on each board. If you don’t have enough players then you will join other players to make up numbers.

Your game starts with a welcome video explaining how the game works, a chance to meet Mr Monopoly himself and an introduction to your playing token (we had the duck and the boys had the t-rex and they were both brilliant) who will guide you through the game.

The room itself is a giant Monopoly board with 8 properties,2 utilities and 2 stations along with go to jail, free parking, jail and Go. The aim, like all Monopoly games is to buy properties, build houses and hotels and collect rent. Properties are won by completing the challenge room on that square when you land on it. Every other round is a strategy round where you can either choose to build a house or hotel or complete more challenges to win more money.

The challenges were a good mix of brain teasers, logic and physical (a little like Crystal maze challenges) so we were all able to use our strengths and get involved.

We were a group of 9 so we were split in to 2 teams. The girls team of 6 included an 11, 12 and 14 year old and the boys team of 3 were grouped with another team of 3. The playing tokens were great at whipping up some friendly competition, helping with strategy and encouragement. The dice rolls didn’t go our way so despite winning both stations and the electricity company, we didn’t land on any properties so were unable to build any houses or hotels. We did manage use our electrical power to sabotage one of the boys properties by turning off their electricity but they still managed to beat us. We also got sent to jail 3 times which was just as much fun as the rest of the game as jail is a mini escape room.

What you need to know:

• The minimum age for playing is 9.
• Under 15s must be accompanied by an adult. An adult can accompany a maximum of 2 under 15s per team.
• Comfortable clothes are ideal as some of the games are physical and involve moving about.
• There are 4 boards to choose from, each has a slightly different theme but they are all played the same way.
• Each game lasts about 80 minutes.
• The game is played in teams of 6 with a maximum of 24 players on the board (4 teams). If you don’t have enough to make up a team then you will be put in a team with other players.
• It helps if you have played actual Monopoly before as some knowledge of the board and how the game is played may come in useful but it’s not necessary.
• Photography and filming is not allowed during the game but there is an opportunity for photos at the end.
• Monopoly Lifesized is on Tottenham Court Road and the nearest tube station is Goodge Street.
• Tickets and booking information can be found here.

Facilities:

On the ground floor as you arrive you will find toilets and lockers. The lockers are free to use to leave any coats and bags while you are playing. The large lockers will take a normal sized back pack, they are not big enough for luggage. The lockers lock with a key that you keep with you during your game.

There is a small gift shop selling Monopoly themed items.

All of these are available to use before and after your game of Monopoly.

There is also the Top Hat bar which serves drinks and food either before or after your game, the menu can be found here.

Accessibility:

The boards are wheelchair accessible although some of the challenges and games are physical or at standing up height. Some of the rooms that the challenges are in are also fairly small.

None of the challenges we took part in relied on sound so would be suitable for deaf players however there are quite a lot of instructions from the playing tokens. It would be worth contacting Monopoly Lifesized to see if they would be able to adapt any of the games. the video at the beginning does have subtitles.

Any further accessibility requirements can be discussed with Monopoly Lifesized by emailing them boxoffice.tcr@gamepath.com .

Our thoughts:

This really was a fun family activity and definitely something a bit different. It is really well thoughts out so that it is fast paced and it doesn’t actually matter whether you win or loose because it is such good fun. We were also really impressed by how hi-tech and sparkly it was, everything looked brand new despite many groups obviously going through each day. We will definitely be back to try a different board.

We played the Luxury board in May 2023 when Pip was 10.