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Animal Crossing New Horizons Monopoly blends together the colourful world of whimsical island living, cutesy anthropomorphic animals and leisurely resource gathering that many gamers have come to expect from its video game counterpart with the competitive, cut-throat capitalistic strategy race that is Monopoly. It does so in a manner that speaks more to the lighthearted side of the two, making it a more friendly experience than other iterations of the hit game. Together with vibrant visuals and easy-to-read game pieces, the game is a perfect game for older children (in keeping with its 8+ Age Rating).
Unlike other versions of Monopoly, Animal Crossing NH Monopoly is limited to being suitable for 2 to 4 players, as opposed to the usual 8. This fact is most likely due to the size of the game pieces being larger than standard - more on this later.
Forget Renting, Try Exploring
As someone who has played more than one version of Monopoly (owning more than one myself), I understand that many would consider all renditions of the classic game to effectively be the same - even ones with more subversive or kooky rules. However, ACNH Monopoly does away with a lot of the gameplay and rules that define traditional Monopoly.
Some things are the same as any other version of Monopoly, so I'll cover this stuff first. Jail, Free Parking, Go to Jail and Chance spaces all make a return in this game. Railway Stations have been stylised to 'Dodo Airlines' and largely act the same as other iterations (but they're free to use and still allow you to use the GO space). There are two dice. However, only one die is used for movement (a standard six-sided die), the other (the Nook's Cranny die) is used in the game's shop mechanic - see the next paragraph for a full explanation.
Instead of purchasing 'property' and taking currency from your fellow players whenever they are unfortunate enough to land on a piece of your portfolio, players explore 'islands' and collect resources (like bugs, fossils, fish and fruit). The first to discover an island receives passive resources whenever someone else or themselves land on that island - giving incentive to once again pray to the dice gods for good rolls. These resources can then be sold to Nook's Cranny whenever the appropriate resource or 'wild' is rolled on the Nook's Cranny die for Bells.
I can already hear you asking: if you don't buy any property then what do you send Bells on? The answer: furniture. The other side of the game's shop mechanic centres around buying furniture whenever a player reaches GO. Thematically, these would be for decorating your token character's island getaway, but for the players, they're lovely pictures on slips of card. Each piece of furniture awards the players more of the game's scoring points: Nook Miles.
Yes, you read that right, the winner of ACNH Monopoly isn't decided on the amount of Bells the players have clinking together in their coin purse, instead you count up your Nook Miles. Nook Miles are gained in two ways: buying furniture and completing the tasks on Nook Miles cards. The aforementioned cards replace 'Community Chest' and simple gameplay tasks that players can achieve either by playing the game normally (selling a certain number of a resource) or directly interacting with a task (paying a few Bells to the Bank).
Finally, I'd like to mention Skill cards. After a single loop of the board players gain a random special ability (out of four options) that can help them win the game. These really help boost the game's replayability, since each time you play is slightly different based on which Skill you receive.
A 2-D Island Paradise
In the previous section I mentioned how nice the pictures of furniture looked on their cards, but would you believe me if I said that the rest of this game was also pretty?
All of the cards in the game (and there are a few of them) feature soft and pleasant colours, clean lettering and eye-catching images of some familiar faces from ACNH. I especially love the light blue border around all of the cards; the simultaneous complementary and contrasting border helps them look uniform despite the varying back designs each set has. Something to note with these cards is that they are not made of the thickest card, but, for a game that has featured paper money for the past few decades, it's not that much of an issue.
Both the box and the game board feature a myriad of art taken from the video game's promotional and in-game material. Each image is rendered nicely, all put together in a manner which doesn't overwhelm the eyes too much. The board itself is similar to most Monopoly. Each board space is outlined by thick black lines and striking blocks of colour that frame everything else.
Saving the best for last, I can't talk highly enough about the game's player figures. There are four of them (half the regular number), but I think they make up for it by being the nicest Monopoly pieces I've had the pleasure of owning. They are small coloured plastic pieces that have been painted/printed onto to resemble the player avatars from ACNH. Each captures the scene of a character participating in the same style of resource collecting as the players - buying into the game's story.
Nook, I Need More Storage
Now for some negativity (or maybe just a warning to any prospective buyers of this game), one of the major facts to notice about ACNH Monopoly is that it has a lot of pieces. With paper money being replaced by thimble-sized cardboard counters, there are more than a few small pieces to keep track of and so I'd recommend investing in some kind of storage apparatus.
The game originally comes with a cardboard trough that is mostly meant to collect these counters. For a more practical way of sorting your game, I suggest either small locking plastic bags or clip-lock storage boxes (especially for the figures if you don't want them to get scratched).
Final Thoughts
Animal Crossing NH Monopoly is a great adaptation of the video game to the cardboard landscape. It adds wonder to the heart of Monopoly and creates a fun experience. Much like the video game, it's suitable for most ages - highly recommended for fans of Animal Crossing New Horizons.
