Traditional Monopoly has also been released in travel sized variants since 1984. During this time, Waddington’s also made travel versions of other games they owned such as Cluedo.
1984
Despite the smaller flat square box, the contents are full sized Monopoly pieces with a full sized board which folds into four. Travel games – especially Monopoly can be accused of being too small to use, however, this 1984 version eliminates this issue. While being the largest of the travel games, this is my favourite version, as apart from the box, it is a full sized traditional Monopoly.
There are two tiers of Monopoly Junior. Some have the full Monopoly Junior branding, whereas some are just branded Monopoly – despite having very similar gameplay to its Junior counterpart. This section looks at both types
My Monopoly Junior collection consists of:
Angry Birds
Cars 2
Cars 3 (Junior) [FR]
Despicable Me
Despicable Me [USA]
Despicable Me 2
Despicable Me 2 [CA]
Dig’n Dinos [USA]
Disney Channel (Junior)
Dragons
Finding Dory (Junior)
Frozen (Junior)
Incredibles 2 (Junior)
Incredibles 2 (Junior) [CA]
Kung Fu Panda 3 (Junior)
LOL Surprise
Moi Moche Et Mechant [FR]
Monsters University (Junior)
My Little Pony (Junior)
My Little Pony – The Movie (Junior)
Peppa Pig (Junior)
Planes (Junior)
Pokémon (Junior) – not officially licensed
Shrek 2 (Junior)
Sofia the First (Junior)
Toy Story and Beyond (Junior)
Trolls – World Tour (Junior)
Angry Birds (2015)
Cars 2 (2010)
Cars 3 (2015) [FR]
Despicable Me (2013)
Despicable Me (2013) [USA]
Moi Moche Et Mechant [FR] (2013)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Despicable Me 2 (2012) [CA]
Dig’n Dinos (2003) [CA]
One of the first ‘themed’ Monopoly Junior editions
No money is required in this version. To win, one must collect all 5 pieces of their ‘crown’. You get one piece for passing Go, or when an opponent lands on one of your properties. When landing on a property, a ‘book’ of the player’s colour is placed on it. All properties are free therefore the Dark Blue properties are just as good as the Brown properties.
Compared to regular Junior editions, there is only one attraction in each colour group. When landing on an unowned property, you must purchase it. Landing on it again allows you to buy a second Ticket Booth – doubling the rent. Chance cards are replaced by a spinner. Otherwise, gameplay remains the same
All players play through one token, Mr Monopoly. He also decides what number is rolled, as there is no dice in this game.
In addition, no chance cards are needed in this game as the Mr Monopoly token can read out a chance when it detects that the player has landed on Chance.
When a property is landed on, the player must place a green block on the property. When the number of blocks, indicated by the number by the property, is reached then the player may place one of their coloured roofs on the stack. To win, you must play all your roofs.
Crazy Cash (2009)
The game ends when a player goes bankrupt or when the cash machine runs out of money.
The Cash Machine is the major difference between this version and the regular Junior editions. The Cash Machine is used when a player lands on the designated Cash Machine space. A card is inserted and then four items are produced. These could either be Chance cards or money. Money is stored as usual and Chance cards’ actions must be followed.
Monopoly Junior Party (2011)
Monopoly Junior Party was released in 2011, the same year as the last of the original Monopoly Junior sets were produced. The board and gameplay is very similar to how Monopoly Junior would become in 2013 – with the four traditional corner squares implemented. The only addition is the ‘Party Box’ which includes money raised from Chance Cards. The ‘Party Box’ would appear in other themed Monopoly Junior sets.
In 2022 Monopoly Junior changed rules for a second time (the first occurring in 2013). With the 2022 release, Monopoly Junior also rebranded to ‘My First Monopoly Game’ in the UK and ‘Monopoly Discover’ in the USA. The game now includes a two-sided game board – Level 1 is designed for Ages 4-5, while Level 2 is a continuation of the existing Monopoly Junior. This edition now has six tokens – instead of the traditional four (Cat, Penguin, Dog, Rubber Duck, T-Rex & Car) and brings back the £5 note.
2023 Update: New sets from end of 2022 onwards have returned to the ‘Monopoly Junior’ branding. The game itself appears unchanged from small print run of ‘My First Monopoly Game / Monopoly Discover’ – with two sided board. Both variants are generally sold by retailers, presumably while supplies of the original game last.
My First Monopoly Game [Monopoly Discover] (2022)
Designed for ages 4+ and 2 to 6 players. There are two levels of gameplay. Level 1 is a simplified version of Monopoly Junior. Designed for ‘counting and matching’. All properties have a price of £1. The board can be flipped for Level 2, which appears to be a new design of the recent Monopoly Junior. Designed for ‘reading and simple math’. Level 2 brings back other denominations of money – with the return of the £5 note.
Monopoly Junior (2022)
Despite the rebrand back to ‘Monopoly Junior’ – the game and contents remain identical.
2013 saw a major redesign to the game of Monopoly Junior. The board looks like similar to a standard Monopoly board. The tokens have also changed from four coloured cars to four tokens which also appear in the regular game. Despite continuing with the attraction theme, Mayfair and Park Lane are the Dark Blue properties. All cash denominations have been replaced with £1 notes.
In a two player game, players take £20.
In a three player game, players take £18.
In a four player game, players take £16.
Players take 12 ‘Sold Signs’ which display the player’s token
The instructions also included ‘Advanced’ rules. This allows a player to pay off debt by selling properties.
The rules remain the same as previously, once a player goes bankrupt, whoever has the most cash wins!
The board also now has the traditional four corner squares – with the introduction of Jail and Free Parking instead of loose change.
2013
2014 – 2 More Tokens!
For this limited edition release, a Boot and Hat token have been included
2015 – 80th Anniversary
2016
2018
Cat, Ship and Car have been replaced by the new Rubber Ducky, Penguin and T-Rex
2018 – without NEW TOKENS label
2018 – Russian Error?
Despite being a UK box, my copy included a Russian board – presumably an error in production. Production code date is identical
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