Palmy is truly in your hands
They flew off the i-SITE shelves like low-flying ducks in The Square before Christmas. However, the burning question is — how many boxes of Monopoly, Palmerston North Edition, are still languishing in their plastic wrappers, two and a bit months on?
A confession — our copy was one of those, retired to the pile that looks good to visitors. I knew the day had to come when we took this little nugget of Palmy excellence for a test drive. But who hasn’t been scarred by childhood games of Monopoly where the game seems inexorably long, and if you’re lucky someone will get cross and throw the board so you can get back to the much more enjoyable thing you were doing before?
As a parent now, when Palmy Monopoly was released I was one of the first to buy one of the 2500 copies released. It was so exciting to see Palmerston North become famous and all our family favourite places represented on this potentially thrilling square of cardboard. So I grabbed it for Christmas at a cost of $60 and gave it to all of us as a family present.
However, life happens. Children and technology are not easily separated over the summer holidays. It was the outdoor table I had purchased and some sturdy chairs that finally convinced us to take the plunge on a balmy day so that we could get outside and play Palmy Monopoly at the same time. I made a simple suggestion to the kids, as if we were the kind of family that regularly plays board games, not the family with preteens that prefer not to see the light of day.
“Let’s play Palmy Monopoly.” And the amazing response. “Oh yes, let’s do that!”
Mum, of course, was the banker as it involves extra work. However, the kids soon discovered I needed
The real magic happens when you start playing the game. It is so gratifying to know the places that you land on, which gives you a warm feeling of recognition.
to be reminded about paying them when they went past Go — a habit that has probably arisen in response to exorbitant pocket money rates. The Monopoly tokens are the usual silver hat, dog, car etc, but it would have been nice to have a duck, a windmill or a clock tower. The board looks very Monopoly-ish and the money and cards look standard. Turn over a Community Chest card and have a chuckle, though — “You flushed a wet wipe down the toilet and blocked Palmy’s pipes…” Yes, who hasn’t done that, and why do they put flushable on the packets anyway?
However, the real magic happens when you start playing the game. It is so gratifying to know the places you land on, which gives you a warm feeling of recognition. Then things get competitive as people start buying up your favourite places. “No, you can’t buy the Regent on Broadway, I’m the one that likes singing!” “Hokowhitu Lagoon is mine, you don’t even like ducks!” After a few cagey moments the board remained on the table and we moved on to the guts of the game, winning and losing.
It was an eye opener to see different styles of board gaming. Capitalist child had a voracious appetite for acquisition and investment. Environmentalist child decided that she didn’t want to build on her properties, she just wanted the land.
Soon it was obvious who had won, and by mutual consent (I was bankrupt) the capitalist child was declared the winner to cries of “I thrashed you all!” The game had been played start to finish over about one and a half hours, although it didn’t seem that long and we all had a good time. This game does deserve its moment in the sun so get it out and see what happens. You may be outplayed by family or friends but you will get to know them a whole lot better.