Money, money, money! Money (That’s What I Want). Money For Nothing. Money Don’t Matter Tonight. All great songs for those old enough to know. Why the song references? Well, everybody needs money, money makes the world go round, but can it buy you happiness? Of course it can, especially if you are playing for big money in a board game where you have to collect as much money as you can and become the richest player around the table!
At Our Family Reviews we just love to play board games as a family. If you have been reading our website you might be aware that we have recently been enjoying playing Go For Broke, a board game where you have to lose a staggering ONE MILLION POUNDS to be the winner. But we have found another game that we absolutely love, another one that involves a large amount of money, but this time we don’t have to lose money to win but collect as much of it as we can – and we aren’t talking about a measly £1,000,000 but ZILLIONS of dollars! That game is called Big Money, a board game that is a cross between the classic dice game of Yahtzee and the real-estate game of Monopoly. A game of strategy and shrewd investments.
The game of risky rolls and fabulous fortunes!
In the box:
- 1 game board
- 1 dice cup
- 6 dice (5 regular numbered dice, 1 pictorial industry die)
- 47 cards (start-up asset card, gold-backed asset cards and Biz News cards)
- 120 banknotes ($1, $5 and $10 zillion banknotes)
- Instructions / Game Rules
Big Money is a game for 2 to 5 players, aged 8 and above where risky rolls of the dice can accumulate big fortunes, and everybody can get crazy rich. The game is played until the bank runs out of money. An excellent game that can be played by kids, adults and families.
Before setting up the game, we read through the rules. They are clear and easy to read but we found them not so easy to understand the game play. Once we dived in and just started playing the rules are actually very simple, easy to follow and the instructions/rules sheet makes sense. We would recommend having a read through of the instructions before playing but don’t worry too much if you don’t quite understand, it all becomes clear as soon as you start playing.
Setting up the game is easy. Unfold the game board and place it in the centre of the table within easy reach of all players. Select someone to be the Banker and sort the money into stacks of $1 Zillion, $5 Zillion and $10 Zillion piles. Each player chooses one start-up asset card (they have green backs so easily identifiable), it could be a Luxury Limo Service (Travel category), a High Fashion Magazine (Entertainment category), Drone Racing League (Sports category), a Video Game Studio (Technology category) or a Food Fleet Truck (Food category) and places it face-up on the table in front of them. All start-up assets have the same value of $5 Zillion, so nobody is getting any monetary advantage to begin with. Shuffle the gold-backed asset cards and place them face-down on the game board, drawing four cards and placing then face-up on the Market area of the game board. Shuffle the Biz News cards and place them face-down on the game board. No player receives any money to start with, so you are ready to play.
As with a lot of games, the youngest player starts. Place all six dice in the dice cup, give them a good shake and roll them on to the table. Firstly, take a look at the industry die (it will be a picture), any player that has an asset card from the category shown on the die receives the value of that card from the bank (start-up assets are worth $5 Zillion, others are worth between $5 and $15 Zillion). If you roll a pig you will need to pick up a Biz News card and read it aloud – be warned, these generally see players lose money or assets. With the numbered dice, if you have ever played Yahtzee you will know what to do – you have to roll a combination of 1 pair (two dice of the same number), 2 pairs (two dice of one number and two of another), 3 of a Kind (three dice of the same number), Little Straight (four dice of consecutive numbers), Full House (three dice of one number and two dice of another number), 4 of a Kind (four dice of the same number), Big Straight (five dice of consecutive numbers) or 5 of a Kind (five dice of the same number). You have another two rolls to get the best combination that you can. Depending on the combination you have after your rolls of the dice have finished you will receive from the bank between $5 and $30 Zillion (amounts for each combination are printed on the game board). Once you have rolled all the dice and collected your payout you can choose to buy an asset, picking from the four face-up asset cards on the game board.
The game continues with players collecting money and buying assets until the bank runs out of money. The winner is the one that has accrued the most amount of cash.
Overall, Big Money really is a fun family game. At its heart it is Yahtzee but has been expanded on to make it more appealing to children and families and competitive capitalists. Everybody collects large amounts of money along the way and deciding when to buy assets to increase their large fortunes. We have enjoyed it so much that kids are actually asking to play it every day. It is so easy to play encourages strategic thinking, problem solving and even though the values of the notes are ludicrous, also promotes the value of money and counting skills. With a playing time of 30-40 minutes it doesn’t take too long to play and gets everybody talking, laughing and interacting with each other and nobody loses interest in the game whilst playing.
Another bonus is that it doesn’t come in a big box so makes it a lot easier to store, and the box itself looks good, like a large stack of dollars.
An excellent fun family game with lots of laughs and friendly competitiveness and a playing time that is just right for all age groups.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £6.99
Available to buy from Amazon here.
