Review – Star Trek Monopoly Continuum Edition

For the first time ever, Monopoly is being customized to cover the entire Star Trek franchise. This month USAopoly releases The Star Trek Monopoly Continuum Edition, and TrekMovie got an early version. See below for our early review of the latest Star Trek board game.

USAopoly meets USS Enterprise
Guess what I am describing?

• It is decades old.
• It is a venerable popular culture icon.
• It keeps reinventing itself for new generations.
• It is considered one of the most successful examples in its genre.
• It is something that has fans and conventions in many nations.
• It is something enjoyed by millions of people and is a family hobby of great fame.

Of course, I am talking about Star Trek, but that also describes the venerable board game Monopoly. Now, the two are reunited with USAopoly’s Monopoly: Star Trek Continuum Edition, which will be available this April from most major retail and gaming stores (and online at Entertainment Earth for $33.99). In 1998, Star Trek: The Next Generation and in 2000 the original Star Trek were given the Monopoly treatment, but this is the first time for a Monopoly game covering the whole franchise. Joining the new Star Trek 20Q and Star Trek SceneIt? trivia games , this is a good year for "Franchise Fans" who enjoy all the versions of Star Trek.

Monopoly Star Trek Continuum Edition
[Pre-Order from Entertainment Earth – $37.99]

While Monopoly first appeared in 1935, USAopoly is a newer company which has a license from Hasbro (Parker Brothers) to produce themed versions of the game. Other franchises such as Disney, Star Wars, James Bond, and The Simpsons are also branded Monopoly games, so Trek is in good company.

Game Design:
USAopoly have Trek-ified every aspect of the game, the following breaks down each part. (given a ranking of 1 to 5 to each, with 5 being the best).

The Box: 4 out of 5
The box has a nice blend of recognizable Monopoly and Star Trek iconography. The only improvement might have been the inclusion of elements from other versions of Star Trek as only the original 1960s Enterprise is featured, and the game is about the entire Trek continuum. That being said, if any single image represents all of Star Trek it is the original Enterprise, so this isn’t an egregious consideration. In fact, the box is very likely to make people stop in stores because of the boldness of both the Monopoly and Star Trek logos.

Star Trek Continuum Edition box back

The Game Board: 5 out of 5
While definitely a Monopoly board with "Free Parking" and all the usual design elements, USAopoly has done an incredible design which brings together the entire Star Trek universe. The arrangement of the Captains in proper historical order is a nice example of the care that went into the game. Instead of the traditional names for properties and utilities, the game has been Trek-ified with the names of Star Trek planets and starships. The images selected to represent the worlds are representative of this careful design. For example, almost every planet space has a picture of the world and a character that represents it. For Qo’Nos it is Kahless (from TNG), for Bajor it is Kira, for Starfleet Command, San Francisco it is Admiral Cartwright, and for Vulcan it is Sarek. The utilities are the Argus Array and the Delta Vega Lithium Cracking Station (the planet is featured in the new movie, although the image is from TOS). The traditional railroad spaces are iconic starships, and in a very
fun detail, the taxing spaces include the Ferengi Commerce Authority.

Star Trek Continuum Edition box back

The Game Pieces: 4.75 out of 5
It is here that the game designers obvious love of Trek especially is evident. The many game pieces and accessories of Monopoly have all been Trekified in some really fun ways. Gold-pressed latinum is the denomination of all money and the pewter game tokens are nicely detailed (the Kirk’s Captain Chair is the best).

   

Star Trek Continuum Edition game components

The Subspace Transmission and Sensor Reading Cards (substituting for the traditional Community Chest type cards) feature Uhura and Spock, and on the other side are images of characters and scenes from various episodes, for example you get 50 latinum for confusing V’Ger. The text on these cars are amusing and a few are hilarious, one unusual example features B’Ellana Torres (is the implication here you are getting paid to engage in Pon Farr? And only 10 latinum bars?). The back of the planet cards have some beautiful and unusual images from Remastered Star Trek. The only disappointment is that the houses and hotels are not Trek-ified. They are called "starships" and "fleets" but are the usually Monopoly design.

A couple of ‘Subspace Transmission’ cards

Game Play: 5 out of 5
There are some really fun optional game rules that help make this version of Monopoly really Trek-ified. For example, if a player rolls double 1s, you get to "create a temporal rift to move your token to any location in the Continuum" or double 2’s means you get to apply the Ferengi Rule of Acquisition "Opportunity plus instinct equals profit. Collect 200 from the bank."

Game Over – In summary
The Monopoly Star Trek Continuum Edition takes the best of Monopoly and the best of Star Trek and like a peanut-butter cup, mixes them together to create something great. This is a fun game, and Star Trek needs more items that can be enjoyed by the entire family. What is nice is that even if a fellow player isn’t a fan or likes only one version of Star Trek, they could play the game and the Trekified details are equal among the five shows (with a tad bias to the 1960s Star Trek in some design elements), so all varieties of Trek are represented. There is no trivia or Star Trek knowledge required, so it really is a game for everyone. However, Trekkies get the added bonus of appreciating all the fun Trek references which bring a smile to the faces of fans. The Monopoly Star Trek Continuum Edition is very recommended.

Monopoly Star Trek Continuum Edition
[Pre-Order from Entertainment Earth – $37.99]