Monopoly comes to life with Monopoly Lifesized

Who remembers spending many evenings of their childhood crowded around the monopoly board trying to become a property entrepreneur? Well if you love the board game you’ll love Monopoly Lifesized even more. That’s right monopoly has gone big time and they want you to come and play. After teaming up with Red Letter Days I got the opportunity to try Monopoly Lifesized myself.

So how does Monopoly Lifesized work?

Located in London, Monopoly Lifesized starts when you get into four teams. You can have up to six members in each team and each person will take on a role. The organisers do say if your team has less than six you will be teamed up with other people, however this didn’t happen for my mum and I so we played with just two people. The crew will then introduce themselves and take your picture which you can collect after the game.

After being taken into the reception room each team comes up with a name and assigns a role such as Team Captain, Dice Roller, Banker etc. Each team member will have different responsibilities dependent on the role they pick. If there’s less then six of you, then you’ll have to double or triple up on roles. Once your team is organised you get to listen to a guidance video informing you how to play. As everything is lifesized you will begin with 1 million monopoly pounds to play with. The Games Master and his two colleagues make the game come to life and really make you feel part of the action. After all the teams are ready it’s time to play.

What is Monopoly Lifesized gameplay like?

You’re led up the stairs to a life sized monopoly board and each team takes their place on the board. Each team has a predestined game piece and will take their first roll of the dice. Dependent on what number you roll, you’ll end up in different places on the board and have to complete your first mini game. On each destination is a door in which you’ll find lots of puzzles, like a mini escape room. The games vary from working out codes, to rolling balls into the right place. You have to press the red button and then you’ll have two minutes to complete the puzzle and win whatever is on that destination. You could win cash, properties etc. The idea of Monopoly Lifesized is to get as many properties and keep as much money as you can; unlike the traditional game the person with the most money doesn’t win.

Each team plays at different rates once the game begins dependent on what they roll. You may land in jail (we did), Just Visiting or just land on destinations that other people already own so you won’t get the chance to win it. If you do get an unowned destination and you win the game, you put your team name on the door so everyone knows you own it. You then take the property name to your team base. At your base you will display all the properties you own.

Throughout the game you get Chance cards which gives you the opportunity to build hotels at half the cost, get out of jail free, pick the dice roll number you want and more. At certain opportunities you can build hotels if you have won a destination. People who land on your destination will also have to pay you rent which increases your bank balance.

If your dice roll doesn’t give you the opportunity to win any properties you’ll get to complete a puzzle card and win some money. We played many of these games (sigh lol).

How did we do?

Unfortunately we came last as we landed in jail straight away and it took 15 minutes to get out. You do have the option to pay £200,000 monopoly pounds to get out but we felt it wasn’t worth it, especially at the start of the game. By the time we escaped most of the properties had gone. After our jail time we couldn’t get the right dice rolls to land on any properties that weren’t already owned, or we didn’t complete the game in time. We did have a lot of monopoly pounds in the bank at the end though. The winning team got a £5 voucher off some photos so we didn’t lose a huge amount. Ultimately where you place is all down to luck!

What does it cost?

It costs £59 for each person to play which does seem quite expensive, however you can get a discount for larger teams. You may also be able to snap up budget £49 tickets on occasions as well. You can also use the Red Letter Days deal to purchase a experience for two.

Once you’ve finished playing make sure you visit the Top Hat restaurant that’s right next door. If you purchase the Red Letter Day voucher you can get a meal at the restaurant included within the price.

If you purchase the Red Letter Days Monopoly Lifesized Immersive Experience for two with two course meal, you get to choose from a select menu. You can also pick from this menu by prebooking if you buy your tickets normally. There wasn’t a huge amount to pick from but the original menu was pretty small anyway.

We chose the main and dessert option from the menu. I picked the burger whilst my mum chose the chicken burger. The main comes with wedges rather than traditional chips, and the burger has salad, pickles and a unique burger sauce. Pre warning the sauce is pretty greasy so make sure it doesn’t drop on your clothes like it did mine. I had a raspberry lemonade drink and it was so refreshing. The burger was super tasty, it didn’t make me feel bloated like some burgers do and the wedges were divine.

What about dessert?

We picked the Eton Mess dessert which consisted of strawberry/raspberry sorbet, cream, small bits of meringue and tiny bits of fruit. It was very tasty and I would wholly recommend.

The Top Hat restaurant produces some gorgeous food and I would really advise you to book a meal if you don’t use the Red Letter Day voucher.

I hope you enjoyed my review and enjoy visiting Monopoly Lifesized yourself. If you think your friends and family would love to find out more about the experience, please give the post a share on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.