Regular Monopoly is for wusses

I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that there are SEVERAL versions of Monopoly out there, including regional sports team versions. However, none of them can hold a candle (in my boys' eyes) to THIS one:



If you don't follow me on Twitter, you missed the fact that we played two games of Star Wars Monopoly within a 16-hour time period over the weekend. Neither of the games was a "complete" game, but we played for several hours.

It was during this time that I learned something that I can never unlearn, and it is something I wish I'd never found out: The other people who live in my house, with me, under my roof, who drink out of my Caffeine-free Diet Coke cans because I am generous like that, THOSE PEOPLE, they do not care if all the Monopoly money in the bank and in their possession all faces the same direction.

INTERNET, THE BANK IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE THIS:



All of the bills should be in ascending order, all facing the same direction. And they should remain that way once they leave the bank and make their way to your hands. If they don't, the Entire World Order is upset. In my opinion. Which is correct.

So I learned that not everyone shares this opinion over the weekend, and it was distressing to me. Almost as distressing as last year, when I learned that not everyone treats the bills in their personal wallets the same way that I treat the bills in the Monopoly bank. OH, THAT WAS A DARK DAY. How in the world do you know how much money you have if your Fives are packed in there willy-nilly amongst the Ones and Twenties? Say it with me: It's Ones, Fives, Tens, Twenties. And if you're lucky enough to have Fifties and Hundreds, they go in the back. Thank you.

BACK TO THE GAME. Once I got everyone's money situated appropriately and I was able to breathe again (In, Out, Innnnn, Ouuuuuut), the game commenced. I was Princess Leia, Nick was Darth Vader and Nathaniel was Some Other Guy.



Somehow I was lucky enough to land on Go Straight To Jail my first two times around the block ... perhaps I should have been paying more attention to my rolling and less attention to the money. Nah.

And I don't know if MY face looked like this when I got sent to jail, but this is how Nathaniel looked when HE got sent to jail:


(And yes, we do feed him. I don't know why his ribs are sticking out like that.)

But it was a really fun game, and I'd recommend it for any of you who have Star Wars fans out there. All the pewter game pieces are good representations of the movie characters, the cities are replaced with Tie Fighters and Some Other Ships, and all the properties, of course, are locations from the movies.

The version we have is pretty old and sells for $75 and up on Amazon these days, but there's a new Clone Wars version that I bet would be just as much fun for the little ones, and it's only $19.99.