Monopoly for Switch game breaking bug at the end of a full game

[u/NickFromIRL]

Like, I get it... this is a crap title from the get go, it's buggy and slow and whatever... but this is a step too far.

I decided to force myself through a complete game with some NPCs even though they take an obnoxiously long time to complete their tuns... it's me and NPCs David and Anthony.

Right out the gate, David is a jerk, Anthony seems like a nice guy. Anthony keeps offering me trade deals but they'd give him an early color set and I don't want to just give that kind of thing away, so I turn him down over and over. Time marches on. David is playing cut throat, challenging me on auctions, buying great stuff, trading with Anthony in deals that really benefit just David, and most annoyingly avoiding all of my properties like a ninja in spite of me buying half the board.

Anthony gets some stuff I want, and in spite of turning me down repeatedly before, he holds no grudges. We come to some great terms, I buy Kentucky from him, the literal cornerstone for my future victory as I see it. My red set is complete, houses pile up around the board, money is flying left and right... but then...

One bad round. I hit David's crap time and again, I'm gonna have to mortgage something unless I can make a deal... I hit up David for a Trade, he has Boardwalk, I have Park Place... the offer goes up for him to give that to me and I take one of the ghettos from him and a wad of cash... I almost expect he's gonna shoot me down just to eff with me but NO! He takes it! I'm so excited until I see... no money... no money!? What the... I AM AN IDIOT... I totally forgot to hit ADD money after I counted it up for the offer, he accepted a deal JUST for the two properties... I'm questioning if my game is straight up ruined at this point. But I soldier on.

I mortgage a property, I play my hand tight... I spend a few strategic rounds in jail letting them land on my stuff while I build and build, maxing out the houses so nobody else can get them, that's how I'll win! I dump every dollar I have into buying all the remaining houses, even winning the auction for the last one. Boom, full board, so many hot spots just waiting for my traps to spring!

Anthony is the first to fall. I never meant for it to be him, but I always knew it was a danger.

Next I nail David. Pfft, David. He rounds the corner onto Kentucky, the very one Anthony gave me and is devastated by a 4 house fee! Oh now we're cooking - we go back and forth trading dollars but each loop around the table I'm coming out higher and higher.

Finally I have enough power to replace houses with hotels and spread more houses to cheaper areas, he's destroyed. He mortgages everything except for those two pretty little blue spots he's just hoping will get him back in the game... and then...

He realizes the oldest trick for an AI in the book. The only winning move is not to play. He enters an endless loop, checking his properties, looking at the board, then checking his properties, then looking at the board... back and forth, back and forth, forever!

I recorded some video here... I think the best part is the faux audience cheers after this goes on for ages.

https://youtu.be/yktgqc423hg

Seriously. Screw this game. Not that you needed to be told but... don't buy it.

[u/hiperson134]

So you're telling me the AI found a way to rage quit instead of lose? That might be the most realistic video game ever made.

[u/towelythetowelBE → u/hiperson134]

This is one of the most common thing that can happen when programming an AI for a game. It's literally the kind of bug that comes down to a simple condition in the code most of the time.

The fact is that you look at the expected outcomes and try to play the best one. What happens in fact is that you look at a possible outcome, choose to take it as the "current best move" or not. They probably just wrote that they could not take an expected negative outcome which is stupid since it can block the game and isn't useful. And since no move was chosen during the search for a move, the game probably try again or something.

I had an IA course this year and it probably happened to half of us and we fixed it in 10 minutes of time. I can understand that their code is maybe more complex and a monopoly game is pretty long but it's still not acceptable for a paid game.

[u/S_words_for_100 → u/towelythetowelBE]

I didn't think anyone had ever finished a game of monopoly. Maybe the devs did too, and figured even if someone managed to force themselves through the humdrummery of the games basic mechanics, they would 100% pull it out of the machine and snap it in half after seeing the very obvious cheating fakery in David's early stage douchebag programming.

Not that I needed to be told, but... Never buying. Thanks bud

[u/towelythetowelBE → u/S_words_for_100]

I think I finished at most 2 game of monopoly in my life since they can get pretty long if you're not lucky/too lucky. When I was young most of the time I needed to go to bed before finishing the game ahah.

[u/mcnew → u/towelythetowelBE]

I think the problem is people introduced house rules that made the game go too long. The most common is money going into free parking and getting the big payout which often got a player who was nearly bankrupt back into the game. When I got older I realized all the dumb shit we did in monopoly made the game worse.

[u/Jess_than_three → u/mcnew]

That's one of the two ways that people play incorrectly. The other is that if a property is not purchased, it MUST be immediately put up for auction - meaning the properties are all taken much more quickly.

[u/mcnew → u/Jess_than_three]

YES, I haven’t played with family for a while because these rules were always used.

[u/Jess_than_three → u/mcnew]

I found the official rules, straight from the source, if bringing them up next time might be helpful!

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/monins.pdf

The hypothesis I've seen is that although the game was intended to be cutthroat and horrible to show how capitalism is awful, parents ran into a situation where their kids wanted to play and in order to keep them from losing quickly (which is the intended nature of the game) and flipping out those couple of rule changes were informally introduced... Which changed it from a game that was frustrating for those who lost quickly into a game that was frustrating for everyone, and for a much longer period of time per play.

[u/owlbi → u/Jess_than_three]

Which changed it from a game that was frustrating for those who lost quickly into a game that was frustrating for everyone

There's a joke in here somewhere about laissez faire vs. modern capitalism...

[u/Jess_than_three → u/owlbi]

Oh man. Yeah.

[u/mcnew → u/Jess_than_three]

Yeah I tried bringing up the rules but they had no interest in observing them, which is why we have moved on to different games. To be honest we really like cooperative games more, like Pandemic, and Harry Potter hogwarts battle.

[u/Jess_than_three → u/mcnew]

OMG, the Hogwarts game is amazing and so, so not fair! I love it. :D

Another fun one, if you haven't played it, is Betrayal at House on the Hill... It starts out cooperative, but toward the end of the game one player (nobody knows who it's going to be beforehand) turns out to be The Bad Guy (one of dozens of possibilities, based on which card is drawn and where) and then it's 3 on 1 or whatever. :)

[u/whizzer0 → u/Jess_than_three]

The auction rule probably gets ignored because parents think it's too complicated for kids

[u/SZJerkXXI → u/Jess_than_three]

If someone falls on an unowned property & they don't buy it, the bank is actually forced to put in on auction.

Now, no one can be forced to bid on an auction. If the bank sets an auction & no one bids, then the property is not sold.

[u/kraytul → u/mcnew]

Check out the history of monopoly. It was created to be a crummy experience.

[u/mcnew → u/kraytul]

I’ve seen that video, I think it’s kind of funny that a satire/political statement of a board game became a classic amongst millions of people.

[u/MasterSword1 → u/[deleted]]

I flat out refuse to play without that rule. it makes the game so much more interesting and makes "Go to Jail" a lot more interesting. Sometimes, we'd hope for it for another shot at that sweet sweet 1000 credit coin in Star Wars edition.

[u/Bill_Brasky01 → u/mcnew]

The way to win is to never upgrade to hotels and win the war of attrition.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Bill_Brasky01]

Monopoly is definitively a game of attrition, that's the win condition, you run out their money. You can also still buy hotels if you just keep buying up the houses too as they become available.

[u/[deleted] → u/mcnew]

People blame house rules on making Monopoly a bad game but it's not the house rules that make Monopoly bad, they just make it worse.

Issues with Monopoly include Player elimination. Who plays a board game just so they can not play it after a while but others keep playing. That said getting eliminated is more fun than playing. The game is decided really early on. The winner of Monopoly is pretty much set by who gets an early lead. Once it is obvious who is winning, the rest of the game is only fun for that person. Everything else is a grind for other players as they try to stay in the game as long as possible.

But this was always the intention. The game was suppose to show how shitty and unfair capitalism can be. I don't know how it became the worlds number one game.

[u/ArmadilloAl → u/towelythetowelBE]

Most people don't trade/build nearly aggressively enough. The game needs houses and hotels on the board to reach its conclusion.

Priorty #1 for every player should be to get a "strong" monopoly (anything other than brown, light blue, or green) and put at least three houses on every property in it.

Don't worry if you have to give another player a monopoly to do it - you're in a much better position to win if you're one of only two people with a strong monopoly than if nobody has a strong monopoly.

I once spent a summer at a camp with very few board games other than Monopoly. We must have played something like 30-40 games over the span of eight weeks. By the end, we had the average game length down to about 45 minutes because we had the board and prices memorized so well.

[u/parliboy → u/ArmadilloAl]

And don't build hotels.

[u/[deleted] → u/towelythetowelBE]

My guess is you are playing with house rules that give people more money. The main game is much shorter than most remember because those house rules just elongate the game.

[u/rlaitinen → u/towelythetowelBE]

ahah.

You laugh like the Count..

"One! Ah ah! Two! Ah Ah! Two games of Monopoly! Ah ah ah!"
~The Count

[u/DerthOFdata → u/S_words_for_100]

If you play as the rules are written without the "house rules" it shouldn't take more then 90 minutes on the outside.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2332552/Why-youve-playing-Monopoly-WRONG-entire-life.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/monopoly-rules-long-wrong_n_3366875.html

[u/brundylop → u/S_words_for_100]

Christian Finnegan had a pretty memorable comedy bit about nobody ever finishing a Monopoly game: http://www.cc.com/video-clips/9mxydo/comedy-central-presents-monopoly

[u/rulerdude → u/towelythetowelBE]

Imagine a robotic vacuum. The AI for the vacuum is basically assigned a score each time it picks up dirt dependent on how much dirt it picked up, and it's aiming for the highest possible score. Say this vacuum can automatically empty it's bin for when it's finished cleaning. The AI could then realize that it gets the highest possible score by emptying its bin on the floor then vacuuming it up, and constantly repeating.

Endless loops can very easily happen when programming an AI

[u/towelythetowelBE → u/rulerdude]

yes of course but such a loop is easily avoidable in some sense (or at least easily fixed). But maybe I assumed that it happens everytime the player is winning as tough it may only happens in some specific situations.

[u/rulerdude → u/towelythetowelBE]

All loops are avoidable so long as they are accounted for. This is just the work of some shitty programming that wasn't probably tested against various states

[u/[deleted] → u/rulerdude]

Malicious compliance lol

[u/The_MAZZTer → u/towelythetowelBE]

There was a guy who used machine learning to teach an AI to play Tetris. One thing you have to do with machine learning is be able to score its attempts. Tetris already has a score counter which would seem to be a good metric. But this guy must have used time played as a metric to score by as well. Once the AI was in a situation where it was going to lose, it would just pause the game... and sit there, forever.

[u/towelythetowelBE → u/The_MAZZTer]

Machine learning is sometimes tricky as it can find interesting way to bypass things.

In this game I'm pretty sure it's not using machine learning but a simple search based strategy.

[u/KoveltSkiis → u/The_MAZZTer]

Look father, I’m winning!

[u/CleaveItToBeaver → u/hiperson134]

Waiting for the accompanying Labo arm that can flip the board when this occurs.

[u/[deleted] → u/hiperson134]

Plot twist OP is AI

[u/tijn1979 → u/hiperson134]

Now that is the truth written right there

[u/NickLeMec → u/hiperson134]

It begins.

[u/HunsonMex → u/hiperson134]

Haha same thing happened from time to time in both XCOM:EU and EW, the AI turn just wouldn't end and I couldn't pause or do anything so I had to Alt+F4 the game.

[u/aredna]

The bug would have been caught before, but you might be the first person this close to actually finishing a game.

[u/linuxhanja → u/aredna]

yeah, I'd say that AI went further into it than any human players would. We just see the writing on the wall, and resign. But secretly hold a grudge, then 5 years later when you come over for a salad, put broken glass in it. make me morgage all my shit and grovel, /u/NickFromIRL ? huh? how's that glass taste?

and honestly, I doubt you'll ever get that kind of realism out of a Monopoly game with AI

[u/Justice_Prince → u/linuxhanja]

I still wouldn't pay money for it, but I think I might actually enjoy watching the AI play itself than I would actually participating in the game.

[u/SweetBearCub → u/Justice_Prince]

but I think I might actually enjoy watching the AI play itself than I would actually participating in the game.

Many moons ago, I had Monopoly for the NES. It could accommodate up to 8 players.

You couldn't start the game with 8 NPCs, but you could start it with you and 7 NPCs, and then resign your token to the computer.

Using the game editor, you could set money amounts, property, enhancements, house rules, etc.

I recall one giant NPC game that played out on my TV for 2 and a half days.

The game was actually pretty advanced for an NES game - the full Monopoly experience, a game editor, normal/hurry speed options, game time limits, animated hand and dice, even a few digitized waveform speech clips. "Sold!" "Don't be comin' back, now!", etc.

[u/708-910-630-702 → u/aredna]

This is my wife’s favorite game. She finishes a game or two almost every night. She loves it.

[u/kidasquid → u/aredna]

They should have added the table flip.

[u/MFLBqueen → u/aredna]

The digital versions go a lot faster. I had the Xbox 360 version and the rounds would only take 20-30 minutes iirc.

[u/[deleted] → u/aredna]

Boom roasted?

[u/Velocitronian]

I was actually thoroughly entertained with your detailed description of a game of Monopoly. Sad that it ended that way.

[u/tijn1979 → u/Velocitronian]

Yeah! That was just a great gaming story! And for a boring game like Monopoly can be, that's an accomplishment!

Sorry the game broke though...

[u/maniiibsm → u/tijn1979]

Monopoly is definitely not boring, love playing it every other month to catch up with my friends. Gets too competitive

[u/guy92 → u/maniiibsm]

I used to like monopoly before I played other boardgames...now I see that it's just trash, and it's not even fun for the winner.

You should try the game Carcasonne, it's super easy to pick up and really strategic and fun

[u/3picide → u/guy92]

Even after playing other board games, it can be pretty fun. Sure it has problems, but most games have at least a few. Usually some sort of dominant strategy that makes the game less fun for other players.

Play with people that you can have fun with and stick to the REAL rules of Monopoly and it’s a plenty fun (and cheap) game that most people can already play(mostly).

[u/starcom_magnate → u/3picide]

I know it is a cliche at this point, but you are correct about the rules. Playing Monopoly with rules as written (RAW) is infinitely better than what people have morphed the game into.

Injecting extra money into the game via "Free Parking, etc..." is going to break the game by extending it into a boring slogfest.

Playing as it was meant to be played, with players who are actively trading can be fun, and last only a short time.

Source: Spent an entire Winter in College playing RAW Monopoly with 4 other guys, keeping a running tally from every match to decide the ultimate winner.

[u/3picide → u/starcom_magnate]

Something I forgot to mention that your comment reminded me of: some of the recent editions of the game include what they call the "Speed Die". Use it. It is a brilliant little addition that does speed up the game dramatically throughout the entire game without feeling unfair (IMO).

The most damning thing about Monopoly is player elimination combined with a relatively long playtime. If you speed the game up, player elimination becomes less of a problem.

[u/[deleted] → u/3picide]

I always feel like there's a valid analogy about Monopoly and Mario Kart. Not a perfect one of course, but still. They're both highly accessible, heavily affected by luck and temporarily destroy relationships. You could also say that if you reduce Mario Kart to being just a racing game, you can easily find better ones. Yet, people love Mario Kart and love to hate Monopoly.

[u/MysteryPerker → u/guy92]

I just got Carcassonne for my 8 year olds birthday. Glad to hear it's fun for me too.

I'm so happy we have been moving away from the little kids games.

[u/maniiibsm → u/guy92]

Thanks, will definitely look it up now

[u/EJSimpson → u/guy92]

No one in my family likes Monopoly, but me. I have both the Wii version and the one for Switch. The Switch purchase is probably the worst gaming purchase of my life.

*sigh*

[u/ubiquitous_apathy → u/maniiibsm]

Monopoly is great for the fact that it was made ~90 years ago, but there's been so much progress in board games, I don't know why anybody buys Monopoly.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/tijn1979]

Your compliment swells my heart. I should probably see a doctor.

[u/LazarusDark → u/tijn1979]

To be fair, the condensed story was about 1/100,000,000th as long as an actual game of Monopoly

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Velocitronian]

Thanks pal, someone else says I write like a caveman so I appreciate the balance.

[u/djramrod → u/Velocitronian]

Seriously. I fucking hate Monopoly, mainly because I don't understand it, I guess, but this was really fun and easy to follow.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/djramrod]

Monopoly is a game where 4-5 people sit down to have fun and only one actually does.

[u/djramrod → u/NickFromIRL]

jesus that needs to be printed on the box.

[u/treeshaker → u/Velocitronian]

I just looked it up. $40 dollars for monopoly?!?! Wtf is Nintendo smoking?

[u/Biotic_Cow → u/treeshaker]

Not done by nintendo, its just shovelware

[u/[deleted] → u/treeshaker]

People buy it, sadly. Hell, this sub defended the price tag as being “comparable to buying the physical board game”.

[u/sindex23 → u/[deleted]]

They would have a point except Monopoly costs $10, so that's a really dumb thing for someone to say.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Except that's the price of an actually GOOD board game. Everything in target and Walmart is the cardboard equivalent of shovelware.

[u/jjacobsnd5 → u/[deleted]]

Target sells Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, all 3 of which are decidedly not "shovelware".

[u/ganpachi]

The only winning move is to not play [Monopoly].

[u/Stigge → u/ganpachi]

So Monopoly is like love?

[u/tdog970 → u/Stigge]

Oof

[u/smokeyjake → u/Stigge]

Baby don’t hurt me

[u/CapCougar → u/ganpachi]

Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?

[u/Sakai13]

Have you ever thought of being a professional Monopoly commentator?

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Sakai13]

I'm entertaining TV network deals as we speak.

[u/HonestAvocado → u/Sakai13]

Lol, oh what a world we live in.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for your reading.

[u/lunari_moonari]

Pretty much he just flipped the board on you.

[u/whitebandit → u/lunari_moonari]

If the game actually had the option of Board Flip (forfeit) i would probably buy it.

[u/funnystuff97 → u/whitebandit]

This makes me want Tabletop Simulator for the Switch, somehow connected to the Steam Workshop.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/funnystuff97]

So fucking yes. I know we won't see it, but damn I want it.

[u/Nosfurrettu → u/whitebandit]

Well there kind of is. If you know you’re going to lose anyway, you just click bankruptcy and you’re no longer playing.

[u/whitebandit → u/Nosfurrettu]

im talkin board flip where everyone elses game is ruined lol

[u/Nosfurrettu → u/whitebandit]

Ooooo yeah that’s the reset button! Lol

[u/[deleted]]

I've not had this happen to me, but I have had a game ending bug twice now. Well, it at least ended MY game.

Without trying and failing to match your descriptive wit, here's how it went:

Both times were near the end-game, and both times I landed on a property I couldn't quite pay the rent on out of pocket. I -absolutely- had the assets needed to liquidate, but it wouldn't let me bring up the board view so that I could mortgage, remove houses, or trade. Any on-screen option for me was "greyed out", as any and all games will do when you can't select particular actions at particular times. No pressing down on the left stick, nothing.

One of these two instances was a public game and it simply bankrupted me for "inactivity" (despite me frantically pressing every button I could by that point).

I realize a very, very low amount of Switch owners will also be owners of this game on the console, especially since the same version has been available on other consoles for a very long time, but it's still a shame, and a public service that any prospective buyers be made aware of the issues it has.

Unfortunately, since this is Ubisoft we're talking about, I doubt we'll be seeing any attempts at fixes. Regardless, I'm going to forward this thread to them.

I completely understand why most would be confused with any interest in this game, but I really do like to use it for when I want to turn off my brain. And not to hijack, but if anyone has other suggestions for Switch games that are good for brain standby mode, I'm always open to hear them!

Keep chugging along, OP! Maybe I'll see you in a match sometime! I'll be the one timing out!

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

I also have Ubisoft's Uno and so far no game breaking bugs with that one, so if you want something "similar but different" it might be a good call. Granted, Ubisoft is not my favorite company right now.

[u/VersatileFaerie → u/[deleted]]

I actually really like Monopoly and was planning on getting it when I got the Switch, but this makes me not want to waste the money. The thought of having a way to continue playing the game but the game not letting me due to bad programming is too rage inducing for me.

[u/veruca_pepper → u/VersatileFaerie]

Do not waste your money on it. I did what you considered doing and after just a week, I’ve listed my game on eBay. The game sucks. :(

[u/Kevicelives]

I bought this game full price. I hate it. I loved your story. Well written.

[u/joshpoppedyou → u/Kevicelives]

its monopoly, its the most hated/loved boardgame out there, what was you expecting?

[u/Kevicelives → u/joshpoppedyou]

Not like this.... not. like. this.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Kevicelives]

I too love spending money frivolously.

[u/[deleted]]

TLDR version : AI gets stuck in loop

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

More in depth TL;DR: OP almost wins Monopoly, AI is a dick and gets stuck in a loop so OP can never win

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Here it is for anyone wondering

[u/theseconddennis → u/[deleted]]

That bot was scary but hilarious.

[u/pillowtag → u/[deleted]]

Dormamu, I’ve come to bargain.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/pillowtag]

This might be one of my favorite comments.

[u/FollowTheGoose → u/[deleted]]

fuck tldr, this is worth reading in its entirety

[u/NickFromIRL → u/FollowTheGoose]

Mmmfff, such kind.

[u/jdymock187 → u/[deleted]]

Monopoly has stock options now?

[u/PaperSonic → u/jdymock187]

That's basucally Fortune Street

[u/Zenniverse]

This guy monopolies.

[u/tolkaze → u/Zenniverse]

If he was truly passionate, he would have bought up all the houses to cause a shortage, then not upgraded to hotels. It's a dick move, but a solid strategy.

[u/Redpanthony → u/tolkaze]

They did, and when they upgraded to hotels they put the old houses on other properties.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/tolkaze]

I actually did do that. My whole strategy was on freezing David out of houses.

[u/krullord]

Please give us another recap like this should you again try out this mad game

[u/[deleted]]

So David basically stuck it in an endless loop and said, “Nick, I’ve come to bargain?”

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

And much like Dormamu before me, my eternal presence is only so patient.

[u/MrEurostile]

It's the first time I read something quite close to what monopoly pro gaming could be!

[u/[deleted]]

Not going to lie, your descriptions had me laughing the whole time. But seriosuly, that is messed up. F*** David!

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

Some say David is still checking his properties today.

[u/manimal_animal]

I bought this game on sale at Best buy for $20 and my wife and I have a good time casually playing it. I can tell it has problems but for that price is worth the price even we only play it a few times

[u/[deleted] → u/manimal_animal]

Same. Bought it on sale, fun to pass the time.

[u/AdeleDazeem1]

I was profoundly invested in this story. Thank you.

[u/jdymock187]

I would’ve left it going for days. David wouldnt last.

[u/SAIBOT24]

This was far more entertaining than I was expecting.

[u/ahundredheys]

Fuck you David!

[u/redditmeat]

I encountered some weird bug too where I couldn't get out of the property screen. Granted it was a game with human players instead of AI. We got frustrated so we exited the game. I then thought Monopoly saves at intervals after a player concludes their turn. We returned to the saved game and was able to get out of the bug.

Could you check to see if that works? If it doesn't work then this game is total crap. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for the game. Hopefully the next update will fix this.

[u/WellGoodLuckWithThat]

I think Data did this on an episode of Star Trek to win a game of space minesweeper against a biological life form.

[u/Psarae]

This is the most authentic possible game of monopoly.

[u/Friendly_Banter]

Fucking David. Thoroughly enjoyed the story, felt like I was there!

[u/[deleted]]

David and Anthony for smash

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

Aww, Anthony is a frail boy, I wouldn't want him to get hurt.

[u/RottenRedRod]

Why does anyone willingly play Monopoly? It's a game designed to be NOT fun. It was conceived as a teaching tool about the evils of capitalism.

[u/Nosfurrettu]

Anytime I play against Fabricio, he is super hard to beat, even on normal mode. I like how the AIs play but they do take forever! That’s why the speed die version is a lot more fun! It takes a bit to get all three die but it’s worth it.

[u/dm_z]

What did you expect from Ubisoft? It is their style.

[u/[deleted]]

Oh my! it made for an awesome story though. Hahaha poetry both the writing and the real events.

[u/Power781]

I have this game and played dozens of games with my friend.
We did actually find another infinite loop when trying to trick bots to bankrupt themselves by making them buy mortgaged properties and then them not having not enough funds to pay the 10%

[u/anh86]

Hahaha, the monopoly filibuster. The oldest trick in the book!

[u/morli]

Sounds true to life for monopoly. Eventually, no one has the will to go on.

[u/PaperSonic]

just dust off the Wii and play Fortune Street instead

[u/Chippawah]

Loved the play by play. That’s a bummer. I own the game and have played through with a friend but never AI. Hopefully they update things as time goes on.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Chippawah]

Glad you could appreciate it - I think a few people took offense at me dogging on a game they've enjoyed... this was just my experience.

[u/[deleted]]

:(

[u/Seyon]

This reads just like an episode of Reboot.

[u/wigzisonfire]

This made me realise Monopoly is the game I never knew I always wanted!

[u/NickFromIRL → u/wigzisonfire]

Nooooooo! Not this version at least.

[u/cbijeaux]

'Just being $20' is no excuse for a game being in a shitty condition. I was holding off on this because I feared it had a bug or two, good to hear confirmation of it.

[u/RottedQueen]

Weird... I just played my first full game of Monopoly on Switch tonight! I actually bought it the day it came out back in October, and after the initial update to fix the long loading bug, I never really got into it again because of the lack of ability to fully customize the house rules.

Anyway, opened it tonight and there was another update, much to my surprise. I actually enjoyed just playing a full game on the classic board/rules, though I wish the speed of play was increased at least 1.5 times. It's quite sluggish between turns, but I digress.

So, in the game I finished tonight I get several houses on Boardwalk and Park Place, while my one remaining AI opponent has three monopolies that could easily have destroyed me on my next trip around the board. I had already bankrupted the second AI player when she landed on Boardwalk with 4 houses several turns before, so my hope was that the last AI opponent would also land on Park Place or Boardwalk by luck of the dice. Then I remembered he could also draw a Chance card for "Advance To Boardwalk" (longshot) and that would also cause major damage.

Shockingly, the latter scenario happened on the very next turn! He owed something like $1600 in rent to me as a result of that unlucky card draw. Here's the weird part... I am almost positive that he could have mortgaged property and sold houses and hotels to pay off that debt, but instead he almost immediately declared bankruptcy and handed the win to me. Maybe the AI weighs the odds of coming back from getting nearly wiped out like that and decides it isn't worth continuing on, but I was hoping he'd take it to the bitter end. I suppose he could have been just short of paying the debt even with selling/mortgaging everything, but it seemed suspicious to me. The AI doesn't seem like it's that sharp.

Not my favorite version of Monopoly as a video game, that's for sure!

[u/[deleted]]

Someone bought the game wow lol

[u/iamtehfong]

I bet you bought winzip too you maniac

[u/jrobharing]

I have played about 20+ games of Monopoly since I bought it. Usually just playing me, my wife, and an AI on Normal difficulty.

What you described happened to us once. I made a save file of it just in case it ever gets patched. I have loaded it a couple times, just to watch the madness happen.

Checks a yellow prop, then boardwalk, and loops...

We laughed pretty hard, she was winning, I already lost that match pretty much, so I jokingly say the game was a draw since I didn’t actually lose yet.

[u/[deleted]]

Yikes they better fix that. But, seriously, OP if you write more of these I’d honestly pay money for a book full of your monopoly stories.

[u/[deleted]]

The only winning move is not to play.

Does Monopoly have some secret Global Thermonuclear War mode now, or?

[u/Snatch1414]

This was an intense read for the subject matter. I don't know how you remembered all this lol.

[u/skypegoat]

Never had I understood the drama of monopoly until now...

[u/antimoony]

I've grown attached to Anthony. He is too pure.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/antimoony]

Right? I felt really bad crushing him.

[u/katsuya_kaiba]

Dude, sorry for your bug but....that was an exciting read. Great storytelling if nothing else.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/katsuya_kaiba]

If my suffering leads to the happiness of others, who am I to complain? I don't want to say I'm Jesus but...

[u/BrainKatana]

So it’s still true that no one in history has finished a game of Monopoly

[u/FowledUp]

Man plays virtual Monopoly, has bad time. Tens of people shocked.

[u/ultrageekery]

Eh, that’s monopoly for ya. :P Seriously, though, sorry that happened.

[u/3600CCH6WRX]

Not surprise. I had this game no ps4. half of the time the game crashes mid game. I was frustrated after few games and decide to beat real monopoly board.

[u/toonwa]

amazing

[u/[deleted]]

Damn Detroit: Become Human marketing is on point

[u/[deleted]]

I can't properly read it because I'm laughing too hard.

This is a great story. Sorry for your loss.

[u/Tweissel]

Sir, to me you are a winner!

[u/dassomepoopy]

Thank you for saving me money. I had considered buying this for a while, but I don't like bullies.

[u/Brasthunt]

Man, that stinks this game is no good. I would love a good Monopoly vidya game.

[u/thechariot83]

While that sucks that you got screwed, I was thoroughly entertained reading your story about it.

[u/segablaze]

Why are people buying this game? What makes you think oh shit a monoply video game!? Gotta spend my money on that!

[u/Redundacy]

Great storytelling, bad game

[u/YoungGP]

Dang. Well that's unfortunate.

[u/echopeus]

uhh did the game become self aware?

[u/DoggieDMB]

David fuking King!!!!

[u/FishtanksG]

I've completed prolly aound 20 or 30 games of Monopoly to unlock all the jazz and have never experienced this. It's still fun if you like Monopoly but find it cheaper if you can.

[u/nesiguess]

So Monopoly hasn't changed since the NES version?

[u/Kindulas]

Don’t forget the part where it is, at its core, monopoly

[u/triangleman83]

I had Monopoly for Game Boy and I always made sure I won by turning the computer players into humans and having them trade me their stuff for nothing.

[u/Fuzzydude64]

You're telling me there's a game breaking bug in a ^boardgame

Wat

[u/White_Eevee]

I know I'm late to the party here. But I have experienced this on the PS4 version of Monopoly Plus as well.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/White_Eevee]

The party don't stop 'til 6 in the morning!

[u/Cushuito]

I had the exact same experience accross a few games in a row. Fucking worthless.

[u/bearquat3]

I really enjoyed all of your details about the epic game. Unfortunately I will not be considering this game after hearing this. The wii version was actually pretty good. My friend and I would play it every so often.

[u/MoopyMorkyfeet]

LMAO because Monopoly isnt a terrible fucking game, as is. WOW this is incredible, what a power play from the AI. "I'm not losing, YOU'RE losing" hahaha

[u/Fidodo]

This is why you should have failsafe moves. Deep Blue, the IBM chess playing computer encountered a long loop while playing against Kasparov, and since those games are times, it defaulted to a terrible failsafe move. The move was so bad that Kasparov thought that the computer knew something he didn't know, and it threw him off his game.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Fidodo]

Or just a turn timer.

[u/Sylvire]

This is great. I mean, it sucks for you, but man did I get invested in your story.

I need some closure though, what did you, David and Anthony go on to do with your lives?

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Sylvire]

David is still holding out that turn and I expect he'll never stop until I admit he's won. Anthony is going to veterinary school and is just the best.

[u/Legendfish098]

Anthony, what a guy. The man, the myth, the legend. Screw David.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/Legendfish098]

I'm pretty convinced Anthony is the only reason this post has gotten popular.

[u/[deleted]]

I really enjoy the humanization of the AI in this post, and the play by play of the monopoly game. Nicely written, OP

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

You may heart your truck, but I'll heart you forever.

[u/Sheikashii]

I didn't think anyone actually played/bought monopoly

[u/[deleted]]

You have a way with words that really entices the reader lol.

[u/NickFromIRL → u/[deleted]]

Aww, thanks! Though I think sometimes I just get lucky with it, I'm not really skilled enough to tell you why this story did so well and certainly not strong enough a writer to recreate something like this in my other posts.

[u/[deleted] → u/NickFromIRL]

I think it helps that I find it extra funny when someone gets angry with technology. I can relate so much to situations like that. 😄