• Make the journey with the Fellowship and claim the territories of Middle-Earth in this special edition of the classic Monopoly Game

• Gather power as you move in and out of these territories, building strongholds and fortresses to secure your holdings

• You may even acquire relics such as the staffs of the Wizards

• Become the most powerful player throughout Middle-Earth to be the winner

• Play the classic version or make use of the power of the One Ring with the special The Lord of the Rings optional play

• For 2 to 6 players

• The Eye of Sauron advances the One Ring and moves the game along quickly

• This Collector's Edition Includes: six collectible tokens, full-color game board

• Title deeds representing territories throughout Middle-Earth, 32 plastic strongholds and 12 fortresses, PEOPLE and EVENT cards that replace

The play is almost unchanged from regular Monopoly: roll the dice and advance your tokens (in this case, metal figurines of Fordo, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimili, Legolas, and Galadriel) around the board, buying up "territories" (instead of "properties") and charging rent from the other players to try to bankrupt them. Instead of money, this edition uses "power," but the values are exactly the same: for instance, each time you pas GO, you collect 200 power, just as you would collect $200 in the regular game.

Almost all the spaces are changed to fit the world of Middle-Earth. The territories are locations along the journey of the Fellowship. Park Place and Boardwalk are now Bard-dûr (The Dark Tower) and Mount Doom. The red properties are now Gap of Rohan, Helm's Deep, and Edoras. The four railroads are horses: Bill the Pony, Shadowfax, Brego, and Asfaloth. The two utilities are the Wizard's Staffs. Luxury Tax is Shelob's Lair. Income Tax (the bane of all players!) is now "Seen by the Palantír." The Community Chest cards and Chance cards are changed to "Events" and "People." An example of a typical card: "Winged nazgûl attack! Lose 150 power." The houses and hotels you build on properties are now fortresses and strongholds. The white plastic stronghold miniatures look quite impressive on the board!

Strangely, the four corner spaces on the board look exactly the same as in the regular edition: GO, Jail, Free Parking, and Go to Jail. This is odd, since pictures of a car and a policeman clash with the theme of the set. This is really the only flaw in the game presentation.

There is a special "Lord of the Rings" variation you can play if you want a quicker game with an interesting twist. One of the dice has an Eye of Sauron on it instead of a one-spot. When playing the variation, every time the eye pops up on a roll, a special One Ring icon moves one territory around the board. When the Ring reaches the last territory (Mount Doom), the game ends and the player with the most power wins. If a player lands on a territory where the ring is sitting, he/she either gets the territory for free if no one owns it, or else owes the owner TWICE the amount of rent they normally would. This is a fun way to throw variety into the game, but ignore it if you want to play a full-length game.

Parker Brothers has made many Monopoly special editions, but this is the one that got me back into the game, and if you love "The Lord of the Rings" (movie or book), I guarantee it will pull you in too. Just be cautious that you don't start pawing the other players' money and croaking "My precioussss! Givessss us power so we can liftses the mortgage, my precioussss!"

35 of 36 found the following review helpful:


LotR monopoly  Nov 04, 2003
I'd like to start by saying that I'm not a toy enthusiast like the thing above says but this version of momopoly is alot of fun especialy for any LotR fan like me (I'm a VERY big LotR fan). You can be either Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Gandalf or Galadreil and the places you can buy are atual locations from the movie such as Rivendel, Edoras and Barad Dur. The railroads are horses such as Shadowfax and Brego and houses are strongholds and hotels are fortresses. on one of the dice it has the eye of sauron for a one. This game is very fun and a very good investment for a LotR fan.

41 of 44 found the following review helpful:


I guess ruling all of Middle-Earth constitutes a monopoly  Jan 19, 2004 By Lawrance M. Bernabo
Well, Sauron was certainly trying to establish a monopoly over Middle-Earth, so "Monopoly: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition" makes sense. Instead of Boardwalk and St. James Place you now try to win control of Helm's Deep, Isengard, and Rivendel. Instead of railroads you now have Shadowfax, Bill the Pony, Asfaloth, and Brego. The goal is now to gather power as you move in and out of these territories, as well as acquiring relics such as the staffs of the wizards. You can play the regular version of the game or try the special LOTR option, which makes use of the power of the One Ring.

The Collector's Edition includes the full color gameboard with a map of Middle Earth in the middle, six collectible tokens (Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli, Galadriel, Gandalf, and Legolas), title deeds for the territories of Middle-Earth, 32 plastic Strongholds and 12 Fortresses, People and Event cards (instead of Chance and Community Chest, e.g., "Fly, you fools!" Proceed to go), seven denominations of power (instead of play money), one standard die, one special die with the Eye of Sauron, and a gold toned pewter ring. Unlike other "special" editions of Monopoly, which just change the names of everything and add some art, there is actually an attempt here to come up with something different. It might not be enough to appeal to LOTR fans, but it is not a bad effort.

19 of 20 found the following review helpful:


Still a great game  Feb 06, 2004 By Robert Graves
Monopoly is often overlooked as a gamenight option these days, many people considering it outdated. But it's a classic for a reason, combining lucky rolls and strategy in a very unique way.

The Lord of the Rings version is a fun alternate version of the game, adding a modern twist to the classic. Instead of the thimbles and hats you are the characters from LOTR. You play for power levels instead of cash, and you own regions of Middle Earth instead of properties. There is an alternate rule you can incorporate utilizing the "one ring" gamepiece, giving special power to whoever holds the ring. It's an interesting option, but for the most part you'll want to play by the original rules, all of which are still intact in this version.

The fact is that most people don't play Monopoly by the correct rules, and that makes all the difference. The key to enjoying the game is the inter-player deals and politics. That's where all the fun lies, and much of the strategy. Any player can strike any kind of a deal with another player - want to trade all the purples and light blues for Boardwalk? No problem. Want to trick someone into trading a property you need for all your railroads? This is where the real enjoyment comes from. I encourage you not only to get the game and play it, but to read the rules and "get into" the game.

There are also some fun alternate rules you can use, such as collecting $400 (instead of $200) when you *land* directly on "go", or putting fine money (from chance cards, utility expenses, get out of jail money, etc.) in the center of the board and collecting it when you land on "free parking".

Don't overlook Monopoly as an outdated option. It's still one of the best games out there.

27 of 32 found the following review helpful:


A fun game for LOTR Fans  Nov 13, 2003 By Matthew Edmundson
I'm a Lord of The Rings fan. I've loved all the movies and books. I was in ... the other day and saw this game. It was on sale so I picked it up.

Lord of The Rings Monopoly is exactly what you get. You get the classic game of Monopoly Lord of the Ring style. It's the dame objective as Monopoly in that you want to control as many monopoly's as you can and you want to put all the other players in the game bankrupt.

You can be different characters from the movie to play with. All the main characters are there. The real estate is different places from Middle Earth. The railroads are horses. I thought that one was clever.

Lord of the Ring fans will like it. If you like Monopoly and want to play it without the stupid looking guy and his hat pick it up. I'm glad I bought this game.

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