Monopoly GO is another gambling game hiding in the costume of a family game. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Gambling for the entire family

Monopoly GO is one of the most popular mobile games on the planet. Its publisher, Scopely, is likely enjoying a nice holiday season, as the game recently launched a new ad campaign featuring Chris Pratt, Jason Momoa, Keke Palmer, and Will Ferrell.

Monopoly GO, based on the 89-year-old board game, is rated “E for Everyone,” and why not, right? It’s a board game in mobile form, full of colorful cartoon characters and fun sound effects. And it’s free! No purchase required!

I can confidently say that Monopoly GO is gambling disguised as a family game

But here’s the problem. After being bombarded with online ads for the game, I finally downloaded Monopoly GO a few weeks ago to see what the fuss was all about. And now, having played it daily, I can confidently say that Monopoly GO is gambling disguised as a family game, which makes it worse than your average mobile casino game. At least those are upfront with you.

Roll of the dice

I would tell you what the goal of Monopoly GO is, but there really isn’t one. The goal is just to keep playing and occasionally collect the “next thing,” be it a “sticker” for your virtual sticker book collection, a new game piece, or a new design for your shield that prevents other players from harming your properties. There is no end game. There are no real accomplishments, unless you count continuing to play without spending money.

Here’s why Monopoly GO is gambling: almost no strategy is involved, and your success is almost entirely based on the dice roll. Yes, there is a slight bit of strategy, such as increasing or decreasing your multiplier depending on where your token is on the board relative to the railroad spaces, but that’s about it.

Roll the dice, hope you land on something good. Missed? Let’s roll again and cross our fingers. Rinse, repeat.

And even though everything you do earns you Monopoly money – opponents can take your money, as well – the money isn’t the game’s real currency. The currency of Monopoly GO is the dice rolls. Every turn uses dice rolls. When you run out, you can’t play anymore. But every roll could also get you closer to winning more dice rolls.

You roll the dice to win more dice.

It’s just like playing in a casino. You wager money in the hopes of winning money. You roll the dice to win more dice.

Everything Monopoly GO throws at you is designed to get you to use your dice so that you run out and are tempted to buy more with real money. Gotta keep rolling to try to move up the daily tournament leaderboard! Gotta keep rolling to land on the corner spaces so that my points bar can hit that next sticker pack reward! That next sticker could complete an album and win me more dice rolls!

In a recent, since-deleted Reddit post, a parent asked for advice on what to do after their 17-year-old stepdaughter spent $25,000 on over 360 Monopoly GO purchases. Most people who replied said the parent was probably out of luck.

Uh oh, I ran out of dice rolls. Well, I can just spend $10 to get a few hundred more and then I’ll be good. Plus, now I can boost my multiplier. But that makes my dice rolls run out sooner. Ah, but if I get lucky these next couple of rolls, I’ll advance my progress bar to get even more rolls!

Stickers, stickers, stickers, gotta get those rare stickers!

Perpetual gameplay with no accomplishments

Now, you might say, “But every free-to-play mobile game has gameplay limiters that entice you into spending money.”

This is true, but Monopoly GO is particularly awful. Everything is in service of dice rolls. The game presents three or four pop-ups every login urging you to spend money to get more dice and meaningless trinkets.

You will earn stickers, new game tokens, and new shield designs, but they all mean nothing.

And in the end, with all this gambling, you can’t win anything. You’re not going to get any real-world rewards. At least at a casino, you can win some money. In Monopoly GO, all you’re trying to do is win more dice rolls so that you can roll the dice some more and win more dice rolls. You will earn stickers, new game tokens, and new shield designs, but they all mean nothing.

Oh look, my token is Rocket Raccoon now! Who cares.

Other games at least have some sort of skill or strategy element. Some games are actually competitions against other players. Monopoly GO diehards would have you believe that those elements are included in the game, but really, all you do is roll the dice and hope for the best. It’s gambling with no payoff and no challenge, but with the urgency to keep paying so you can keep playing. You’re a mouse hitting a lever.

And it’s E for Everyone.