Fortune Street is a lot of things rolled up into a pretty package of Mario and Dragonquest. It is a video game replacement for Monopoly, it is a learning tool for the kids, and it is a family game that captures the attention of the wife and grandparents as well. We are going to focus on the easy rules given that we have been playing the game with our 8 and 6-year-old. Now your mileage may vary, but our 8-year-old is pretty good on the easy rules, being able to understand how the games plays. Our 6-year-old needs help from time to time, but still has a fun time because of the presentation of the game.
While you can all read about the rules, let me just give you a nice high level overview of the easy rules game, which is geared toward the beginners and younger players. You can go around the game board and collect the 4 suits (diamond, club, spade, heart) and return them to the bank for promotions, which is kind of like passing go in Monopoly. You will get some money based on the promotion level (how many times you collect the suits) and how many shops you own. There are also Suit Yourself Cards which can be used in place of any of the suits. You can buy shops on the board, and upgrade them when you land on one of your own (upgrade any shop you own though) and if you group your shops together you also get an added bonus. The Venture Cards are like Chance cards and you get a cash bonus for getting multiples in a row on the Venture Card Board. All sorts of fun things (and bad things) can happen with the cards. There are also different spots like the arcade, take-a-break square and others.
So the things that we like are in abundance here. There are multiple game boards allowing for longer or shorter games, as well as giving you different themes and strategy. The Venture Cards are nice and random so that they actually can have an impact on the game itself. I find the ability to collect the suits and get back to the bank a much better way to raise capital than passing Go in Monopoly. It allows people to go around the board in different ways rather than a straight path, which opens up the ability to get shops in different parts of the board. This means you have a bit of strategy involved even in the movement of your character, it is not all dictated by that dice roll. The theme of the game really appeals to my kids, they like that they can own a T-Shirt Shop and a Donut Shop rather than some avenue that they have never heard of. This game is such a great way to teach kids about assets as well as cold hard cash, or gold coins. While some may complain about busy screens for the different game board backgrounds, I find it fun and interesting, so no issue for our family in that regard.
While there was a lot to like about the game there were a few distractions. The game just plays slow at times, and I don’t believe there is a real fix for it. You really want to know what each of the computer players is doing on their turn, but it seems that a turn can take a long time. Also when you get upgrades on multiple shops there should be a way to quickly get past those parts. While I don’t think the overall game needs to be set to fast speed, there should be more areas where you can skip past certain things. Not having a way to save local games is probably our biggest gripe. When it is time for the kids to go to bed and you don’t have enough time to finish the game you are stuck with starting over the next day. Does not make for happy children if they are winning at all. Also it would be nice to play with 3 players or even 2 players sometimes not the full set of 4.
Overall, Fortune Street is a very fun game that can not only amuse and entertain the kids, but teach them very worthwhile ideas as well. The fact that Nintendo used the Mario Universe and Dragon Quest Universe characters made it become a game that is available to all sorts of players. This is a game that will grow with the boys and once they become a bit older the Standard Rules will be open to them. It has also become a game that my parents and friends have played as well. The amount of strategy is worthwhile to the older crowd as well. The best thing about the game? Well two things really. You do not have to clean it up after the game is over and no one can get upset and spill over the game board.
Go for broke with Mario™ and the whole Mushroom Kingdom gang in this exciting interactive board game. Snatch up properties, invest in shops, charge your foes and drain their bank accounts, and play the stock market like a true tycoon. That’s how you earn the big bucks on Fortune Street.
Click below to see why you’ll have a blast with Fortune Street!
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