Money

• Designer: Reiner Knizia
• Publisher: Allplay
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 11+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Your goal in Money! is to trade currencies with the bank and other players so that you end up with more value than anyone else.

To start, each player takes a value 0 fake money card and a player aid.    Each player starts with a hand of six cards from a deck that contains cards in seven currencies ranging in value from 20-60, along with coins worth 10. Four cards from the deck are placed face up to its left and to its right.

In a round, each player chooses a bid of one or more cards from their hand, then everyone reveals their bid simultaneously. The Fake 0 card can always be added into a bid, but it has no effect and is always taken back into that player’s hand.  Whoever bid the highest sum takes the four cards to the left or right of the deck or another player’s bid, adds these cards to their hand, then places their bid next to the deck or in front of the player whose bid they took. (Alternatively, the player can return their bid to hand.) Then the next player with the highest bid resolves their bid similarly.  If there are ties, you can use the serial numbers in the upper right corner to break ties – the player who played the lowest serial number card gets to swap first. Once all players have resolved their bids, draw cards from the deck to refill the lots to the left and right of the deck to four cards. When the deck runs out, play one final round, then score your cards in hand.

If you have 200 or more in a single currency, score that many points. If you have less than 200 in a currency, subtract 100 from that amount but don’t go below 0. If you have all three 20s or 30s in a currency, score 100 points in addition to whatever the currency itself scores for you. Now total up your Gold (20 points each) and Silver (10 points each).  Additionally, score 100 points for each set of 3 exactly matching cards – there can be 20s, 30s, silver or gold. Whoever has the highest score wins.

My thoughts on the game

Money is a classic card game that I think I now own three or four different versions of?!  This new Allplay version adds the silver cards to the game – and this allows for a bit more set collection and set bonuses.  The new currency is a nice addition and it helps to add a fresh take to this classic game – though a few people that I have played with have asked whether the addition was necessary.

The big gist here is trading cards you don’t want to get ones that you do want.  Early in the game, you don’t want to be too specialized – if you don’t have cards to give away as bids, you won’t be able to get the new cards you want!  

Oftentimes, the game comes down to each player trying to capture one particular currency – and bad luck to you if another player is trying to get the same one that you have set your eyes on – as it is likely that neither of you will offer up what you have, and as a result, each of you will score something paltry with your mediocre holding in that currency.

Of course, gathering sets is a nice way to raise your score, and it does give some extra reasons to hold onto the low valued currency as well as the gold and silver.  The addition of the extra currency does give you one other thing to collect and make sets with – as well as giving you a few more cards to use as bidding fodder – but it also dilutes the pool a bit, and lessens the tightness of the original game.

I may be in the minority here, but I’m really growing weary of anthropomorphic animal art in games.  It seems to be all the rage now, and I really miss the clean art of the actual currency replicas of some of the previous versions.  The scoreboard and dry erase marker are a nice addition, but I will note that it is frustrating that the icons they use for the currencies are not actually found on some of the cards!  Not sure how that happened….

In the end, it’s still an enjoyable game of trading and collecting money cards.  Trying to figure out how much you need to bid each round to get you in a position to get wanted cards is a fun challenge.  If you don’t already have a copy of this classic, the new version is a great entry point to the world of currency trading.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mark Jackson: My “like it” rating is based on the original game design – I’ve hung onto my copy for 25 years and still enjoy playing it.

Larry:  Same here.  Money is still one of my favorite super-short fillers and remains a great choice when you’re waiting for the other table to finish their game.  Classic Knizia from his brilliant 1997-2000 period.  I haven’t played or seen the new version, but I suspect I’ll sorely miss the wonderful graphics of the original, with very realistic images of the currencies making up each of the suits.

Erik Arneson: Great game design, always fun and competitive. I’m glad to see that Money is getting another release so even more people can find it!

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! 
• I like it. Dale, Mark Jackson, Larry, John P, Erik Arneson
• Neutral.
• Not for me…