Skip to Content
 

Monopoly

7 replies [Last post]
John3xvi
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969

Hi ya all,

We are just about to place an order for our first run of games we are self publishing.

The game is the opposite to Monopoly in as much that you start with a million the winner is the first player to get rid of their cash.

ON THE BOX WE SAY:

The game plays the opposite to Monopoly as each player blah blah blah

My question is:

Is it unwise to have such a statement refering to another product ie Monopoly on the side of our games box?

Thanks,

John.

jkopena
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Monopoly

Regardless of the legal issues, as a buyer I would be immediately turned off by that. There's too strong a connotation that your game in a sense only exists in terms of Monopoly. I would assume it was derivative and probably inferior, and I think a lot of people might read it that way, so that might not be something you want to say.

Scurra
Scurra's picture
Offline
Joined: 09/11/2008
Monopoly

There was an early Parker or Waddingtons family game that had a similar idea, but I can't for the life of me remember the name (and the 'geek isn't helping!) IIRC, it was a Roll-and-Move game, in which you bought useless assets as quickly as possible.

As for whether mentioning Monopoly is a good idea: my instant reaction is "no" as well - it'll be pretty clear to people what the idea of the game is, and if they voluntarily think "ah, the reverse of Monopoly" then that's good. You shouldn't put that idea in their mind however.

jkopena
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Monopoly

I think a lot of people here (myself included) would be interested though to hear more about your game, and how you're going about publishing it.

(also, I didn't mean to sound harsh in the earlier post, but that's my gut reaction to statements like that)

Pluckerman
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Monopoly

Scurra wrote

Quote:
There was an early Parker or Waddingtons family game that had a similar idea, but I can't for the life of me remember the name

The game you're thinking of is Go For Broke, a silly, but fun game somewhat similar to Monopoly in which you start with a set amount of cash and your goal is to be the first to become bankrupt.

~Karl

Scurra
Scurra's picture
Offline
Joined: 09/11/2008
Monopoly

Pluckerman wrote:
The game you're thinking of is Go For Broke,
Thank you - that's the one. I went crazy trying out various permutations of words on the BGG search, but never tried "broke"!

FastLearner
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Monopoly

Here in the States, anyway, you're extremely likey to be the target of a trademark infringement lawsuit. "Monopoly" is a trademark of Hasbro, and not only can they defend it, they must defend it in order to keep the trademark.

In your shoes, I would ask myself, "Who has more money to spend on lawyers, me or Hasbro?"

John3xvi
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Monopoly

Thanks for your input I accepted your advice and made the nesecary changes...Thank you.

Joe wrote, "I think a lot of people here (myself included) would be interested though to hear more about your game, and how you're going about publishing it."

Delano are at present making the first batch of games.
There is a game preview at www.mission316.com
The game is a Christian game and I am hoping to go on some Christian TV channels in November in the USA.

So we will just have to see how it goes.
Thanks again for your help,

John.

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut