For us, October means that Pinball Expo is here. Fortunately, we were able to find STERN's brand-new release for this October issue. We decided to take a deep look at STERN's new game, MONOPOLY®, for all of you pinball fans before Pinball Expo happens. It will also be shown at the Amusement and Music Operators Association (AMOA) Expo early in October. In addition, we also took a look at Konami's MoCap Boxing and Sega's Shootout pool.

MONOPOLY®/STERN Pinball

All we can say is FINALLY!!! It took about four years, but Pat Lawlor now has a new game for us to enjoy. Following the fantastic Austin Powers, STERN keeps trucking along. Personally, we haven't been this excited to see a pinball machine since the release of Episode One from Williams.

Playfield: The best way to describe the playfield is with the help of Pat's former games. Excuse us for the references, but this should give you a pretty nice picture of how things look. The left side of the playfield bares a resemblance to Whirlwind. The Chance drop hole and the Railroad Ramp are similar to Whirlwind's set of Cellar drop holes.

The left side also contains three jets on the bottom and three jets on the top.

The ball-locking holding area is also like Whirlwind. Shooting the left ramp will either return the ball to the left flipper or drop it into this holding area.

Moving into the center area of the playfield, the game starts to resemble Funhouse. The center loop feeds the balls around to the right side where they are kicked out towards the upper flipper. This is also the staging area for where the various modes are started. Over on the right side, the game suddenly takes on a No Good Gophers shape. The left and right ramps feel very similar, with a spot target in between the right ramp and right loop being the only difference.

The left ramp has a swinging Bank door in front of it. This door opens and closes during game play depending on the mode in play. The upper flipper has a similar shot spread to what we've seen in the past from Pat. The side ramp sends the ball around to the left flipper, similar to Gophers. The difference is the Free Parking spot target at the top of the ramp. The Electric Company shot is just below the side ramp. The shot angle is very similar to the trap door in Funhouse.

The ball is then kicked into the lower jets. Down on the bottom right area is something unique to MONOPOLY® pinball. A small red flipper constantly rotates at different speeds and directions to block the Water Works drop hole. This hole can be reached by shooting the plunger softly, along with the random bouncing around in that area.

Analysis: Because to is Pinball Expo time, we decided to break the game down even more than usual in case some of you don't have a chance to see one before the weekend of the Pinball Expo.

Modes: Shoot Light Ramp to Light Roll and Collect. Shoot middle loop to collect.

Dark Purple-lights upper/lower jets
Light Blue-Token Race (shots move your car as you race against the dog)
Light Purple-Free Money (shoot bank three times to break combination and receive points)
Orange-Tax Refund (shoot bank to collect countdown value)
Red-Cop Chase (shoot cop or stand-up target to collect value; mode ends when you land in "Go to Jail" space on the MONOPOLY® board)
Yellow-Utility Overload (jets score 10,000 a hit. Value can be increased as well as the timer)
Green-Big Points (receive one, two, or three million points, depending on which property you land on)
Dark Blue-Park Place lights extra ball; Boardwalk lights special

Multiballs:

Breakout Multiball-Land on Just Visiting space on MONOPOLY® board (side ramp scores increasing jackpots).
Free Parking Multiball-Land on Free Parking space on the MONOPOLY® board (target on top of the side ramp scores increasing jackpots).
Rip-off Multiball-Land on Go to Jail space on the MONOPOLY® board (side ramp scores increasing jackpots).
Complete all railroads-Railroad Multiball (railroad ramp scores 250,000 each shot).
Regular Multiball-Pass GO to light lock. Shoot left ramp to lock your ball. After two balls are locked, shoot the right ramp to start multiball.

Side ramp is worth 1,000,000. To relight, shoot the railroad ramp. Jackpot is again the side ramp for 1,000,000, or the double jackpot is in the electric company.

Land Grab: After all modes are completed, shoot the center loop to start Land Grab. The goal during this wizard mode is to place as many houses and hotels on your properties as you can. Players get unlimited balls for 35 seconds.

Shooting the left ramp awards two houses. The side ramp awards four houses and adds time. The Electric Company shot adds a hotel. The right ramp during this mode advances you two spaces. Also, items such as spinners, water works, etc. are all lit during Land Grab. Similar to Lost in the Zone, the ball drains when the time is up and players start all over with an empty board.

Other Items: Cash Grab-Spell B-A-N-K to start. Every shot is lit for increasing points. This starts at 250,000 and increases by 25,000 with every shot.

Bonus X-Can be completed by shooting the right or left loops when lit. Players can also complete the A-B-C lanes at the top. Extra Ball is lit at 6X.
Skill Shot-Plunge the ball into the Water Works hole to collect.
Spot Target-Players can receive different awards, depending on what is lit. Awards range from points to advancing to GO.
Electric Company-Upper jets increase the power percentage, along with shooting the electric company side shot. Players receive different awards including lighting dice roll, extra ball, and more.
Water Works-Lower jets increase water works value. Players collect it by landing in the hole underneath the rotating flipper. This value resets after each ball.
Cop-By shooting the side cop target (Cousin It), a drop target will pop up to block your center loop shot. Every time you hit this shot, the drop target will again pop up to collect a random award.
Chance-Shooting the side ramp lights the Chance drop hole. Shoot the drop hole to collect a random award.

Pros: Before playing the game, we noticed the incredible artwork both on the backglass and playfield. John Youssi really did a professional job in bringing the board game to the pinball community. The geometry of the game and flow from shot to shot is amazing. Pat Lawlor is the master at this. The comparisons to the other games he's designed only goes to prove that once you master something, why change it? For players like us, the game is deep enough to provide a great challenge. Looking at it from a novice's perspective, awards such as Cash Grab are relatively easy to get and fun to play. Also, with new flipper coil, the feel of the game has improved.

Cons: Looking at the game from a novice's perspective, the same question from Pat's other designs pops up? Is this game too difficult for the common person to understand? The hope that players will understand this game after a few balls is a long shot. It took us two years to understand all the rules to Twilight Zone, and that's having it in our bedroom! This game isn't as tough as TZ, but there is a lot to deal with. From talking with players at the MONOPOLY® pinball test location, there were uncertainties about the rules of the game. However, all that aside, everyone enjoyed hitting the shots, and that's what is important.

Overall: STERN takes a giant leap in the right direction with this game. Bringing in Pat Lawlor Design was a great idea. The design team, out of Marengo (Illinois), has set out to make a Williams quality game, and they have more than accomplished that goal. If you covered the STERN logo on the backglass, we would have sworn that Williams was back in business. Hopefully, STERN will utitlize the effort of Pat Lawlor Design again, and we can look forward to seeing one Pat game a year (we can always hope). Overall Rating: **** (Four Stars)"