Go find the cash in your piggy bank or under the cushions of your couch. Skip a couple of Grande Mochas and use that money to buy a copy of Monopoly Deal Card Game.

Now, I will tell you up front that I am not a fan of Monopoly. I think it's about one-tenth as fun as it is long. I won't play it with you ever, unless I really really love you or I owe you money or something. I just don't care for the game.

The Monopoly Deal Card Game is not Monopoly, but rather a Monopoly flavored set collection game that will play from 2 - 5 players in about 15 - 20 minutes, ages 8 and up. In the game, the first player to collect three complete sets of property cards is the winner. The properties are the same familiar ones from the Monopoly board, so if you have Park Place and Boardwalk, you have a complete set.

The rules are pretty simple.

• You shuffle the cards and deal five to each player.
• At the start of your turn you draw two cards, or if you happened play all of your cards on your previous turn, you get to draw five.
• During your turn you may play up to three cards. There are essentially three types of cards:
• Property Cards - When you play a property card in front of you, then you own that property. You don't have to buy it. It's just yours. There are property cards that are wild and may be used to complete more than one type of set. These wild cards can be moved around freely on your turn.
• Action Cards - These cards allow you to do things like charge your opponents rent on a property that you have in front of you, steal or trade properties, build houses or motels, draw additional cards, or require that your opponents give you money because it's your birthday. Really.
• Money Cards - These cards are played in front of you and act as the money you have in your bank. This is an important concept in this game, because you can never pay someone with money from your hand. It must come from the cards you have in front of you. Almost all cards can be banked as money, even action cards, but once they are banked as money, they can never be used as anything else.
• If you are forced to pay rent and you do not have any money banked, then you have to pay your opponent by giving them an appropriate amount of your collected property cards, which they get to lay down and add to their own properties. This is why it's important to keep money in your bank.
• Once someone collects three complete sets of properties, the game is over.

This is seriously a great little game for the money. You can play it just about anywhere, and you can teach someone the game in just a few minutes. It's Monopoly, but it's fun! Go buy it. Play it. You will like it. Grandma will like it. Your kids will like it.

Now pay me rent for Baltic Avenue.