And if they had predicted all that would come to pass, what are the chances that they could have seen its expansion into the electronic world, as a CD-ROM PC game or that it would be playable on a global basis over the Internet?

The latest take on Monopoly has come to Palm OS handhelds thanks to Handmark (at http://www.handmark.com), which recently ported another big-name board game, Scrabble, to the Palm OS platform. It's pictured in Figure A.

FIGURE A


Handmark has brought Monopoly to the Palm OS. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Handmark has done a great job in providing the excitement of the real-estate contest, offering multiplayer matches and (thankfully) putting the computer to work handling all of the money counting, property purchases, auctions, and other clerical aspects, leaving the players to concentrate on simply enjoying the game.

Robber Barons R Us
Running a game of Handmark's Monopoly (at http://www.handmark.com/products/monopoly) is easy. You create a list of what players will be in the game, which can be any mix of computer and human players, and select playing pieces for each, as shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B

Select the players and their playing pieces.

From there, it's all point-and-tap goodness, from rolling the dice, to placing houses on a property, to setting up a trade, to participating in an auction. You can see this in Figure C.

FIGURE C

You're instructed to tap the screen to roll the dice.

Tapping on any property on the board brings up a replica of the board-game's card, which shows rent, house/hotel costs and, most importantly, who owns it, as shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D

You can view a replica of the board-game's property card.

Now is a good time-if I may be so sacrilegious in the midst of a Monopoly review-to mention that Monopoly has never been one of my favorite games. However, the fact that the software handles all the essential housekeeping streamlines game sessions to the point that I almost enjoy playing it. I guess it isn't Monopoly that bothers me as much as some of the tedious aspects, such as banking and tracking who owns what property.

Another nice feature is the ability to do a mid-contest save, which captures the status of the board and all elements that make up the game. Not only does it enable you to spread the game-play out over a period of time should an appointment or other interruption crop up, but it also offers players the ability to test different strategies from the same point in the game.