GODFATHER MONOPOLY Game: An Offer We Can Refuse

• Tweet
• Pin It

GODFATHER III no longer most embarrassing episode in legendary franchise.

The first instinct toward any merchandising that further commercializes The Godfather, among the best and most iconic films in the history of American cinema, is reflexive outrage. This is the emotion exhibited by your Criminal Complex honcho Jimmy Callaway as he doled this story out to me this very evening.

I felt a little of that, too, I must admit.  But upon further reflection, I have come to the conclusion that this an about-face back in the right direction.  Think about it.  They’re basing a board game on a movie.  That’s how things were done when I was a kid.  It beats the hell out of the more recent and disturbing trend of using board games and toys like Battleship and Transformers as source material.  Now that’s an outrage.  Even if it’s a lame Monopoly, I applaud the spirit of the move.

By the way, judging by the information in the press release, a lame Monopoly is exactly what we’re going to be getting.  “Buy, sell, and trade the likes of Wolz International Pictures, Moe Green’s Casino, Joe’s Diner, and Hyman Roth’s Home as you muscle your way to an empire,” the release reads.  “Make them an offer they can’t refuse as you vie for the Corleone Long Island Home and Corleone Lake Tahoe Estate,” which the release touts as the Boardwalk and Park Place of this iteration of the game.

Just to get in some early quibbling, it is flawed logic to make the two Corleone real estate properties the most coveted properties on the board.  Vito Corleone didn’t build the nation’s most powerful crime syndicate to land a couple of nice homes.  He could’ve pulled that off with an accounting degree.  Now, if you want to get serious about this thing, in the spirit of the game, Moe Green’s Casino should be way further up the board than the two residences, and the Boardwalk and Park Place spots should be seats on the Supreme Court or in the Senate.

That’s how Vito would have wanted it.