Lots of roll and move board games see players racing around a board trying to be first to the finish line, collecting points or accumulating as much money as they possibly can. Not in the Go For Broke, the game that you win by LOSING A MILLION! But that could make you a billionaire, rich beyond your wildest dreams (in board game land).
Unfortunately for Great Uncle Edward, he has popped his clogs, snuffed it, shuffled off this mortal coil, kicked the bucket or whatever other term you would like to use to describe his passing away. As sad as that it is, it means his massive billion-pound fortune needs to be passed along. But Great Uncle Edward hasn’t made it easy, and only one worthy person can have this life-changing amount of money and he has set a challenge to earn it! Accept the challenge set out in his will, be the first to complete it and you will become a billionaire! The challenge is to be given ONE MILLION POUNDS and spend it all before any of the other potential inheritors (your fellow players) in this exciting board game, Go for Broke from Ideal.
Go for Broke is a board game for 2-4 players, aged 8 upwards with a playing time of around 45 minutes. It is a game where to win, all you must do is spend a staggering ONE MILLION POUNDS faster than the other players. Spending that amount must be easy right? Purchase a few cars, houses, yachts etc. and your money is soon gone. No, it’s not as easy as you think, no matter how good or bad you are with money.
Great Uncle Edward has left each player a million pounds with the challenge to spend it as quickly as possible. With £1,000,000 you could live the high life buying cars and houses, chartering a yacht, buying and selling antiques, betting wildly on the stock exchange, gambling or maybe buying a motor racing team. The idea is to just squander all that money as fast as you can and be left with nothing! If successful, you will inherit Great Uncle Edward’s billion pound fortune. Go for Broke… the game you win by losing a million!
In the box:
- Gameboard
- Pack of money in different denominations
- Company share certificates (oil, gas and steel)
- 2 dice (red with white dots)
- 4 playing pieces
- 4 race cars
- Slot machine with 4 dice (black with gold symbols)
- Stock Exchange spinner
- Auction House hammer spinner
- Racetrack spinner
- Sticker sheet
- Instructions
Go For Broke has some cool places to visit as players make their way around the board so there is so quick setting up to do before play can begin. The spinners, slot machine and race cars need to be added to the board in their correct places (on first play, stickers will need to be applied to the pieces):
- Slot machine in Casino Corner
- Stock Exchange spinner in Stock Exchange corner
- Auction House hammer in Auction House corner (insert it into the holes on the board)
- Racetrack spinner in Racetrack corner
- Line the 4 race cars up in the Pit Lane in Racetrack corner
With the pieces added onto the game board, a player must be chosen to be the banker who oversees the money and share certificates. Once the banker has been decided, the banker needs to sort the share certificates in to three piles of different companies. The banker also must also distribute one million pounds to each player; 6 x £5,000, 7 x £10,000, 6 x £50,000 and 6 x £100,000. Each player then selects two share certificates to get them started on the Stock Market.
Each player selects a playing piece that is their mover around the board. They have a choice from a gold bar, jet, jewel, or limo and place it on the corresponding corner of the gameboard. Then each player rolls the red dice and the player with the highest number gets to start the race to lose their money (with play then going clockwise around the board).
Playing the game is easy, it is a roll and move game. Players must roll the dice, move their playing piece clockwise around the board (unless you get to a fork in the path and then you can follow the arrow directions to select which way you want to go). If you are lucky enough to roll a double six on your turn you must pay the bank £100,000 (an excellent way to lose a large amount of cash). If you land on a square that is occupied by a fellow player, you must pay them a £10,000 collision fee.
As players make their journey around the board they will be spending and receiving money. They will buy company shares or visit one of the corners where you can win or lose money (my favourite corner is Racetrack Corner where all players get to race their race cars up the track (hint: try not to be in lanes 3 or 4).
Each corner of the board has a place to visit where players can try to lose some cash, but beware, they might just win loads too. There are four places to visit:
- Stock Exchange Corner: Here you can spin the spinner. This will let you find out if your shares have gone up or down. Go up and you win more money, go down and you can lose some.
- Auction House Corner: Here you can take part in an auction and come out that little bit richer or poorer.
- Casino Corner: Here you can play the slot machines for a fee. Match two or more symbols on the dice and you could be a big money winner. Get sent to Snake Eyes and you have to play a game of chance with the dice, don’t roll any ones and you could have to pay the bank a fortune.
- Racetrack Corner: Here all players must bet on the outcome of a race and could lose you £50,000.
The winner is the first player to spend all their money, their original million AND anything they have earned as they make their way around the board.
Overall, I love Go for Broke. I loved playing it years ago as a child and still love playing it now. It is a fantastically fun family game.
Gor For Broke is an easy game to play, one that families can play together without anyone having any advantages/disadvantages. The rules are very easy to understand, and the playing time of 45-60 minutes is a good length for family game nights.
Game play is excellent fun and at times frustrating (when earning cash you don’t want). We did have a slight problem with the Stock Exchange and Auction House spinners, they tend to shoot off the board with spun too hard or stick so that you don’t get a good spin – holding down the board when spinning the Stock Exchange spinner made it work a whole lot better and are still trying to work out the best way to use the Auction House hammer. Older versions of the game didn’t have this problem as they fixed to the board much better.
Go for Broke is a fun game where chance and luck play a big part in who the winner will be. It is great fun trying to lose so much money, and a lot harder than it sounds. A game where you must lose to win and if you can make the other players richer whilst doing so, it’s even better! If you love Monopoly, Go For Broke is the opposite, an anti-Monopoly if you like, but still as much fun.
If the spinners worked a bit better it would be a 5* game, but because they don’t and can be an inconvenience and annoyance at times, I would rate it 4 and a half stars.
Rating: 4.5/5
RRP: £24.99
For more information, visit www.johnadams.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
