Wizard Tag
Be a Texas Millionaire is an old board game from 1953! It is easy to learn and a simple game that anyone can play.
Game Night: Be a Texas Millionaire!
What is this game Be a Texas Millionaire?
This is a simple game that anyone familiar with Monopoly could easily play. In fact it is easier than Monopoly since you don’t really have decisions to make. To play the game, you spin for movement, with possibilities of 1-8. Then you read the space you land on. That’s it!
Each space either costs you money, gives you money, or moves you forward or backward. In some ways the game is a lot more like Candyland or Chutes and Ladders. The text in each space is funny though and you generally gain a lot more money than you lose. The denominations start at $5,000 and go up to $5,000,000!
How is this game different from other board games like Monopoly?
In Monopoly you go around and around until someone gets all of the money. In Texas Millionaire, there is a path to the finish line, and getting there gives you some bonus money, but does not guarantee you the win! Sometimes you can win just by repeatedly getting sent back to the start. Since there are a lot of big money spaces at the beginning, you can make a fortune by being “unlucky” in advancement.
The only real decision you have to make in Texas Millionaire is whether to take the “Long Shot” or not. There are green squares scattered all over the board. If you land on one, you can either take the first option or the Long Shot. The first option is usually to gain $100,000, which is pocket money by the end of the game. Sometimes the first option is that you have to go back to the beginning, which can be frustrating if you were racing to the finish line.
Long Shot results in Texas Millionaire:
When you land on “Long Shot”, you spin the same spinner that you use for movement, but it has an outer ring with 8 results.
- Go ahead 9 spaces.
- Pay $100,000 to each player.
- Go Back to Start!
- Double your fortune!
- Go back 9 spaces.
- Collect $100,000 from each player.
- Collect $5,000,000 from the treasury!
- Lose entire fortune!
Was it fun and how can you find it?
Texas Millionaire is mindless fun. Part of the charm is that it is an old game, and if you can find a copy, you will be playing a game that was published over 70 years ago!
How did the game end up?
The game has some funny moments since most of the bad locations are outside of Texas. People always breathe a sigh of relief when they get back inside the borders of the Lone Star State. You start off the game in the Gulf of Mexico, then you zig-zag in and out of the state.
You will have to get in and out of Mexico twice without losing too much money and staying out of prison. Then your journey is as follows:
- Hill Country of Texas – Good
- California – Bad
- West Texas – Good
- Western Territories – Bad
- Panhandle of Texas – Good
- Oklahoma – Bad
- North Texas – Good
- Yankeeland – Bad
- East Texas – Good
- Louisiana – Bad
There is usually someone who keeps getting sent back to the start and our last game was no exception. Usually those sad sacks end up making a ton of Texas money! Usually there are at least two people racing for the finish line, if for nothing else, to find a way to end the game! If the games are longer, the more money accumulates in “The Pot”, which is given to the first to cross the finish line.
On our game night, the first to cross got a healthy sum, but it was only enough for second place. First place went to the brave soul (or crazy person) who let it all ride on four Long Shots! Three of the four resulted in the $5,000,000 reward! It is hard to beat someone who is lucky in Texas, although the unlucky trio who were still near the start at the end did their best and accumulated about half of the wealth of the winning gambler!
You won’t think too much in this game, but there will be some shouting, some groaning, and in general it’s a fun throwback game.
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
- What do you think of Be a Texas Millionaire?
- Have you ever played this game before?
- Was there anything about the game you would change?
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I believe gesture control is the mechanism for magic wands! Not sitting at a console pushing buttons!
Pushing buttons is nuclear war not magic just total destruction!
You sound like you are on the Wizard Tag team! Excellent!
Yes, we think the coolest thing about the wands is the gesture control for everything. Even going through the menus is fun.
(And thanks for reading our Texas Millionaire Blog too!)
Cheers!