There are windfalls from brand collabs and cricket tournaments, also misfortunes like tax notices and crashes—it’ll take all your jugaad skills to beat the city’s rat race and break into its elite circles in Mighty Mumbai, a new board game set in the Maximum City. At first glance, it seemed to be a combination of Monopoly and The Game of Life, both of which account for a large share of our childhood memories, so we were pretty excited to get our hands on this set-up. (Story by: Debjani Paul)
Updated on : 21 February,2025 01:43 PM IST | Compiled by : Raaina Jain
At a listed price of R1,999, we found the game to be a tad expensive, and felt quite that a few of the design elements could have been more premium to match the price point. We had hoped to see player tokens in the form of Mumbai-specific icons like, say, Kala Ghoda, a lunch dabba, Flora Fountain or a kaali-peeli. The packaging—shaped like a double-decker BEST bus—is charming, but has little to do with the actual game.
We loved the eight very “Bambaiyya” professions players can choose from—cricketer, actor, businessperson, ad executive, fashion designer, real estate magnate, media mogul and stock broker—with male and female versions of each. These characters go on to determine where you can earn crucial gameplay tokens, what your career milestones will be, potential earnings and losses.
There are two levels of gameplay to mirror life in the big city—all players start out in the Outer Circle, which symbolises the rat race and daily grind the common man is subjected to. This is where you can encounter misfortunes, but it’s also where you can make money and accumulate assets. Once you qualify for the Inner Circle, all your assets yield exponential returns.
The gameplay in the Outer Circle can feel a bit stretched because the punches keep coming. There are far too many ways to lose money, and not enough chances to make more of it, or enough chances to buy property.
This is a fun game for a night in with family and friends. It’s also an excellent tool to explain the importance of saving—and more crucially, investing—to children. The rule book can be a bit ambiguous at times, so set aside three to four hours for the first time you play, to give you enough time to learn the rules. We love that there’s a game themed on life in Mumbai, and that it stays so faithful to the daily hustle. We’d have loved it even more if there was more Mumbai in it.
Read Full Story: Can you play it big in Mighty Mumbai?
