'Monopoly City Streets' Online Game: Will Buying Park Place Be Any Easier?
Ablang
Easier?
JR Raphael, PC World
Sep 8, 2009 2:30 pm
Get ready to get your Monopoly on, global style: Hasbro is preparing
to unveil a live version of its Monopoly game with Google Maps serving
as the game board. The game, entitled Monopoly City Streets, is set to
launch this Wednesday -- yep, the same day as that other 09/09/09
event.
Is it just me, or is the utterance of "Google" and "monopoly" in the
same sentence giving anyone else a sense of déjà vu?
The Monopoly City Streets Tour
Monopoly City Streets - Google Maps
Google antitrust jokes notwithstanding, the Monopoly City Streets game
is managing to build a steady buzz in the blogosphere this week. The
official game Web site calls it the "biggest live game of Monopoly in
history" (the title of "best employer of superlatives ever," I assume,
was already taken).
"A world of property empire building on an unimaginable scale will be
launched," the site proclaims. "Own any street in the world. Build
humble houses, crazy castles and stupendous skyscrapers to collect
rent. Use Monopoly Chance cards to sabotage your mates by building
hazards on their streets."
With Google Maps as its base, Monopoly City Streets will actually turn
the globe into a game board. Contrary to some media reports, however,
Google itself didn't have a strong hand in building the game; rather,
Hasbro's U.K.-based digital agency directed the process, using the
Google Maps API, street data from OpenStreetMap, and occasional
guidance from the Google team.
Playing Global Monopoly
Here's how the global Monopoly game will work: You'll start with $3
million in Monopoly dollars. You'll then be able to buy any street you
can find on Google Maps, whether it's a major boulevard or a rural
road. Some spots will be costlier than others: London's Downing
Street, for example, is said to have a starting pricetag of $231,000,
while Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue is rumored to start at $2
million. If someone else gets to your favorite street before you,
you'll be able to make an offer to buy it away from them.
Monopoly City Streets
If you're feeling frugal, fear not: Once you start building, the cash
will start flowing. A house will automatically earn you $50,000 in
rent a day, the Daily Mail claims, while a skyscraper will pull in a
cool $100 million daily. You'll reportedly have four months to do all
your bidding before the game ends.
Perhaps the best news of all: Despite the soaring fake-money figures,
the game itself won't cost you a dime to play.
Just don't expect free parking.