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How to Design a Monopoly Board

The game of Monopoly, now owned by Hasbro, was created in 1934 using the streets, neighborhoods and railroads of Atlantic City, N.J. It's sold in 27 languages and almost innumerable versions customized to particular cities or interests. You can design your own version, but especially if you plan to publish and sell it, you must stay clear of the elements that are trademarked by Hasbro. The word "monopoly" cannot be trademarked, but most customized versions are titled "something-else-opoly" to call attention to their tailoring for particular audiences.

Things You'll Need

19-by-19 inch board (on your computer or made of cardboard)

Instructions

- 1
  Mark off the borders of the board, 2 1/2 inches along each of the four sides.
- 2
  Place original designs in the in the four corner squares. One should be the starting space and the marker for the start and end of each trip around the board by a player ("Go" in the classic version). The other three corners may be "parking" areas with little or no action, or may send players who land on them to other specific places.
- 3
  Divide each border into nine spaces, each 1 1/2 inches wide.
- 4
  Place your transportation properties in the center spaces of the four sides. This is where the railroads go in the traditional game.
- 5
  Distribute the remaining properties, random-draw triggers and taxes around the board. The pattern for each group of four spaces in the classic board design, starting from the corner where play begins and proceeding as play does, clockwise, is: a two-property set with a random trigger and a tax; a three-property set with a random trigger; three properties and a utility; three properties and a trigger; three properties and a trigger; three properties and a utility; three properties and a trigger; two properties, a trigger and a tax. On the classic board, the properties run from least to most expensive as play proceeds around the board.

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