History of The Board Game Monopoly - Localizations, Licenses, and Spin-offs

Localizations, Licenses, and Spin-offs

The original Monopoly game had been localized for the cities or areas in which it was played, and Parker Brothers has continued this practice. Their version of Monopoly has been produced for international markets, with the place names being localized for cities including London and Paris and for countries including the Netherlands and Germany, among others. By 1982, Parker Brothers stated that the game "has been translated into over 15 languages...." As of 2009, Hasbro reports that Monopoly is officially published in 27 languages, and has been licensed by them in 81 countries.

The game has also inspired official spin-offs, such as the board game Advance to Boardwalk from 1985. There have been six card games: Water Works from 1972, Free Parking from 1988, Express Monopoly from 1993, Monopoly: The Card Game from 1999, Monopoly Deal from 2008 and Monopoly Millionaire Deal from 2012. Finally, there have been two dice games: Don't Go to Jail from 1991 and an update, Monopoly Express, (2006–2007). A second product line of games and licenses exists in Monopoly Junior, first published in 1990. In the late 1980s, official editions of Monopoly appeared for the Sega Master System and the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128. A television game show, produced by King World Productions, was attempted in the summer of 1990, but lasted for only 12 episodes. In 1991–1992, official versions appeared for the Apple Macintosh and Nintendo's NES, SNES, and Game Boy. In 1995, as Hasbro (which had taken over Tonka Kenner Parker in the early 1990s) was preparing to launch Hasbro Interactive as a new brand, they chose Monopoly to be their first CD-ROM game, with an option for playing over the Internet. CD-ROM versions of the officially licensed Star Wars and FIFA World Cup '98 editions also were released. Later CD-ROM exclusive spin-offs, Monopoly Casino and Monopoly Tycoon, were also produced under license.

Since 1994, various manufacturers of the game have created dozens of versions, in which the names of the properties and other elements of the game are replaced by others according to the game's theme. There are officially-licensed versions with themes that include national parks, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Nintendo, Disney, Peanuts, various particular cities (such as Las Vegas or Cambridge), states, colleges and universities, the World Cup, NASCAR, and many others. Hasbro has officially licensed two companies to produce further Monopoly editions: USAopoly and Winning Moves Games. USAopoly also sells special corporate editions of Monopoly. Official corporate editions have been produced for Best Buy, the Boy Scouts of America, FedEx, and UPS, among others.

Unofficial versions of the game, which share some of the same playing features, but also incorporate changes so as not to infringe on copyrights, have been created by firms such as Late for the Sky Production Company and Help on Board. These are done for smaller cities, sometimes as charity fundraisers, and some have been created for college and university campuses. Others have non-geographical themes such as Wine-opoly and Chocolate-opoly. There is also a version called Make Your Own -OPOLY, which allows you to customize all the game equipment and rules to your liking.

Before the creation of Hasbro Interactive, and after its later sale to Infogrames, official computer and video game versions have been made available on many platforms. In addition to the versions listed above, they have been produced for Amiga, BBC Micro, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, GameCube, PC, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Sega Genesis, Xbox, and mobile phones. A handheld electronic game was first released in 1997 that allowed for one human player against up to three player-selected or randomly-chosen AI "personalities" out of five. A Nintendo DS release (along with Battleship, Boggle, and Yahtzee) has been published (by Atari), as well as a stand-alone edition for the same console (by EA). In 2001, Stern Pinball, Inc. released a pinball machine version of Monopoly, designed by Pat Lawlor.