Few games have spanned the generations like Monopoly.  Created in the 1930′s and despite decades of technological change, advancements in toys, the advent of video games, and shortening attention spans, Hasbro’s classic and its many incarnations continue to reign as one of the most popular board games of all time.

Recently, the company began a massive, continuous online version of the game called Monopoly City Streets.  A hybrid of Google Maps and traditional Monopoly, the concept of the game is pretty simple.  Users sign up for an account at which time a stash of Monopoly money is deposited into their account, just like at the beginning of the board game.  This money is then used to buy actual streets throughout the world, construct various types of rent yielding buildings on those streets, and make deals with other players of the game.

The game is unique because of its massive scale.  People from around the world can search for and buy almost any street.  Each day, any buildings constructed on the player’s owned streets pay rent which is deposited into the player’s account along with a fixed payment similar to that received when players pass “GO” in the board game.  But this earned money doesn’t come without stipulations.  A player must login to their account each day in order to collect that day’s rent.  Any accounts without activity for longer than two weeks will forfeit all their streets and buildings to the bank.  In an effort to prevent any one player from owning too many streets, the game implements a novel tax structure that effectively limits the maximum number of streets a person can claim.  The game conveniently doesn’t require much time to play, other than a few minutes each day to collect rent and finalize any deals with other players.

It’s encouraging to see a game like Monopoly reinvent itself yet again in order to remain relevant.  In yet another use of Google Maps and without adding the complexity associated with so many of today’s best selling games, Monopoly City Streets has created a social gaming experience in such a constant state of flux as to never get boring.