# How popular is the Monopoly board game outside the U.S. and Canada? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 25, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327 "2016-06-25T15:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/21 "2016-06-27T13:14:52Z")
When I was a kid I always assumed the London one was real and the Atlantic City, (I thought it was New York at the time) was the knock-off. I must have been a teenager before I realised. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/22 "2016-06-27T14:39:30Z")
I see the Canadian edition came out in 1982, by which time I was too old to enjoy the game in any manner other than ironically, hence the American version is the one is the “real” one for me. Incidentally, I recall an article in some games-themed magazine that had an article about a scale of game complexity with _Monopoly_ at the lowest level (unsurprisingly) along with _Junta_, which struck me as odd since I played a lot of _Junta_ in college and found it got downright Machiavellian at times. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/23 "2016-06-27T21:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **hogarth** : > > As a side note, my wife is from China and one of the things she was surprised about when she moved to Canada is the sheer number of kids’ board games that revolve around making money. I never really thought about it until she pointed it out (e.g. Payday, Full House, Big Deal, Monopoly, Game of Life, etc.). Life is an especially interesting case, in that the amount of money you make is purely random. Aside from no-brainer decisions (of course you _always_ buy insurance), there’s no skill involved. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/24 "2016-06-27T21:49:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Life is an especially interesting case, in that the amount of money you make is purely random. Aside from no-brainer decisions (of course you _always_ buy insurance), there’s no skill involved. People bad mouth Monopoly as boring, and yet Life exists! I played it once, and when I got to the end, and found that whether you win or lose came down to one random roll at the end, I never played again. Stupid game! Chutes and Ladders has more strategy! ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/25 "2016-06-28T15:13:43Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Very popular in Germany, and a cultural cliche for a long time, as exemplified by Klaus Lage’s hit from 1984, [Monopoli](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEijvApnVFk). He uses “Die Herrn von der Schlossallee” (The lords of the Schlossallee), “Schlossallee” being the most expensive street on the German version, as a metaphor for Big Money keeping the regular guy down. I once read (don’t recall where, I’m afraid – can’t give a cite) that “Monopoly” was marketed in Germany for a while in the late 1930s, with a Berlin-themed board. One of the most-up-market, costliest (dark blue) properties, was the then select quarter in Berlin, of Insel Schwanenwerder. It appears that at the time, a number of the Nazi bigwigs owned luxurious residences in this prestigious part of the city. It was widely rumoured that engaging in financially corrupt doings, had made this possible for them – according to the official ideology, their position required of them selfless service to the Party and the nation, not seeking material gain. Because of their featuring this part of the city, the makers of the game were suspected of thereby making a satirical dig at the regime. “The powers that were” suggested very strongly to the makers, that they take the game off the market; which they promptly did. No doubt after 1945, German “Monopoly” was free to develop as it would. Out of interest – are modern German sets for the game, set in Berlin; or “otherwise”? (Interesting fantasising possibilities, about a Cold War four-zone Berlin version of Monopoly, with appropriate special features and rules…) > [@MrDibble](#): > > Also, I now see there’s a market for an Antarctic version of Monopoly… I think there’s enough research stations and airports that that could actually work…what to use instead of houses and hotels, though? Penguins and leopard seals? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/26 "2016-06-28T15:23:22Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > So, apart from Canada (which obviously has a lot of commerce with America) - did players of the various regional versions actually know it was a ‘regional variation’ growing up? The name was a giveaway: the version sold in Spain is also called Monopoly rather than Monopolio, and it was around at a time when English wasn’t particularly fashionable (my generation was the first one to have more people learning English than French as a second language). Plus there were regional variations within Spain: the box we had at home had Madrid streets, my cousins had Barcelona. IIRC there have also been versions for Bilbao and Seville, perhaps others. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/27 "2016-06-28T15:32:56Z")
I played Monopolio from Mexico years ago. I don’t remember the street names, but I recall we had to guess the card meanings from the cartoon on them. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/28 "2016-06-28T15:35:23Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I once read (don’t recall where, I’m afraid – can’t give a cite) that “Monopoly” was marketed in Germany for a while in the late 1930s, with a Berlin-themed board. One of the most-up-market, costliest (dark blue) properties, was the then select quarter in Berlin, of Insel Schwanenwerder. > > It appears that at the time, a number of the Nazi bigwigs owned luxurious residences in this prestigious part of the city. It was widely rumoured that engaging in financially corrupt doings, had made this possible for them – according to the official ideology, their position required of them selfless service to the Party and the nation, not seeking material gain. Because of their featuring this part of the city, the makers of the game were suspected of thereby making a satirical dig at the regime. “The powers that were” suggested very strongly to the makers, that they take the game off the market; which they promptly did. I had never heard about that, but the German wiki backs up your memory: [[Quote=Wikipedia.de](http://Quote=Wikipedia.de)] Die erste deutsche Ausgabe, die (vermutlich nach dem Erfolg in den Vereinigten Staaten seit 1935) auf den Markt kam, wurde 1936 in der Lizenz von Schmidt Spiele vertrieben. Sie enthielt als teuersten Straßennamen „Insel Schwanenwerder“.[10] In diesem Berliner Nobelviertel wohnte auch der nationalsozialistische Propagandaminister Joseph Goebbels. Er soll das Spiel 1936 offiziell wegen seines „jüdisch-spekulativen Charakters“ verboten haben, andererseits soll es ihm dabei mehr um die teuerste Straße „Insel Schwanenwerder“ gegangen sein, wohin in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus zahlreiche Nazi-Funktionäre zogen. [My translation:] The first German edition that hit the market (probably after the success in the U.S. since 1935) was licensed in 1936 by Schmidt Spiele. It had “Insel Schwanenwerder” as most expensive street. This is where the national-socialist minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, also resided. He officially banned the game in 1936 because of its “Jewish-speculative character”, but his main motivation allegedly was the most expensive street “Insel Schwanenwerder”, where many Nazi-officials moved during the national-socialist era. [/Quote] > [@](#): > > No doubt after 1945, German “Monopoly” was free to develop as it would. Out of interest – are modern German sets for the game, set in Berlin; or “otherwise”? (Interesting fantasising possibilities, about a Cold War four-zone Berlin version of Monopoly, with appropriate special features and rules…) No, the streets carry generic names and are not associated with a special city. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/29 "2016-06-28T15:51:37Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I had never heard about that, but the German wiki backs up your memory Thanks – very interesting. Original 1936 Berlin Monopoly sets must be rare and treasured items. “Jewish-speculative”, eh? – oh, well, those guys were a funny lot. > [@](#): > > No, the streets carry generic names and are not associated with a special city. Thanks again. Seemingly a great number of variations on the game – lots of different themes, both of places existing in the real world, and “not”. My brother and niece are “Simpsons” freaks: they have a Simpsons-themed Monopoly, set in the family’s home town of Springfield. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/30 "2016-06-28T15:59:01Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > Thanks again. Seemingly a great number of variations on the game – lots of different themes, both of places existing in the real world, and “not”. My brother and niece are “Simpsons” freaks: they have a Simpsons-themed Monopoly, set in the family’s home town of Springfield. I read the German wiki article a bit further, and there is indeed a modern Berlin version, as well as a “Monopoly Deutschland” version with various German cities. And of course Monopoly wasn’t available in East Germany, and every import strictly forbidden. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/31 "2016-06-28T16:45:02Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I read the German wiki article a bit further, and there is indeed a modern Berlin version, as well as a “Monopoly Deutschland” version with various German cities. **And of course Monopoly wasn’t available in East Germany, and every import strictly forbidden.** I gather that – as with the above (my bolding) – the same was true of the USSR: nonetheless, Monopoly was a popular game there – people using smuggled-in, or home-made, sets, and playing in secret. I’d be willing to bet that this went for East Germany, too – with, here and there, surviving 1936 sets being pressed into service. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/32 "2016-06-28T17:03:55Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > When I was a kid in NZ, when there were only three board games, they included Scrabble, Cluedo\*, and Monopoly. […] > > \*_called Clue in America for some reason_ I’m guessing it’s because Americans generally don’t know the game Ludo (our version is called Parcheesi), so “Cluedo” would make no sense to us (besides looking vaguely like a Spanish word). _“What’s this, Clue-doo? Clu-ay-doe? What’s that supposed to mean?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/33 "2016-06-28T17:43:42Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’m guessing it’s because Americans generally don’t know the game Ludo (our version is called Parcheesi) I beg to differ! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/34 "2016-06-28T18:15:33Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I beg to differ! 🆒 So is that what your name actually means? You’re a good at that board game? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/35 "2016-06-28T19:36:30Z")
No. But someone did get me a portable version of it called “Ludo in a tin” so we could make “Prince Albert in a can”-style jokes about it. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/36 "2016-06-29T01:00:10Z")
Moving to the Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/37 "2016-06-29T01:40:18Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’m guessing it’s because Americans generally don’t know the game Ludo (our version is called Parcheesi), so “Cluedo” would make no sense to us (besides looking vaguely like a Spanish word). _“What’s this, Clue-doo? Clu-ay-doe? What’s that supposed to mean?”_ Oh, so that’s what Parcheesi is. (See also “[Trouble](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/153977/trouble?size=large) - with the pop-a-matic bubble”). I read somewhere once that the reason it was called Cluedo was because the first version the designer made used a Ludo board as its base. Which you can [kind of](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_(board_game)#/media/File:Ludo-3.jpg) [see](http://www.boardgamescritic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/clue-board-game-board.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/38 "2016-06-29T09:10:51Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Speaking from Aus - as referenced above, we used the UK version always. I had no clue there was a US version until well into the Internet Age. It really blew me away to discover it was the _original_. In my heart of hearts I still think of the London place names as being “real” My experience was exactly the same, but growing up in New Zealand - the British version was the “Real” monopoly and while I was aware there was a US version, I always thought it was the localised variant for the Americans rather than the original product. Also, what **GuanoLad** said - Monopoly, Scrabble and Cluedo were prettty much it for mainstream board games besides things like Snakes & Ladders. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/39 "2016-06-29T10:21:30Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’m guessing it’s because Americans generally don’t know the game Ludo (our version is called Parcheesi), so “Cluedo” would make no sense to us (besides looking vaguely like a Spanish word). _“What’s this, Clue-doo? Clu-ay-doe? What’s that supposed to mean?”_ Ooooh, so that’s why the Cluedo name… And nice to encounter someone who wouldn’t look at me like I wore my eyes on stalks if I said Parcheesi! None of my American coworkers knew the game. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327/40 "2016-06-29T11:26:03Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Here in Australia the UK version is the one we use, though our monopoly money (like our real money) is in dollars, not pounds. +1 The curiosity of the set in Aus was that it was “Go To Jail”, rather than “Go To Gaol”. I presume the UK sets also had this linguistic misnomer? The family board game of choice for us unsurprisingly was Squatter, where you did play for sheep stations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-popular-is-the-monopoly-board-game-outside-the-u-s-and-canada/758327.md?page=3)