Guide to Monopoly Streets

Electronic Arts is well known for their sports titles, however they do produce other genres of games. One of those games is a three dimensional version of the popular property trading board game, Monopoly. Although, Monopoly Streets is available for Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, this guide refers to the Playstation 3 version of the game. This game is available in disc format or for download from the Playstation Store. The copy used to create this guide was purchased and downloaded from the Playstation Store. There are additional boards and tokens available from the Playstation Store for purchase to use in the game. There are also additional tokens and boards available for purchase using Monopoly Profile Money. These add-ons will be discussed later.

Game Play

Up to four players may play a game of Monopoly Streets. These can be any combination of human and computer players. If two or more human players wish to play against each other, each player must have his or her own controller. To simplify things, a one human player game will be discussed.

First you will select the board you wish to use. As with any other version of Monopoly, the player will select his or her representative token and press the X button to start the game. Mr. Monopoly appears with a small speech. Each player will roll the dice to determine the first player. Each player has a “corporate headquarters” that grows or diminishes based on the player’s total wealth. Each token has an animated character associated with the token. The character generally reflects the token used. For example, the recently retired iron will have a maid with it. As she moves around the board, she rides the iron like a surfboard. There is an option to turn off animated movements. The game’s basic game play is virtually identical to that of the classic board game.

Depending on which board you choose for your game, the houses and hotels will be erected either three dimensionally or using the standard green houses and red hotels. The boards that erect three dimensionally will depict architecture of the board’s theme.

Profile Money

You will have an EA profile that earns “Monopoly Money” which can be used in the Monopoly Streets Store to purchase additional boards and tokens. If you already have an EA account because you play any of Electronic Arts’ other game titles, you do not have to create a separate EA account for use with Monopoly Streets. The profile money is awarded based on how well you do and the skill level of your opponent. There are ten profile levels which are represented by one Monopoly color group. Level one is represented by the color of the utility deeds. Level ten is represented by the dark blue of Boardwalk and Park Place. The profile levels increase based on total profile earnings for your profile. You may spend your profile money at any time provided you have the necessary funds to make a purchase in the Monopoly Streets Store.

The Boards and Tokens

Two default boards are provided with the original game data. One is the Classic board which looks and plays just like a standard Monopoly board. The other default board is the Monopoly Streets board which is the three dimensional version of the classic board. Boards that may be purchased using your profile money include the Cheese board, the Cardboard board, Landmark City, the Jungle board, the Sweet board, the Plaza board and the Ice board. Boards for sale as game add-ons include the Championship board and Stratosphere City. Landmark City and Stratosphere City are three dimensional boards. As the names of these boards suggest, these boards have specific themes. The names of the properties have been altered to correspond with these themed boards. The Championship board a recreation of the board used at the Monopoly World Championship that was held in Las Vegas, Nevada the year the video game was designed. Landmark City uses names of various cities around the world. Stratosphere City uses a futuristic theme. Classic, Championship, Monopoly Streets and Plaza Boards use the standard property names.

Since a maximum of four players are allowed to play Monopoly Streets, the game gives five default tokens. Those tokens include the Top Hat, the Shoe, the Wheelbarrow, the Car and, of course, the Dog. Tokens purchased with profile money include the Moneybag, the Cop Hat, and the Iron. Tokens purchased as add-ons include the Rocking Horse, the Cannon, the Battleship and the Horse & Rider.

Monopoly Streets Boards Chart

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The Rules Sets

Monopoly Streets has seven different rules sets to choose from when playing a game. You can play using the Official Monopoly Rules. If you want to play using the custom rules set you used as a kid, you can do that as well. Other rules sets included in the Monopoly Streets game programming are Speed Die, Short Game, Bull Market, Jackpot, and Fast Deal.

Speed Die will add a third die to your roll allowing the player to move additional spaces on the board or giving the player move choices. If a player rolls triples, he or she can move to any space on the board. Most players choose to move to Go when they roll triples. If the Speed Die shows Mr. Monopoly, the player takes the corresponding number of spaces indicated by the total of the two standard dice. The player then moves to the next unowned property unless all property has been purchased. If all properties are owned, the Mr. Monopoly die moves the player to the next property that player does not own.

Short Game will deal three random properties to each player. Only three houses are required to purchase hotels. The game ends when the first player goes bankrupt. Otherwise, it uses the Official Monopoly rules.

Bull Market will auction all properties in fast auctions. After twenty turns, the richest player wins.

Jackpot will allow improvements without owning an entire color group. Properties may be traded with improvements intact. The first player to total his or her total worth is the winner.

Fast Deal will auction all properties. Players get paid more money for passing Go. There is also a $200 jackpot for Free Parking. The first player to collect two color groups is the winner.

Community Chest, Chance and Jail

Community Chest has two added cards. One card issues a $15.00 speeding fine. The other card allows the player to collect $10.00 from every other player because it is his or her birthday.

Chance now refers to “X-mas” fund as “Holiday” fund.

If you are sent to jail while using any of the three dimensional boards, your token’s character is actually behind bars.

Monopoly Trivia

As of 2008 in every version of Monopoly, the dark purple properties are now brown. Marvin Gardens is actually misspelled. The correct spelling is Marven Gardens. The error was never corrected because so many of the original board games had already been produced and sold before the error was discovered. According to an episode of “All in the Family”, Gloria lands on Reading Railroad. It has always been assumed, especially by people in the south, that the railroad’s name was pronounced “Reeding.” Gloria’s pronunciation of the railroad’s name is “Redding.” It can be safely assumed Gloria’s pronunciation is the correct one. The show’s writers would not allow her to mispronounce it. The show is set in New York which is very close to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The game’s property names were taken from real area of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

© 2013 Tammy L