Socialopoly: The Fictional Mashup of Social Media and Monopoly

My grandmother and I play Scrabble every Sunday (its competitive and filled with lots of “trash talk”) and last week she asked me to look into an additional board game that the whole family could enjoy.  I ventured into the Games and Puzzles store at the mall and what struck me was the dozens of Monopoly variations on display.  Do you love Star Wars?  They have you covered.  Have you been dying to playing as your favorite character from Dunder Mifflin?  You can do that too.   This made me wonder if there was a Social Media version of the game – there is (you can find anything on the internet) but I didn’t find it to be all that clever or creative so below is my stab at creating an even better version.

What I set out to achieve was a game that would put an emphasis on creating social equity.  In my mind there was no better way to accomplish this than by incorporating/highlighting some of the people and brands that truly “get it”.

Socialopoly Concept:

The concept of Socialopoly is very similar to the traditional game of Monopoly but instead of playing for cash, the goal is to acquire the largest amount of social currency/equity.  The properties have been updated to feature some of the biggest names and brands in social media which are listed at the bottom of this post.  In addition, players will build their “empire” by creating discussions and communities which replace building apartments and hotels.

Socialopoly Rules:

• Every player begins with 500 social currency points which they can use to purchase properties as they move across the board.  Players can increase their social currency by collecting points from other players that land on their properties and other activities such as landing on “Free Monitoring” (replaces “Free Parking”) or passing “Go”.
• The “Fail Whale” replaces “Jail” and in a new twist the player following the individual that landed in “Jail” can opt to take their place and receive 100 social currency points (always reward kindness).  Also “Just Visiting” has been replaced with “Just Lurking”.
• Once you own all the properties of the same color, you can build on your properties beginning with the creation of “Discussions”.  You must build 5 “Discussions” before upgrading to “Communities”.
• In order to select the player that will represent the “Banker”, each player will roll one of the dice and the player with the lowest number will assume the role.  In another twist, the player representing the “Banker” may elect to steal social currency from the bank throughout the game but if they are caught they will forfeit half of their social currency points, all of their properties and be forced to sit in “Jail” for 5 turns.  (I don’t know about you but about 90% of the Monopoly games that I have participated in ended early because we caught someone taking money from the bank and an argument broke out – we might as well account for this.)
• The winner is crowned by either being the last person standing with social currency points or the individual with the most social currency points at the end of an agreed upon timeframe. 

Socialopoly Game Pieces:

• iPad – replaces the “car” because as the most popular social media device it is only fitting that it represent the game piece that everyone wants most.
• Twitter bird – replaces the “horse”.
• “Scout” The Social Media Examiner mascot – replaces the “wheelbarrow”. 
• Smartphone – replaces the “dog”.
• Rotary phone – replaces the “thimble” because it is only fitting that that it represents the game piece that no one wants to be.

Socialopoly Chance and Community Chest Cards:

These still function the same but have been updated to include items such as:

• Your video went viral on YouTube. Collect 75 social currency points!
• The PR Department found 50 negative comments left unresolved on your blog.  Go to Jail!
• A major corporation has offered to sponsor your blog. Collect 25 social currency points from each player!

Socialopoly Properties:

• Mediterranean Avenue and Baltic Avenue have now been updated with Scott Stratten and Erik Qualman because our social media and marketing journey should begin with some solid book knowledge and both of these gentlemen have fantastic books.
• Oriental Avenue, Vermont Avenue and Connecticut Avenue have been replaced with Lisa Petrilli, Jason Falls and Mack Collier because you probably won’t find a nicer trio of individuals who are willing to help anyone out in their quest for gaining a better understanding about social media.
• Saint Charles Place, States Avenue and Virginia Avenue are gone and in their place are three fantastic Twitter chats (#TechChat, #MMChat and #BlogChat).  If you aren’t already participating in these discussions, I recommend that you do so immediately.
• Saint James Place, Tennessee Avenue and New York Avenue have been updated to feature @markwschaefer, @copyblogger, @pushingsocial because not a day goes by that these three individuals aren’t sharing fantastic information on Twitter.
• Kentucky Avenue, Indiana Avenue and Illinois Avenue are now occupied by a fabulous trio of strong and intelligent women (Suzanne Vara, Margie Clayman and Beth Harte).  Their work speaks for itself – don’t hesitate in checking them out.
• Atlantic Avenue, Ventnor Avenue and Marvin Gardens are now represented by a group of analysts and engaging speakers (Jeremiah Owyang, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin).
• Pacific Avenue, North Carolina Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue are now inhabited by three great online resources (Marketing Profs, Social Media Today and Mashable).
• Park Place and Boardwalk are gone and in their place are Brian Solis and Chris Brogan.  Many aspire to be them but attempting this has the same result as drinking a “Slurpee” too fast – warning “brain freeze” will occur.
• Reading Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, B & O Railroad, and Short Line Railroad have been replaced with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube because these sites are the engines that drive the majority of social media interaction.  As for the two utility companies (Electric Company and Water Works), they have been updated with TweetDeck and HootSuite.

And there you have it – an updated version of Monopoly with a Social Media twist.  NOTE: the online version (because nowadays you have to have an online game) would use Klout/Alexa/PostRank to determine the “real-time price” of the Socialopoly properties to add an additional level of complexity.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section and let me know what changes you would make and if you have any fun/clever Chance/Community Chest card suggestions.  Obviously this was written for fun with the purpose of highlighting some of my favorite social media thought leaders.

Author: Brian Rice

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Brian Rice is a marketing professional with a decade of experience on both the client and agency side of marketing.  He holds a BS, Marketing from Cabrini College and a MBA, Marketing from Saint Joseph’s Haub School of Business and is a member of the International Business Honors Society, Sigma… View full profile