Hasbro has got into bed with Google to create a live worldwide Monopoly game based on Google Maps. It’s called Monopoly City Streets and it sounds like an awesome idea.

I once fell out with an ex-girlfriend’s mum over a game of Monopoly. To be fair, there was a 32% chance that I may have been overly petulant and unreasonable when she was trying to make a deal with me for Pall Mall. But then again, I am a child of the Thatcher generation, so I was merely trying to flex some entrepreneurial muscle. In light of this, here are some basic Monopoly facts:

1. Everyone in the known universe has played it.
2. Everyone in the known universe has had a family argument whilst playing it.
3. Everyone has a different set of rules for what happens when you land on ‘Free Parking’

Back to the matter in hand. There’s some teaser info about the new game on the official Monopoly City Streets site:

On the 9th SEPTEMBER, a world of property empire building on an unimaginable scale will be launched! A live worldwide game of MONOPOLY using Google Maps as the game board. The goal is simple. Play to beat your friends and the world to become the richest property magnate in existence.

Own any street in the world. Build humble houses, crazy castles and stupendous skyscrapers to collect rent. Use MONOPOLY Chance Cards to sabotage your mates by building Hazards on their streets.

Which strategy will you employ? Determined drive? Ingenious daring? Intelligent caution? Will you thrive under the pressure of a fast growing global property empire – or will you crumble? Find out if you’ll thrive, or even survive, in the amazing world of MONOPOLY City Streets. It’s going to be epic fun!

Sounds good, no? Let the arguments commence.

Found on Mashable.

Clearly they have great subject matter to play with (apart from Death Proof which is a truly shit film and the strangely absent segment from Four Rooms), and with Inglorious Basterds due to get its premiere at Cannes sometime soon, their timing is spot-on. Hopefully Tarantino himself will like it and use it as some kind of promotional device to remind people of how could his films used to be…