Why We Swapped Monopoly Streets for Real Brands
Our Monopoly board uses real companies instead of street names, grouped by industry. Why we did it, how the groups map, and whether it changes how you play.
Open our version of Monopoly and you will not find Boardwalk or Mayfair. You will find real companies, the kind you use every day, grouped by industry. Swapping streets for brands is the one big change we made, and it fits the game better than you might expect.
Why brands instead of streets
The original street names meant something in 1930s Atlantic City. To most players today they are just words. Real companies are instantly familiar. You know which brands are giants and which are challengers, so the board reads at a glance, and there is a particular joy in charging a friend rent on a name they recognise.
How the groups map
Each colour group is an industry. The cheap brown set is discount supermarkets. Light blue is apparel and sportswear. The pinks are cafes and fast food. Orange is the social networks. Red is airlines. Yellow is online marketplaces. Green is car makers. The expensive dark blue pair is big tech. The finance group, where the railway stations used to be, is payment companies, and the utilities are logistics and industry.
The point is that the structure of classic Monopoly is untouched. Same groups, same prices, same positions. We only changed the labels.
Does it change the strategy?
Not at all, and that is by design. Because every property sits in exactly the same place as on the classic board, all the usual logic still holds. The orange group, the social networks, is still the best real estate on the board because it sits just past jail in the busiest landing zone. The expensive tech duo is still landed on less often than its price suggests. If you have a Monopoly strategy, it transfers straight over.
The fun part
There is something satisfying about owning a monopoly on social media and watching opponents hand over a fortune every time they land on it, or bankrupting a friend with airline rent. The familiar brands make the rivalries feel a little more real than a row of street names ever did.
See the board for yourself
You can browse every brand on the board, group by group, with prices and rent, in our company directory. When you are ready, start a game and find out whether you would rather own the social networks or the banks.
New here? Our guide to playing with friends gets you into a game in a minute.