Foursquaropoly takes the classic board game and combines it with the Foursquare app to provide a new mobile experience of buying and selling to enjoy. I’ve expressed my personal views on Monopoly on our article about Monopoly Live, one of Hasbro’s many attempts at revitalizing the franchise. The simple fact is that the game is getting old, and it can stretch on for hours. Sure, it’s a classic, but better games have been produced which can provide more fun in less time. With computer and mobile gaming being increasingly popular, many don’t like the idea of playing any board game for hours, when they can load up Angry Birds or some other casual game for quick, instant fun.
Foursquaropoly is one of the biggest innovations I’ve seen, more than just the simple re-skin of the original board game we’ve seen a million times, such as The Big Lebowski Monopoly or Tronopoly. Doing away with the board and taking the game on the go, Foursquaropoly adds an additional gaming element to mobile app Foursquare. You start out with $100,000 in virtual money, money which you can spend on locations around your city. If you want to buy an office building, a book store, or your favorite coffee joint, you can do so if it’s un-bought and you have enough money. You’ll then collect rent from other players who visit your newly-purchased location. Of course, you’ll end up paying rent when checking in at spots owned by others. This differs from the board game in that you also have to pay bills on the properties you own, ensuring that you perform some sort of upkeep in order to keep hold of a property. This allows other players to have the chance at grabbing it away from you if you don’t have enough money to hold onto it or if you quit playing.
The game is currently under development, so one can’t be entirely certain of what the finished product will include. One could hope that you’d be allowed to trade properties with friends in order to obtain some sort of ‘monopoly’. Unfortunately, there’s no news yet on their plans for how to color-code properties and what effects it will have when you own enough of one color, but hopefully the game will include enough of the key aspects of the board game while taking them in a different direction.
