Life-Size Monopoly

Life-sized programs are always a blast. At my first library job, I worked with some other staff members to create a life-size Monopoly game. I was lucky enough to have a really creative PR staff to help me, so they created the squares of the board game and made something that looks way more professional than I ever could have done myself. Now I work at a different library, but they were still gracious enough to lend me the game. This was my second time running this program and both times were a blast!

We created the board game using white poster board. The PR Department used vinyl cut-outs to stick on the property names and colors at the top. If you don't have access to this, you can use print-outs blown up on the copier to fit the poster boards. Then I stuck velcro on the bottom of each square so that they would stick to the carpet and the kids wouldn't slide around.


We made the houses and hotels out of milk cartons covered in red and green vinyl. Again, if you don't have access to vinyl, you can always paint them.

The inflatable dice were purchased online.

The Chance and Community Chest cards were made by blowing up the cards from the board game about 400% onto yellow and orange cardstock.

I made laminated team names that could hang around their necks.

We then used the money and the properties from the board game. Our jail was constructed using an appliance box and painted paper towel tubes for the "bars".

Our House Rules are as follows:

• Play by the “Nice Rule” – You pay for the rent of the properties you land on, even if the owner forgets to ask.
• Immunities are NOT allowed – (a.k.a. “I’ll trade you this property if you don’t make me pay rent for the next 3 turns, etc…)
•  If you land on  Income Tax, you must pay the $200
•  No money will be places in the middle of the game board. “Free Parking” is just a free resting place
• You must build evenly. This means that you cannot buy 2 houses for your properties in a certain color group until you have bought 1 house for each one, etc…

We played the game unofficial tournament style in 90 minutes. The kids (who were in grades 4 to 6) signed up for the program in teams of two (or could choose to be randomly assigned to a team). They each had a role during the game: Walkers or Treasurers. The walkers were the ones who rolled the dice and moved around the game board. The Treasurers kept track of the money and properties. Every 3 turns they would switch so that everyone had a chance to do everything. I had 2 teen volunteers to help me. One was my banker and one was responsible for hanging up the property names on the wall under the corresponding team name as they purchases properties:

We would play for an hour and then take a trading break The teams were given 5 minutes to convene about which properties they might want to trade and then one representative from each team came up to the wall to trade.

Then we finished out the 90 minute game. I had a snack at the ready after the game was over. I called the teams up one at a time with their money and properties and totaled them up using a score sheet from the official Monopoly tournament site. (*note that this site is no longer available so please contact me for a PDF of the form*) The winning team received copies of the Monopoly Deal game.

Overall the program was a great success each time and it was interesting to see the strategies of each team!

Have you ever done a Life-Size Monopoly program? If so, any tips or tricks?