Park Places without Boardwalks

Imagine a world where wooden tents and ranger stations replace houses and hotels, and where wagons and bears take the place of cars and dogs. Welcome to the National Parks Edition of Monopoly, ® a new twist of the original board game by Parker Brothers (first produced in 1935). Instead of traditional properties like Boardwalk and Park Place, in this version you'll find Yellowstone, Yosemite, and 26 other properties of the National Park System. The game board is divided into eight sections that include Spirit of America, Early Cultures, The Earth Alive, Hallowed Ground, Ancient Creatures, The Water's Edge, Nature's Great Variety, and Majestic Landscapes.

The National Parks Edition of Monopoly ® is produced by USAopoly Inc. of Encinitas, California, a privately held corporation and the licensee of Hasbro Inc.’s  Monopoly game, founded in 1994 to create, manufacture and market specialty editions. Sole sponsorship is provided by Pacific Trail Inc., a leading manufacturer of recreational outerwear based in Seattle, Washington. A portion of the proceeds from game sales will be used by the National Park Foundation to benefit our nation's parks.

Monopoly,® the destinctive design of the game board, the four corner squares, the rich UNCLE PENNYBAGS, name & character, as well as each of the distinctive elements of the board and the playing pieces are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. for its property trading game and game equipment. © 1998 Hasbro, Inc.

The makers and sponsors of the game hope to promote this customized edition as an educational tool to increase awareness and provide information on the national parks. The rules booklet provides informative descriptions and trivia of each park that is featured. The game was introduced to retail stores nationwide in June, and there is interest in promoting it through national park concessionaires.

For those of you who might be wondering, the National Parks Edition of Monopoly ® is, in fact, played with the same familiar rules as the original board game (though it seems that in the true spirit of a National Parks Edition, a more appropriate objective might have been to plant trees on the properties instead of building houses).