A New Kind of Google Monopoly

Who knew everyone wanted to play Monopoly? Apparently, the smart fellers at Google (GOOG) and Hasbro (HAS) did. The two companies have been steadily working to create a new online version of Monopoly, re-envisioned as a massively multi-player online game played on a global scale, by untold thousands around the world. For weeks, buzz has been slowly building toward the launch date. And today, the game took off. And immediately crashed, due to overwhelming demand.

Here are the details of the game, courtesy of TechCrunch. You set up a game with your friends, each of whom gets $3 million to invest in real estate. But instead of using the old Hasbro board, the game will use Google Maps technology to use the entire globe as the playground. You can buy property on any street on the planet and use your capital to build everything from lean-tos to skyscrapers, medieval castles, and casinos. (Frankly, we can't decide whether to be Donald Trump or go with the shacks on old brownfields. Which is sleazier?) In addition to merely buying and developing lots, players can deploy chance cards to build hazards in areas adjoining your rivals' property. Such hazards, ABC News reports, includes sewage plants and prisons. But your rivals can also develop their properties by building schools and windmills to increase the value and corresponding rent. TechCrunch even suggests that tenants on monopoly properties may be able to talk about the conditions using Google Friend Connect or other social networking software.

If you'd like to build a rapacious real estate empire stretching across the globe, this game is for you. But be warned: You have to start now, because the online version will only be up and running until Jan. 31. Here's the link to starting up a game, but be warned: It's been down all day, due to overwhelming demand. Meanwhile, you can read more about the game on Hasbro's blog—using, natch, Google's Blogger software.