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BOARD GAMES » MONOPOLY

Making Your Own Monopoly Game:

DIY Board, Cards & Game Pieces
Enjoy a custom version of Monopoly at your next
board game night
Co-authored by Sophie Burkholder, BA
Reviewed by Ashton Wu
Last Updated: August 5, 2024 Fact Checked

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Choosing a Custom Theme | Building the Board

| Creating the Cards | Show more

Are you a major Monopoly fan looking to own it all?

Or maybe you have someone in your life who’s
always begging to play Monopoly at your weekly
game night? Either way, this is your chance to create
the custom board game that you've always dreamed
of. You already know the rules, so all you have to do
is pick a theme and create your Monopoly board and
playing pieces—and with this comprehensive guide,
you can make your own by following the simple set of
steps below!

Custom Monopoly: Quick Steps

1. Choose a unique theme for your game and design

board spaces to match.
2. Draw or print your spaces onto an 18 in × 18 in
(460 mm × 460 mm) piece of paper.
3. Paste the paper onto cardboard or an old Monopoly
board.
4. Make the Realty, Chance, and Community Chest
cards.
5. Make custom Monopoly currency or reuse the
original dollars.
6. Build your game tokens out of air-dry clay or reuse
items from around the house.

Part 1 of 4:
1 Choosing a Custom Theme

Think of a unique theme for your game.

1 Monopoly is easily customized, and all you
need is an idea to get started. You can think globally,
like making an ocean-themed Monopoly, or
personally, like one based on a friend or the town
you live in. Whatever theme you choose, name the
game using the Monopoly formula, like “Dog-opoly”
or “Elvis-opoly.”[1]

Be careful not to be too specific. If your theme

isn't broad enough, you might not have enough
options to fill out all of the railroad spaces or
Community Chest cards without compromising
the overall theme.
If you’re making the game as a gift, choose a
theme that relates to an interest of the recipient
or just make a game that totally revolves around
them! For example, you could make a game for
your friend Michael called “Michael-opoly” and
design the whole board to feature important
things from his life.

Plan out your personalized playing spaces

2 and board decorations. You’ll have to
personalize the four large squares in the corners
(including Go to Jail, Free Parking, Jail, and Go),
the 22 property spaces, and the secondary playing
spaces (4 Railroads, 3 Chance spaces, 3
Community Chest spaces, and 3 Utility spaces).
[2] Brainstorm ideas for each one and how to
customize it for your theme. Remember to pick eight
different colors for each of the property groupings.

For example, Medieval-opoly might feature a

dragon instead of prison bars for the “Jail”
space, as well as property spaces related to
medieval kingdoms or provinces.
Instead of a “Go to Jail” and “Jail” space, a
jungle-themed game might feature a broken
jungle vine and a quicksand pit.
Use the large space in the middle of the board
to decorate and elaborate on your theme. Write
the name of your game instead of “Monopoly”
and add visual elements if desired.
If this DIY monopoly is a gift for someone's
anniversary, for instance, Photoshop or paste
actual photos of the couple around your
customized Monopoly name.

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Decide if you want to change any rules.

3 Since you've already changed the board, you
have the option to personalize the game play as
well. For example, you can rearrange the property
spaces to make it more difficult or alter how long
someone remains in jail. But if you don't want to lose
too much of the original game, you can print out a
copy of the Monopoly rules online or use an old
version's copy to keep in the board box.

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Part 2 of 4:
2 Building the Monopoly Board

Use a Monopoly template or board to sketch

1 an outline onto paper. If you have an old
Monopoly board sitting around, place a 18 by 18
inches (460 mm × 460 mm) piece of paper on top of
the board so that you can see the lines of the board
through the paper. Lightly trace the dimensions of
each playing space and other details on the board.

Alternatively, print out a blank Monopoly

template online rather than tracing your own.
If you’re making your Monopoly board digitally
with a design program like Photoshop, upload a
digital Monopoly template onto the platform to
create an outline of your board or draw the
whole thing from scratch using a real board as a
reference.
There are free online programs such as Google
Draw that you can use instead of buying a
program. Using a computer may also allow you
to mimic the traditional Monopoly fonts.
However, keep in mind that the Monopoly board
size is bigger than a normal printer's capacity,
so you may need to split the image in your
editing program to print out over several sheets
of paper when it comes time for assembly.

Add spaces and details to the outline of your

2 board. Since you already planned out your
custom spaces in the previous section, now you get
to sketch out all of your designs! Use art supplies or
a digital computer program to fill in the playing areas
of the board. Fill in your corner spaces, color-coded
property spaces, secondary spaces, as well as any
other fun and thematic decorations you want to add.
[3]

If you haven’t already, use a ruler or

straightedge to draw two small rectangles in the
large central section of your board. Label them
as “Community Chest” and “Chance,” or
whatever name you’re using for these cards in
your personalized game.
If you’re making your Monopoly board by hand,
use permanent markers and other art supplies
to decorate the board. Add small images to
match each space, using a real Monopoly board
as a visual reference.
If you’re making your Monopoly board digitally,
add text boxes and images downloaded from
the internet to fill in and decorate your board. If
you aren’t very familiar with digital programming,
it may be best to stick with the handmade board.

Create a 18 by 18 inches (460 mm × 460 mm)

3 base for your board out of a sturdy material.
Pick a sturdy material like card stock, cardboard, or
weighted paper. Cut your material to 18 by 18 inches
(460 mm × 460 mm), which is about the size of a
standard Monopoly board.[4]

If you want your board to be foldable, carefully

use an X-Acto Knife or razor blade to cut a
straight line from the center point of the board to
the midpoint of one side. Make sure that this
material is foldable before applying your design
on top.
If you have an old Monopoly board lying around,
it may be easier to use that as your base.

Paste your paper board design onto the

4 base. If you made your Monopoly board by
hand on a piece of paper, simply glue or use double-
sided tape to affix the paper board to the sturdier
base. Make sure to smooth out any bubbles as soon
as possible. Carefully use a razor blade or similar
tool to cut a slit through the covering so that the
board can fold into itself for storage.[5]

If you made your Monopoly board digitally,

create a PDF file of your board and print it out
as a sticker at a copier store. Then, you can lay
the sticker over your base.

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Part 3 of 4:
3 Creating the Game Cards

Make your Chance and Community Chest

1 cards. You need 16 cards for Chance and 16
for Community Chest. Cut out 3.25 by 2.25 inches
(83 mm × 57 mm) pieces of cardstock to create your
cards, or make them digitally and print them out with
an online program like Google Draw or Canva. Keep
the actions on each card the same as the original
Monopoly game but customize the text to fit your
theme.

For example, instead of the card that says

"Advance to Pall Mall," you could write
"Advance to Disney World" if your game is
based on Florida.
For Community Chest cards, you could change
"Pay School Fees" to "Pay for Beach Parking."
Laminate your cards, if possible, so that they
last longer and will be better protected.
Here’s a list of all of the original Chance and
Community chest cards if you don’t have any on
hand.

Make Realty cards for each of your

2 properties. For simplicity, use the same rent
and mortgage amounts as the corresponding
original cards. Make sure each property on your
board has a matching card with the correct property
name and color.

Make your cards out of cardstock, or draw

directly on top of old Monopoly cards from the
original game.
You can also print directly onto card stock if
you're using a template in Photoshop or
Microsoft Word.
For all of your cards, laminate them for longevity
and better protection against infamous
Monopoly feuds.

Create a unique currency for your Monopoly

3 game. You can either buy generic or
replacement Monopoly money at a game store or
online or create your own. If you don't buy
replacement money, you can draw or print it as well.

Be creative with the denomination designs. For

example, if you're doing a game based on
Quentin Tarantino movies, you could photoshop
his character's faces onto the money and add
fake blood splatter for a fun effect.
You can also name your bills and include that
moniker on the dollars themselves. "Credits"
works for video game-based Monopolies and
"Bison Bucks" for a Wild West-themed game.
Similar to your game cards, you can either make
your Monopoly dollars by hand, using a digital
tool, or by using a printable template.

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Part 4 of 4:
4 Making the Game Pieces

Make your player pieces. Plan to have about

1 eight tokens for players to use that match your
theme. Use pre-existing items around your house, or
buy miniatures from a local toy store or online
manufacturer. Alternatively, sculpt your miniature
tokens out of clay or papier maché. Keep your items
small, as the spaces are not very large.

Fimo or Sculpey are two reliable and easy-to-

find materials for making your own tokens.
If you’re making a movie-themed game, for
example, you could make a tiny popcorn token,
movie reel, Hollywood star, and award statue. If
you're making a superhero-themed game, you
can use action figures as tokens.
Don't forget that you need dice as well. If you
aren't going to buy or use your own, you can
make a die while sculpting your other tokens.

Build your houses and hotels. Pick something

2 creative but easy to recreate several times
since you're going to need 32 houses and 16 hotels
total to accommodate for gameplay.[6] For example,
if you're making a Texas-themed game, you can
make the pieces look like the Alamo and an oil rig.

You could always repaint old Monopoly houses

and hotels in different colors to match the rest of
your game's color scheme.
You can make the game more complicated by
making houses and hotels of different values.
For example, you could construct a regular-
looking home, a skyscraper, and a castle in the
same game and make each of their rent
payments incrementally more expensive.

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Community Q&A

Question

What are the cards made of?

Community Answer

Thick paper or thin cardboard works best.

Helpful 90 Not Helpful 22

Question

What sort of board do you use?

Community Answer

You could use any of the following to make a game

board from: Strong cardboard, an unwanted
desktop cardboard mat, a panel off a grocery box,
a piece of plywood covered in paper, etc.
Helpful 95 Not Helpful 24

Question

Can we do it all by hand?

Community Answer

Yes you can.

Helpful 77 Not Helpful 31

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Video

Tips

If you plan to keep your Monopoly board in a box,

find an old Monopoly board box and decorate it
with photos, doodles, or whatever other visuals
you want to match your theme!
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

If you want a customized Monopoly board but

don’t want to make it from scratch, try designing
and ordering a board through a company like
You’re On Deck.
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Things You'll Need

18 by 18 inches (460 mm × 460 mm) piece of

paper

Printed Monopoly board template or old Monopoly

board

Ruler or straightedge

Permanent markers and other art supplies

18 by 18 inches (460 mm × 460 mm) base made

out of cardboard or an old Monopoly board

X-Acto knife or razor blade

Cardstock (for making cards and/or currency)

Clay or papier mâché to make tokens (optional)

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