Park Place has been transformed into Boston's Fenway Park, Pennsylvania Avenue has become the White House, St. James Place is now South Beach, Miami and Boardwalk has been replaced by Times Square.
Surreal estate?
No. Well, maybe a little.
The list is a sample of new replacement properties up for sale and rent in the latest rendition of "Monopoly, The Property Trading Game," the world's foremost board game.
If real estate is your game, you may get a chuckle out of some the ironies inadvertently built into the special edition.
The original Monopoly game, a make-believe commercial real estate world based on the streets of Atlantic City, NJ, was invented by Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, PA, during the Great Depression.
The new special edition "Monopoly: Here & Now" is designed to reflect what the board game would look like if it were invented today -- at a time when Economy.com of West Chester, PA, says the nation's residential real estate market is about to slip like it hasn't slipped since, you guessed it, the Great Depression.
Just as critic's are pooh poohing Economy.com's forecast, Darrow's game Parker Bros. originally rejected the game.
Later, after Darrow hand-made and successfully sold 5,000 games, the Parker boys wised up and purchased the game which went on to become the world's favorite with more versions than there are inventories of unsold homes today.
New versions of Economy.com's report, from other sources, can't be far behind.
There's more.
While residential real estate properties in today's market are suffering, in part, because many are overvalued, Hasbro has deeply discounted the value of the commercial replacement properties in the "Then And Now" edition.
You can get the White House for a cool $3.2 million, the entire Las Vegas Boulevard ("The Strip") in Vegas (replacing Pacific Avenue) costs only $3 million; the city of Hollywood (replacing Ventnor Avenue) is a steal at $2.6 million and even New Orleans' French Quarter (which survived Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed), which replaces Atlantic Avenue, is a bargain at $2.6 million.
Along with the White House and The Strip, Chicago's Wrigley's Field, rounds out the high-rent district. Orlando's Disney World occupies Illinois Avenue, the most landed-upon property, according to game statistics. And Cleveland's Jacobs Field and Dallas' Texas Stadium are the most affordable properties for real estate moguls to purchase.
Even with undervalued prices, the multi-million dollar cost of the replacement properties comes in a game with a higher stake. Players start with $2 million instead of the paltry $1,500 stake in the original game.
"Here and Now" playing tokens have also changed to reflect the present and include a laptop, cell phone, Nike sneaker and a Starbucks java cup for late night deals.
To make your real estate wheeling-and-dealing experience still more "now," board changes include a hefty $2 million salary for passing Go; airports instead of railways; a cell phone company instead of an electric company and an Internet service provider replaces the Water Works.
There's even some financial irony.
Just as today's real estate market is rigged with high-leverage loans allowing you to get in a house you might not otherwise afford, the Monopoly website allows you to print more money than you'll ever need.
Jail, thankfully, is still Jail.
