Monopoly: The Materials Edition

Monopoly is a roll-and-move game where players move around the game board buying or trading properties, developing their properties with houses and hotels. When opponents land on players owned property, the owning player collects rent from the landing player. Owning sets of properties increases the rent paid to the player who owns them, by the player who lands on the square. The ultimate goal is to have the most money and drive opponents into bankruptcy.

Introduction Monopoly: The Materials Edition was developed by PhD students from the Advanced Metallic Systems Centre for Doctoral Training. The students developed the game as part of a public engagement project which aims to raise awareness of materials science and engineering and engage people with the world of metallurgy.

From the rear of the box: The game is played just like traditional Monopoly but instead of purchasing property, players buy different materials as they travel around the board. Materials including metals, ceramics, polymers and composites all feature in the game. Investing in research and development enables you to buy labs and research centres to upgrade your material to a more advanced technology, for example turning steel from paperclips into skyscrapers! The property cards provide a brief description of the technology. Those with red backs are aimed at upper GCSE and A-Level students and the blue cards use simpler language for younger students (~KS3).

PROPERTIES BROWN (naturals) Wood / Rubber LIGHT BLUE (polymers) Thermoplastic / Thermoset / Biodegradable PINK (ceramics) Chalk / Clay / Sand ORANGE (Steels) Plain Carbon / Stainless / Speciality RED (Light Metals) Aluminium / Magnesium / Titanium YELLOW (base Metals) Zinc / Copper / Nickel GREEN (composites) Ceramic / Polymer / Metal Matrix DARK BLUE (premium) Uranium / Platinum STATIONS Recycling Station / Manufacturing Station / Processing Station / Extraction Station UTILITIES Water Works / Electricity Company TAXES Income Tax / Super Tax