Monopoly Junior

Monopoly Junior is a children's version of the classic board game Monopoly, first released in 1990. Its board is smaller and rectangular, and instead of streets, the spaces feature child-friendly city attractions like a zoo, video game arcade, and pizzeria. Many different editions of the game exist. Parker Brothers launched Monopoly Junior in 1990 for players ages five to eight.

The original board was designed like a fair midway, with 16 amusements instead of the standard 28 properties. Players chose from four car tokens—a red roller coaster car, blue bumper car, green flume, or yellow carousel horse—and used colored ticket booths (the same pieces as hotels in the standard game) to mark ownership instead of title deeds. Gameplay followed the same basic rules: players rolled a single die (not two) and moved their token clockwise.

Landing on an unowned amusement allowed players to buy it at the price shown on the board; they could also decline. If a player declined, the property was auctioned off to the highest bidder. If a player lacked exact change, the banker (who also played) could make change. Amusements could not be upgraded with houses or hotels.

Landing on an opponent’s amusement meant paying an entrance fee equal to the board’s value; landing on one of a same-colored pair owned by the same player required paying double. Play continued until only one player remained solvent, and the winner was the player with the most cash. In 2013, the game was revised. The board shifted from a midway to a simplified city layout.

The player tokens were replaced with a green car, a blue boat, an orange cat, and a black dog. Ticket booths were replaced with “sold signs” featuring cartoon versions of the tokens. The original $1, $2, $3, $4, and $5 notes were replaced with single-denomination “Monopoly money” notes, and prices used a currency glyph (an uppercase M with two horizontal bars) instead of dollar or pound signs. The board became more like the standard Monopoly board, renaming “Rest Rooms” (or “Café”) to “Jail” and “Uncle Pennybag’s Loose Change” to “Free Parking.”

The four Railroad spaces, Fireworks, Water Show, and two Chance spaces were removed, shrinking the board from 32 spaces to 24.