Today’s release of Monopoly Millionaires seems a natural symbiosis between EA’s Hasbro licenses and its acquisition of Playfish. With the success of Family Game Night on the console, it was just a matter of time before said titles arrive on Facebook.

Much of Monopoly Millionaires is familiar to players of the classic board game from Baltic Avenue to the “metal” game tokens (everyone starts as the race car). The art style and music are pitch perfect but this is not your grandfather’s, or even your, Monopoly game. The key aspect – monopolizing the board – is left out of the gameplay in favor of each player having their own board.

All players begin with the ability to place houses on every property; all it takes is Monopoly Money.  Each property color requires housing of the corresponding color with ever increasing prices. Place a single house on each, and hotel construction begins. In order for construction to complete, friends must “invest” by clicking on a wall post a prescribed number of times. For investing, said friends are paid.

Rent can be collected from completed houses every few minutes but only if electricity is run to the homes. This is purchased in blocks of five minutes to 24-hours. Rent is accrued over time; there is no need to check in every few minutes..

Collecting property is achieved by visiting a friend’s board. Rolling the dice and landing on their property will earn them rent but also grant you the opportunity to earn a card of that color. A full set can be traded to upgrade a home for increased rent.

Circling the board can be expensive, though. Not only will you pay rent, you will contribute to the Community Chest, Free Parking, and Luxury Tax each time you pass. Land on them and you might win serious Monopoly Money but until then simple play can drain your funds.

Upon returning to your own board, you will collect any funds earned from friends visiting your board, collect your rent, upgrade buildings and hope a few hotels have completed.

Interaction between friends is a requirement. There is no earning of properties on your own board. Though hotels can be purchased with gold, it will become costly very quickly. At the same time, the wall posts quickly become spammy. In 15 minutes of play, I had five hotels needing upgrades by three friends each as well as notifications of money to share, free dice rolls, leveling up and mission completion.

A final note should be made regarding the in-game advertisements. Charles Schwab chimes in to give game advice whenever the game loads, a player returns from a friend’s board, or it sits idle too long. The news suggests sending a friend a 3^rd Generation Prius, then Mr. Schwab says hello. Hopefully, time and balance will tone down the commercial interruptions.