Tom Nook is officially starting a new business venture, the beloved island-hopping Switch game takes on collaboration with the multinational toy and board game company, Hasbro. On July 6, Hasbro announced via Twitter that Animal Crossing: New Horizons would be turning into a Monopoly game that would be releasing in August. But, this version will be unlike your traditional Monopoly as players will get to explore islands, collect resources, and rack up money in exchange for Nook Miles, mimicking the original gameplay created by Nintendo.
In the board game, players will have a choice of choosing which stylized villager they will play as. On the box, we see that the Animal Crossing Monopoly comes with four villagers, each one carries an item from the video game: a net, fishing pole, apple, and shovel. The gameplay of Animal Crossing Monopoly also follows a different pattern as players will be ‘discovering’ islands instead of purchasing property. When your villager is the first to discover a space, known as ‘islands’ in this game, you or a player who lands on the space must collect that island’s resources and give them to the player who initially discovered the space. Some of the discoverable resources will be bugs, fossils, fish, and fruit. You will then take those resources and sell them to the bank for Bells, the game’s currency. Bells earn you different decorations from the store Nook’s Cranny.
The decorations purchased in the Monopoly game aren’t like the Switch version. The Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing: New Horizons uses decorations to allow villagers to spruce up their island and villager homes, the Monopoly decorations will be used in the game to get Nook Miles. The player with the most Nook Miles is the victor of the entire game.
Some things in the original Monopoly like jail, free parking, and chance will be unchanged in the Animal Crossing version, while Dodo Airlines, the airport in the Switch version, will be replacing railroads. Another difference from the original boardgame is that instead of collecting $200 from the Go space, players will receive the opportunity to spend their Bells at Nook’s Cranny.
As of today, the game has a release month, but no exact release date. But, if this edition turns out anything like the game or the Switch edition console that was sold out for months, you may want to pre-order it. The cost of the game is $25 and pre-orders can be found on Entertainment Earth’s website.