There’s a new way to play Monopoly online for free, and while it’s not official it’s really good.
In this review, I’ll take you through the pros and cons of Capitalista, the free Monopoly game from Gidd.io.
Capitalista Review
Summary
If you want to play a game of Monopoly online against friends, and you don’t want to pay, then Capitalista is a really great option. It’s not the flashiest and it doesn’t have a ton of customization options, but it doesn’t need them. It’s Monopoly. It works. It’s fast. This all means it’s perfect for a fun night.
Is Capitalista free to play?
Yes, Capitalista really is free to play. There’s no cost for signing up to Gidd.io or for playing the game. The only cost you might incur, because it’s an online game, is if you played on your smartphone and used your data. But the game is so simple that it will barely use any data at all.
If you want to play Monopoly with friends, and you’re looking for a free option, then it really is a great choice.
How does Capitalista work?
Capitalista is hosted on the Gidd.io website, which is an online platform you can access through your internet browser from your computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. The platform has a few games available to play, with Capitalista being one that is based on Monopoly.
It’s a game that you play with friends. You can’t play with strangers or with bots, so it’s not ideal if you’re on your own and looking for a game. But playing with friends is super-easy.
There are a lot of websites that end in “.io” which are gaming related and gidd io is one of them. It’s most famous for Capitalista which some people call Monopoly io.
Suggested read: 5 Fun Ways to Play Monopoly By Yourself
How to Play Capitalista
All you need to do is visit the website and choose Capitalista. Once you’ve hit ‘Select Game’ you can then use the ‘Copy Link’ button to share your specific game link.
Fire it to your friends on your preferred messenger client, or post the link on your social media, and once the required number of players have joined you’ll be able to start the game.
The game isn’t official and so doesn’t have the same properties as the normal Monopoly board. Instead of Boardwalk, you’ll be aiming to buy ‘New York’. Indeed each color set is themed around a country – India, Turkey, Canada, the UK, Italy, South Korea, Germany and – saving the best for the Dark Blues – the USA.
Chance and Community Chest are renamed to ‘Treasure’ and ‘Surprise’ as well, while the railroads are renamed for airports – Delhi, London Heathrow, Incheon and JFK in New York. Electric Company and Water Company remain the same while Free Parking has been renamed to ‘Vacation’.
The rest of the rules are the same as a standard game of Monopoly. You roll two dice, rolling again if you get doubles and going to Jail if you get three doubles in a row.
You can trade, buy houses and hotels – there’s literally nothing about the way the game functions that’s different from regular Monopoly.
Also, it is fast. A lot of online versions of Monopoly prefer to have much flashier graphics and animations, which comes at a cost of game speed – watching your token slowly plod from space to space. Not here – everything moves rapidly, and when playing online you see your friends’ moves in real time. You’ll get through a game in no time at all.
How many players can play Capitalista?
Capitalista is a multiplayer-only game and so you can’t play on your own. However – and quite unique to Capitalista – you can have up to 20 players playing the game at once.
Obviously, this has an impact on how the game will pan out if you do add 20 players. It’ll likely be almost impossible to get a complete color set, so you’d need to tinker with the starting cash and rules that you play with. But the freedom to play with 7, 8, 9 or however many players you want to without a limit of 6 is great.
And because the game is so fast, even with a large group you won’t be waiting long between turns.
What rules options are there?
When you first set up the Capitalista game, you can choose from a few different rule options.
Map Selection – at the moment only the standard Giddiopoly map is available, but the fact that the option is there suggests there may be more varied boards in future
Starting Cash – choose any amount of cash that every player starts the game with
Mortgage – decide whether players are allowed to mortgage properties they own
Double Rent – you can set whether you get double the rent when you own a complete color set
Auction – if a player lands on an unowned property and doesn’t buy it, decide whether it then goes to auction
No Rent In Jail – set whether a player in jail can still receive rent payments
The game defaults to all of the Yes/No options being on Yes, so you can mortgage properties, you get double rent for full color sets, and properties are auctioned.
The ‘No Rent In Jail’ is set to Yes too, which means that Yes, players can’t collect rent while they’re in jail. This is the only default rule that deviates from official Monopoly rules, so be sure to flick that to ‘No’ if you want to play by the book.
As players join the game, they can choose their name and a color for their token. By default, the phonetic alphabet is used for player name suggestions, but you can add any name you want to.
Reasons to Play Capitalista
- It’s free!
- Perfect for multiplayer – it’s cross-platform and can allow up to 20 players
- Fast gameplay means you won’t be bored waiting for your turn
- Super-easy to set up and control
Reasons to Avoid Capitalista
- Unofficial board
- No single player options
To conclude
Gidd.io’s Capitalista game is a really fun option for playing Monopoly online with friends. The customization options aren’t super extensive but there’s enough there to let you tailor the game to suit your group, and with the option for up to 20 players at once you aren’t limited at all by group size.
But most importantly, it’s just a faithful recreation of the Monopoly rules and it’s one of the best ways to play Monopoly online for free. That alone makes it worth your time – whether you’re in bed on your smartphone or sneaking in a game while you work, it’s easy and quick to get a game going. I fully recommend this Monopoly.io game.
