Park Place is one of the most expensive properties you can buy in Monopoly. But does that make it the best? Is it worth spending big to get the set with Boardwalk and potentially banking some big cash when other players land on it?
By the end of this article, you’ll know whether Park Place should be one of your top priorities, or whether it’s something worth picking up and trading for something better.
I’ve also thrown in a few fun facts about the real-life Park Place in New Jersey, USA.
Key facts about Park Place:
- Costs $350 to buy
- Mortgage value of $175
- Houses cost $200, a hotel costs $200 plus four houses
- Rent with no properties – $35
- Rent with hotel – $1500
What is Park Place in Monopoly?
Park Place is the second-to-last property space on a Monopoly board. Along with Boardwalk, it forms the Dark Blue group of properties, although some people refer to the color as purple.
(That’s despite some Monopoly older boards using a dark purple color for the first two properties instead of brown.)
Interesting fact – Park Place is the property with the most similar name to its UK counterpart. The same space on a UK Monopoly board is Park Lane.
There’s no evidence that this is any more than a coincidence, although Park Lane might have been chosen because it closely matched the US space.
How much is Park Place in Monopoly?
As the second most expensive property on the board, Park Place costs $350 to buy and can therefore be mortgaged for $175.
Houses on Park Place will cost you $200 each – the same as houses on the Green Monopoly spaces. Hotels cost $200 plus four houses.
What is Park Place worth in Monopoly?
The rent that you’ll be paid every time someone lands on Park Place is $35, which is doubled to $70 if you also own Boardwalk.
When you add one house the rent increases to $175, and then $500 for two houses. A third house more than doubles this amount to $1,100, while four houses result in $1,300. A Park Place hotel is worth $1,500 every time someone lands on it.
Park Place Title Deed Card
- Rent: $35
- Rent with color set: $70
- Rent with 1 house: $175
- Rent with 2 houses: $500
- Rent with 3 houses: $1100
- Rent with 4 houses: $1300
- Rent with hotel: $1500
The Best Strategy for Park Place
Next, we’ll take a look at the best strategy for winning Monopoly. Should you buy Park Place? And how many houses should you build on it?
Is Park Place a good buy?
There’s no definitive answer on whether you should buy Park Place in Monopoly – it will always depend on your strategy and the way the game is panning out. There are pros and cons to buying Park Place, and you can make your own judgment call depending on how the game is unfolding.
Park Place ROI
To help you decide whether Park Place is a good buy, I’ve spent time working out the return on investment – how much money you’ll make from the space if someone lands on it, against how much you’ll have spent to get it.
As an undeveloped property, Park Place is the second-best property in the game. At $35 for every rent payment, you’re making a 10% return on investment (ROI) every time someone lands on the space.
The Monopoly properties are organized in a way that the ROI for undeveloped spaces increases as you go around the board, so only Boardwalk (12.5% ROI) is better than Park Place.
That doesn’t stay consistent as you add houses though.
With three houses, the ROI for Park Place is 115.8%, because you’ll have invested $950 and you’ll make back $1,100. Except that’s not quite true because in order to have three houses on Park Place you also need to have bought Boardwalk and added at least two houses to it.
So, at a minimum, you’ll have spent $1,750. That instead results in an actual ROI of 62.9%. Which isn’t bad, but it’s not the best return on the board for three houses.
When you get to a hotel then it’s worse again. The individual ROI is 111.1%, but in actual fact, you’ll have spent a minimum of $2,550 to get Boardwalk to four houses and Park Place to a hotel. That’s an actual ROI of 58.8%.
With hotels, two players landing on Park Place earns you your money back. But the ROI for the Light Blue, Pink, Orange, and Yellow properties are all stronger.
However, the difference between $1,000 rent for New York Avenue (the best Monopoly property) and the $1,500 for the fully developed Park Place is a pretty significant $500.
That could be make-or-break as the game goes on. Asking someone to pay $1,500 in one go is rarely going to be easy for your opponents.
Park Place and Boardwalk
Remember that you aren’t just investing in Park Place – you’re unlocking the potential of Boardwalk too.
Boardwalk is only worth buying if you also get your hands on Park Place and can get it upgraded with properties. Doing that could be an instant game-ender, as Boardwalk’s $2,000 rent for a hotel is huge.
There’s also a feeling of prestige with the Dark Blue properties – you know they have high potential if they can be upgraded right. You can use this to your advantage for trades.
Arguably, if you are close to completing a Monopoly set on the high return Orange or Light Blue spaces, a trade that involves Park Place is going to look very appealing, so it can be worth picking up just as a haggling tool.
Suggested read: Monopoly Trading Rules & Strategies
The Probability of Landing on Park Place
Let’s end with one reason you might not want to invest in Park Place – the likelihood of landing on the space.
With two dice, you are most likely to roll a 7. There’s a 16.67% chance of that. That’s almost 3% more likely than the next most common rolls (6 or 8), and hugely more common than rolling snake eyes or double-six, which each has only a 2.78% chance.
And why does that matter? Well, it’s impossible to land on Park Place if you roll a 7 because 7 spaces prior is the Go To Jail space. No one can land on that space without instantly moving to Jail, even if they have a Get Out Of Jail Free card. So, the chances of opponents landing on your investment are lower than any other space on the board.
Suggested read: Monopoly Jail Rules Explained
Park Place in Real Life
Like most of the Monopoly properties, Park Place on the Monopoly board was named after a real street in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Where is Park Place from Monopoly?
Park Place is named after what was an actual park in Atlantic City although, aptly enough, it’s now been built over. What remains of Park Place is a small road next to Brighton Park.
Park Place does intersect with Boardwalk in Atlantic City, and at that intersection, you’ll find a plaque that commemorates Charles Darrow, the first person to create the Monopoly board game (although based on other similar games at the time).
The Bottom Line
So, should you buy Park Place when you’re next playing Monopoly? If you have the spare cash then yes, it’s probably worth adding it to your portfolio.
While undeveloped, it’ll earn you a healthy $35 every time someone lands on it, but ultimately it’s the least-landed on space on the board, and so you shouldn’t expect a huge return unless the game runs on for a long time.
Just make sure that you don’t trade Park Place to someone who owns Boardwalk without getting something good in return – and even consider it just as an option to mortgage if your cash runs low. At $175 it can be a handy boost when you’re in a tight spot.
It might not be the best Monopoly property in the game but it definitely has some value.
