Revealed at last - LOSTOPOLY

I've spoken to several of you who know that I've been tinkering with a "major LOST project" over the course of the last several months. I am proud to finally present LOSTOPOLY, my own LOST version of the classic Monopoly board game.



I made this game simply to play with my friends, but since the files are digital, it would be silly not to at least offer it to others who might enjoy playing it. Here are some close-ups of the board and cards:











LOSTOPOLY plays almost like regular Monopoly, but with locations from the first 3 seasons of LOST as the various properties. Furthermore, the "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards have been replaced with "Question Mark" and "Pallet Drop" respectively, and each of these cards has a LOST-related theme.

As you can see from the photographs, I created the LOSTOPOLY board and all the cards myself. If you like the look of the game, I have uploaded all the files you will need to replicate it for your own use. You can put the game together for next to nothing; it cost me about $20 but it would be even less for someone with a decent printer at home. Below I will describe the instructions for making the game and talk about some personal additions I made, along with one new rule I added to regular Monopoly just for fun.

CONSTRUCTING THE GAME

Step 1: Download the image files. I have saved all the files you will need in a zip folder at the link below. All of the files are designed to fit on 8.5 x 11 paper, so you will not need to make any sizing alterations when you print them out. The board comes in six pieces, and there are nine pages for the various cards and deeds, for a total of 15 pages.

Click here to download the zip file.

Step 2: Print the images. I burned them onto a CD and took them to my local Staples, where I had them printed on 110 lb. white card stock. If you have a high-quality printer and/or card stock at home, you won't even need to leave the house for this step. Making the copies cost me about $15, or a dollar per page.

Step 3: Make the board. I purchased a green foam board for $5, then carefully trimmed the board pieces and used rubber cement to assemble them on the board. As you can see from the above photo, the end result isn't perfect; there are visible lines where the pieces meet, but then again that's true of factory-made board games too.

Step 4: Make the cards. Simple, cut out the cards. Using the card stock makes these much more durable than putting them on regular old copy paper.

Step 5: Add Monopoly pieces and money or make your own. As you can see, I used some elements from an actual Monopoly game and designed my own playing pieces out of Sculpy. The pieces I chose to make are a Dharma beer, Locke's wheelchair, Bunny #8, a fish biscuit, the Jesus Stick, Vincent, Locke's knife, and a radio.



You could do a million things for playing pieces-- make figures of the characters if you wanted-- or if you are not particularly inclined to be creative, just use the pieces from a regular monopoly game. I chose to use the regular Monopoly money, houses and hotels, though you could design all of these too if you were so inclined.

You are almost ready to play. I mentioned earlier that I added one new rule, and that is the Smoke Monster. The Smoke Monster begins the game on GO. The first player rolls the dice twice and moves the Monster the appropriate number of spaces (this is so it begins on a random place). When a player lands on the same space as the Monster, he or she must roll the dice and pay the bank four times the amount on the dice (therefore, it can range from 8 to 48 dollars). The player then rolls the dice twice to move the Monster again and loses the rest of his or her turn.

I added this rule just to put a little something extra that was LOST-related into the game. You are free to use the rule or ignore it. Naturally, if you use it you will also have to come up with a piece to represent the Smoke Monster.



It's my wish that some of you reading this post will choose to download the images, make your own board and enjoy playing LOSTOPOLY with your fellow fans. I ask for nothing in return except for an occasional visit to my humble LOST blog, which will have reviews, analysis and theories throughout the new season. I am making no money whatsoever from this and will gladly remove all the materials if asked to do so.

Stay LOST!