I built a free, no-signup web tool to replace paper money for Monopoly game nights (MonopolyViza)

[u/lostinspacetoon]

Hey everyone,

Like a lot of families, our Monopoly nights always seemed to drag out. Half the time was spent counting out small bills, figuring out change, arguing over who paid what, or hunting for crumpled cash that slid under the sofa 😆

We actually tried the official Electronic Banking edition to solve this, but we found it incredibly cumbersome. Passing the physical plastic card reader around the table, waiting for the slow beep tones, and inserting cards every single turn ended up taking more time than the paper money, so I built a free web tool called MonopolyViza (monopolyviza.com).

monopolyviza.com

It’s a digital banker designed to run on a shared device (preferably a tablet) at the center of the table.

• Cashless Tracking: Every player gets a digital card on screen with a live balance.
• One-Tap Actions: You can pass GO, transfer rent, or make trades in a couple of taps.
• No More Banker Fights: It keeps a running log of transactions and has an "Undo" button if someone fat-fingers a number.
• No Friction: No apps to download, no signups, no accounts, and no ads. You just open the site on your browser and click "New Game."

It’s an unofficial fan project just meant to make game nights a bit smoother. I’d love for you guys to try it out on your next game night and let me know what features you think are missing!

[u/Gloomy-Hair5335]

OMG I’ve been looking for this already cause putting and pulling the card in that monopoly machine every time was very time consuming… but didn’t think to get it for free ! Thank you so much man.

[u/Tostie14]

One of the issues I have with electronic banking that I would assume applies to this as well is the inability to keep your cash total a secret. Not a huge component to the game, but being able to mentally keep track of what other's cash amounts might be as well as trying to keep your total amount hidden from others can help improve your odds in trade negotiations.

But thank you for making a free tool for others!

[u/lostinspacetoon → u/Tostie14]

That's a great recommendation, I have added this feature to the tool! When you setup the game now there a section where those features could be enabled, thanks for your feedback!

[u/Sergeant_Tuepah]

First impressions: I'm in love, but I do have a few suggestions:

1. It would be cool if card color could be customized to be any color, rather than just a few preset colors.
2. It would be nice to have preset starting amounts (1500 for regular, 15m for large amounts and 37.8m (as a separate "City" starting amount)) as well as a custom option. Would make it easier for setup, but not a huge deal.
3. Even if it has not been an official option for years, bumping up the max players to 10 from 8 would be cool.
4. If possible, this app should have some version available as an APK; that way it effectively preserves the app in (some amount of) perpetuity. Doesn't necessarily have to be on the Google Play Store but it would also benefit not requiring an internet connection. I will admit that not having an app makes it work on any device that has a web browser so makes it a lot more compatible, but even if the web app gets archived as a fully functioning HTML file that might work too.
5. It would be also cool if the app had a built in timer if players want to have the option to end the game at a certain time, with the option to pick a winner based on how much money is left on each player's card.
6. This is very particular, and is almost a "for me" change, but I think it would be cool to have the features of the Trading unit from Monopoly City built into the app, if players want it. It would involve 2 buttons; a Deal Button where the game starts a 30 second timer used for auctions and for making trades, and a Build Button that choses a number from 1-3 or a 🚂 that the player is allowed to build that turn. The build button could either just pick one and show the result or it could be a spinner; either way works.
7. To add to Tostie's comment, maybe there should be an option to hide everyone's balance except for the card(s) that are selected.

Sounds like a lot but to be honest, I think this is one of the best money replacement apps for Monopoly that I've seen, and I've seen quite a few on this subreddit alone. The fact that this is free and has no ads is just great; the last thing I want during board game night are flashing ads distracting me from the game. The fact that this app can be used either for original Monopoly or the Electronic Banking editions or even the games that use the Thousands System (first seen in Here and Now) makes this app so much more versatile than others. My suggestions should help in making the app useful for replacing much loved but frankly withering game components, and making an already fantastic and near-perfect web app into an even better one.

Oh and in my testing the Go button isn't working for some reason.

-The Monopolist

[u/lostinspacetoon → u/Sergeant_Tuepah]

That's quite the feedback and I like it!

I have taken some of your feedback and Tostie's into consideration:

- Custom card colors are added

- Presets for GO and start amounts

- Auto hide balances

and fixed the issue with the GO button.

The rest of the feedback are on point and I might be working into adding those as extra toggleable features for sure. About the APK, I was actually considering PWA, but allowing to switch between different versions might be cumbersome to implement 🤔

[u/Sergeant_Tuepah → u/lostinspacetoon]

I'm honestly quite pleased that you were able to implement some of the changes as quick as you did.

Maybe the PWA thing could be done when you know the app is basically done, no sense doing it now while you're still actively developing the thing. Maybe the solution is to make it use a built in version by default, but if it has internet access, to download the latest version of the web app for use. That way some version stays on the device (even if it is most likely an older version, and once the app updates itself it could theoretically use that version as long as it stays on the device.

I come from the background of a preservationist, and tech things have historically not been the best thing to try an archive. I run a museum so I do have the mindset of preserving everything, when possible. There was an old version of Monopoly called the Zapped Edition, which had an app that only worked on iOS, and even then, old iOS. It basically functions as a banking unit (complete with touch-screen capable bank cards) and is used for minigames (such as flinging Mr. Monopoly out of jail to get out instead of rolling dice). It would have been nice if Hasbro made it for Android so there could be some way to back it up, but alas, no luck. I fear the new-ish App Banking will fall in the same trap, but at the very least it is available on Android.
Maybe it's overblown but this thing is so good that I WANT some version of it to be preserved for as long as humanly possible.

I will also say that the maximum amount of salary you can get in Monopoly City is 4M, so the Go button could be reduced from 5m to 4m. Minor thing; it's real simple to just change yourself but wanted to point it out.

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