The much-hyped Baltimore edition of the Monopoly board game was unveiled in October 2025, and many were eager to see which quintessentially Bawlmer spots and organizations made the cut. While the final product represents Charm City in many expected ways, a few choices raise questions for some fans of the City that Reads.
Game company Top Trumps USA (no relation to Donald J. Trump, Jr. or any of his family or businesses), solicited input from the public in February 2025 to learn which businesses and non-profits would best encapsulate the Baltimore community.
The final version of Monopoly: Baltimore Edition replaces the game’s 33 available squares (from Boardwalk to Park Place) with Baltimore cultural sites, historic landmarks, charitable organizations, and businesses. Community Chest and Chance playing cards are customized to be Baltimore-specific. Game pieces and hotels remain the same as the non-city-specific version of Monopoly.
BOARD MEMBERS
Baltimoreans will not be shocked to see squares on the board with Old Bay Seasoning, crab cakes, the USS Constellation, and Mr. Trash Wheel. Recognizable beloved local restaurants include Miss Shirley’s Cafe, Attman’s Delicatessen, and Ekiben. The Baltimore Ravens and Power Plant Live! occupy the two top prime real estate spots, where Park Place and Boardwalk normally are. Charm City folk will likely applaud the Hippodrome Theatre’s and Maryland Zoo’s inclusion. Thread, a nonprofit “committed to ending social isolation and building a more equitable culture in which everyone thrives” appears on a Community Chest space of the new Monopoly board.
“Thread was incredibly honored to be chosen for a square on the Baltimore version of Monopoly,” wrote Brad Cardwell, Thread’s director of communications. “The game is a really fun way to showcase the city and some of its treasures. We have shared it with members of our community and the response has been very positive. People seem excited to have their hometown represented in such a big way.”
Head-scratchers might include “Boat Slip” and “Blue Crab Bait,” but they make sense in terms of board placement because they are squares where players cough up a penalty when landing there. The only two schools that appear are Calvert Hall College High School and McDonogh School, both private and neither within city limits. They are both, however, long-standing Baltimore-related institutions with strong connections to the city. John Waters attended Calvert Hall, and McDonogh’s “Greatest Good” civic impact program reaches Baltimore City with year-round educational support for students from elementary school through college.
“The opportunity to participate felt natural,” wrote Brooke Blumberg, McDonogh’s chief marketing and communications officer. “At McDonogh, we find joy in work and play, and being part of a game that brings families together authentically reflects who we are and what we value.”
HOW DECISIONS WERE MADE
Tim Barney, a representative for Top Trumps, told Baltimore Fishbowl that early public input played a large role in the selections process, but nominations were not the sole factor.
“If you look back, you’ll see that there was a long period of time promoted in the media when the public and businesses, organizations, and sites themselves could be nominated for consideration,” Barney said. “The effort was to make it as much by and for the people as possible.”
The company also considered the site/organization’s legacy, longevity, credibility, community engagement, and zeal for the city of Baltimore when determining if it belonged on the game board. Barney cited licensing details and enthusiasm for the project itself as additional factors.
In addition, the company researches the city and requests recommendations from people who know the city well. They look at the city’s history, current news, rankings in different sectors like Top 20 restaurants, tourism sites, and more.
While one thread on Reddit included commenters who questioned whether makers of the game even bothered to set foot in Baltimore, the answer is yes. Barney said that they do visit and spend time in each city for which they create a version of Monopoly. They take tours with various tour guides, speak with locals while out scouting for sites, visit businesses, and more.
“With that, we do often find that there are places and things that weren’t nominated by the public, for whatever reason, that should likely still be in the game,” Barney said. “When that happens, we do reach out to said parties and if they meet the aforementioned qualifications and also want to be in the game, they might be offered placement. In a city [like Baltimore] with so many wonderful things, if even 1% of the businesses/sites are a perfect fit, we’re still spoiled for choice.”
PAY TO PLAY
Customers are not the only people who pay money to play Monopoly: Baltimore Edition. Some of the organizations, sites, and institutions that appear on the customized game board, Chance, and Community Chest cards also pay a fee.
Representatives for the Lord Baltimore Hotel and McDonogh School confirmed there were fees involved but declined to specify the amounts. Thread did not pay to be included in the board game. Barney said that any agreements made with organizations are confidential and vary, but they must meet all the other qualifications to be chosen.
“I must reiterate, if they are not considered a good fit, we do not want to put them in the game; therefore, we are not willing to simply put anyone who wants to pay in the game,” Barney said.
“While there was a fee involved, our focus was on the unique opportunity,” wrote Blumberg. “Being part of something this fun and nostalgic felt like an authentic way to celebrate McDonogh’s longstanding place in Baltimore (we recently celebrated our 150th anniversary!).”
WHAT’S MISSING?
A true Baltimore City person must notice that neither the Baltimore Orioles nor Camden Yards make an appearance in Monopoly: Baltimore. Barney confirmed that Top Trumps did reach out to the Baltimore Orioles organization but did not say if it responded or declined to participate.
As for schools, while McDonogh and Calvert Hall are city-adjacent schools with long histories of civic engagement and educational prestige, they are not located within city limits.
The city itself, however, boasts a wealth of public and private educational institutions of national and internation renown. Johns Hopkins University is here, as are the Baltimore School for the Arts (alumni include rapper Tupac Shakur and actor Jada Pinkett Smith), City College High School (alumni include politicians Elijah Cummings, Kurt Schmoke, Dutch Ruppersburger and William Donald Schaefer), and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (alumni include author Ta-Nehisi Coates and former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver LaQuan Williams).
“When we enter many cities, we are often asked where the borders for the game are, geographically,” Barney said. “The answer is based on public feedback and research. Although we generally aim to confine it to the city proper, businesses/sites in the suburbs and other nearby areas sometimes gain a lot of support in the nominations process and stand out enough to make it into the game.”
“If there are sites some of the public feel should have been included but were not, it’s likely because they may not have had representation or as much support in the nominations,” Barney said. “We push the nominations as much as possible for several months in an effort to hear from everyone.”
It is also possible a site or organization was approached but ultimately did not wish to be or were not able to be included for myriad reasons.
OH, MY LORD BALTIMORE, A COLLECTOR’S ITEM!
Eagle-eyed Baltimoreans (or at least people on Reddit) will spot an anomaly on the game board, nestled between the Hippodrome Theatre and Professor Trash Wheel. The photo on the space for Lord Baltimore Hotel is not, in fact, of the Lord Baltimore Hotel. It is a photo of the building at 10 Light Street, the Bank of America building.
How, one asks, could such a thing happen? The answer is simple human error.
The photo that ended up on the Monopoly board is one of many in the hotel’s marketing portfolio, taken from their rooftop for the purpose of showing what a beautiful view the hotel has.
The Lord Baltimore Hotel and the Bank of America building share French Renaissance architecture, and because the buildings look so similar, especially when viewing on a small screen, that is the one the hotel pulled from their portfolio and accidentally sent to Top Trumps.
A representative for the hotel said they have reached out to Top Trumps about changing the image for the Lord Baltimore Hotel if there is a reproduction of the game.
Barney told Baltimore Fishbowl that he did not know if or when a reprint will happen.
“We intend on reprinting as often as necessary to keep up with the market’s demand for multiple years and we typically reprint thousands at a time,” Barney said. “Sometimes, this is required as quickly as a few days from the launch/release date with fast-selling editions.”
“[T]hey were amazing to work with,” the Lord Baltimore Hotel representative said of Top Trumps. “The Monopoly boards that we have in house have been selling really well, we’re pretty much sold out of the ones that we have.”
So, not only might people now own a collector’s item, they also have a fabulous trivia question to ask fellow Baltimoreans (who have not yet read this article).
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that the nonprofit Thread did not pay to be included in the Monopoly: Baltimore Edition board game.
