Game that's like 'Pokemon Go' meets 'Monopoly' takes off in Abu Dhabi

'Landlord Go' lets players buy, sell and rent buildings from around the world (just not for real, obviously)

The game launched less than a month ago but already has 13,621 players in Abu Dhabi.

If you’ve ever spent your morning commute wondering what it would be like to own Emirates Palace or the Aldar Headquarters building, a new augmented-reality game might allow you to indulge your inner real-estate mogul, on a budget.

A bit like Monopoly and Pokemon Go rolled into one, Landlord Go is a geo-location game that lets players buy, sell and rent buildings around the world (just not for real, obviously).

It launched less than a month ago, but is taking off in many cities, including Abu Dhabi, says its developer.

There are a reported 13,621 players in the UAE's capital already making deals for virtual ownership of 76,476 real properties in the city. Developed by UK-based Reality Games, Landlord Go has been downloaded more than a million times since its release on July 16.

You can start small by buying shares in your neighbourhood coffee shop, and when another player visits your property in real life, they’ll have to pay you rent in the game.

Your property's value increases as more people go to it. Soon, you’ll want to expand to take over hotels, residential buildings and landmarks.

You have to be at the actual real-life sites, or close to them, in order to buy them, though. After you zero in on a property you like, you select the number of shares you can afford to buy for it.

Before you know it, you’ll find yourself traversing the city to engage in furious bidding wars with other players.

Your virtual property empire could go international as well. Once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted and international travel picks up, you’ll be able to buy properties in the countries you visit. (If they haven’t already been bought, in which case you’ll have to pay rent.)

However, if you want to expand to other cities without visiting them, you can also activate the game’s property agent feature.

To ensure Landlord Go has the largest playing field possible, its developers have divided the entire world into 10 billion unique plots "with a little help from Nasa".

“By using our own property data set combined with Nasa satellite scans showing night-time light emissions, we’ve created one of the most realistic and data-driven property dealing games ever conceived,” the developers said. They believe the game’s level of realism is what sets it apart from other business and trading games.