Monopoly board Discovery Meadow

San Jose, California, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Monopoly in the Park is a 930-square-foot granite Monopoly board in Discovery Meadow, beside the Children's Discovery Museum in downtown San Jose. Made for a 1992 landscape show, it opened in the meadow in 2002 and, according to its website, is operated by the nonprofit Friends of San Jose.

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Monopoly board Discovery Meadow

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Site-level location · 37.3275° N, 121.8953° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Players can walk the squares of a full-size Monopoly board cut in granite, in a downtown San Jose park.

The board covers 930 square feet, a figure given by both Visit San Jose and the board's operator, and lies in Discovery Meadow near the Children's Discovery Museum, in Guadalupe River Park and Gardens. According to the operator's website, it was produced by San Jose's Cypress Granite and Memorials as an exhibition for the 1992 San Francisco Landscape and Design Show; another page on the same site calls the event a Garden and Landscape Show. The office of San Jose Beautiful then procured it for permanent installation in the meadow, and ABC7 reports that the park opened in 2002. According to the operator's site, NUVIS, a Costa Mesa architecture firm, was chosen from fourteen entrants to design the surrounding theme garden.

The pieces are made to scale. The operator says side properties weigh 140 pounds and corner squares 236 pounds, and that the game uses three-foot dice, giant houses and hotels, and wearable token hats. The operator, a nonprofit called Friends of San Jose, describes the board as the only officially licensed Monopoly game board of its kind in the world and says it holds a place in the Guinness Book of World Records; Visit San Jose calls it the city's only Guinness Book of World Records attraction.

Use leaves marks. In August 2025 volunteers gave the board a makeover after ABC7 said its paint had been dulled and scuffed by people playing and walking on it. A city mayor's-office event director, Emily Lansing, told the station it is "one of our most utilized parks for public events". Organised games with the oversized pieces can be booked through the nonprofit.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A granite Monopoly board you can walk and play on in Discovery Meadow; in August 2025 ABC7 reported people use it for events. ABC7 reported in 2025 that the operator's website offers the giant pieces for rent. Visit San Jose advises confirming details with the business.

ACCESS

Discovery Meadow, beside the Children's Discovery Museum, 180 Woz Way, downtown San Jose (address as listed by Visit San Jose). Public park setting; organised games with the giant pieces are booked in advance through Friends of San Jose.

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WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

Plumed Serpent is a coiled sculpture by Robert Graham of Quetzalcoatl, whom SPUR describes as an Aztec god. It was installed in 1994 at the south end of Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose. It was commissioned by the city and went through a federal court challenge before it was unveiled.

Landmarks and monuments

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0.7 km away

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