The Idea

When the weather is bad on weekends, I listen to music and vacuum, and then I can become creative. This weekend, an unusual idea came to my mind:

What if Monopoly was not about money and hotels but backups and recovery? 

And when I get creative, the idea doesn’t let me go; I start doing stuff. Here is the result:

BackupOpoly

A playful way to explore Veeam’s ecosystem, while still keeping the fun and strategy of the classic board game. The player tokens would be a tape cartridge, a notebook, a server, and more. I sketched a board design in Excel (Drawing with Excel relaxes me).

And then I put together some basic rules. Here's what came out of it.

Objective

Build the strongest data protection environment by acquiring Veeam products, storage systems, and advanced features. Collect VUL licenses, charge opponents when using your technologies, and avoid penalties for ransomware or audit. The last player not bankrupt wins.

Instead of dollars, players pay and earn Veeam Universal Licenses (VUL). Instead of houses and hotels, you collect and upgrade Veeam products. Storage and features from the world of IT replace the traditional railroads and power stations.

Gameplay Basics

1. Each player starts with 1500 VUL.
2. Roll two dice and move clockwise.
3. If you land on an unowned field, you may purchase it. If not, it goes to auction.
4. Pay rent when landing on another player’s field.
5. Draw Event or Incident cards when instructed.
6. Bankruptcy occurs when a player cannot pay license costs.

Field Types

Veeam Product Fields (e.g., Veeam Data Platform Advanced, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365)

• Purchase price based on VUL/Users/Capacity
• Rent: Opponents landing here must pay, depending on licensed items
• Owning a complete color set allows you to charge double the license fee

Storage Fields

• Work like railroads.
• Price: 200 VUL
• Price increases the more fields you own:
  1 = 50, 2 = 100, 3 = 200, 4 = 400

Utility Fields (Compute Power, Network Throughput)

• Price: 150 VUL
• Rent - Opponent rolls dice × 10 (or × 20 if you own both utilities).

Corner Fields

• GO - License Renewal Collect 200 VUL when passing.
• Jail - Backup deleted, no Immutability Stay locked until rolling doubles or paying 50.
• Free Parking - Successful SureBackup Nothing happens.
• Go to Jail - Ransomware attack Go directly to Jail.

 Event & Incident Fields

• Draw a card from the respective deck.
• Event - Positive outcome (successful restoration, extra licenses).
• Incident - Negative outcome (ransomware, audit fee, data egress costs).

Sample Event & Incident cards

Event Cards (positive outcomes)

• Successful Restore - Collect 200 VUL.
• Immutable Storage Activated - Collect 100 VUL.
• Test Restore Passed - Advance to Free Parking.
• Disaster Recovery Drill Successful - Collect 150 VUL from the bank.
• Upgrade to the Latest Veeam Version - Move forward three spaces.
• Cloud Provider Credits - Collect 50 VUL from each player.
• High Threat Center Score - Keep this card; you may use it once to avoid an Incident penalty.

 Incident Cards (negative outcomes)

• Ransomware Attack - Pay 200 VUL.
• Backup Deleted – No Immutability - Go directly to JAIL.
• Compliance Audit Failed - Pay 150 VUL.
• Tape Media Lost - Pay 50 VUL.
• Network Outage - Miss one turn.
• Data Egress Costs - Pay 100 VUL.
• Unpatched Vulnerability - Pay 50 VUL to the bank and move back three spaces.
• Cloud Bill Overrun - Pay 100 VUL to the bank.

More Inspirational

What needs to be added for a “complete package”:

• Player tokens (e.g., icons: tape cartridge, server, cloud, laptop, hard drive).
• VUL currency design
• A fancy packaging
• Maybe a rename of the game?

More fun (to make BackupOpoly feel even more unique)

Upgrade Mechanic

Add bonus cards like “Ransomware Survivor” or “100% SLA Achieved” that grant permanent perks (e.g., collect +50 VUL when passing GO).

Random Disaster Events (global)

• Every X rounds, draw a Global Incident that affects all players:
• Major Ransomware Wave - Everyone pays 100 VUL.
• Cloud Provider Outage - All players lose one turn.
• Data Center Fire Drill - Everyone moves to the nearest Storage field.
• Competition Sales - Give back a Veeam product field

Custom “Tech Debt” Cards

Instead of mortgages, fields can accumulate maintenance fees. If you don’t pay maintenance (e.g., 50 VUL per round), the field goes inactive until renewal.

Shall we play a game?

So, that’s my idea. A playful way to bring backup and recovery onto the game table. What do you think? Would you play it?

And for all the marketing folks out there: This is the part where you smile and say, “Shut up and take my money!”

Now I'm going to cook. Maybe that will inspire me too. 😉

Cheers,
Steve Heart