Am I free to develop online version of any board game, e.g. Monopoly, Risk, Cash Flow 101, Scrabble, etc?

Question

Do I have to seek permission? Do I have to pay royalty?

Answer 1

Yes, you have to seek permission. yes, you would have to pay royalty. The patent period varies. They will also be covered by copyright law. You would have to check each game to see when it expires but you will probably be extremely old before it happens. Scrabble just sued over Scrabulous and won. Scrabulous had to be pulled off Facebook. Your best bet would be to invent your own game.

Answer 2

You will probably have to contact the makers of the board game, then you will likely have to pay a royalty.  

Answer 3

I'd say there are three ways to go about it.

1) You could develop your version of the game and pitch it to the copyright owners hoping they would buy and distribute your work, hopefully not getting sued in the process.

2) Develop a very similar game to the original, avoid brand and gameplay copyright infringements and still possibly face a lawsuit.

3) Create and develop something entirely new and better than those old standards and become stupid rich.

Most major copyright owners such as Hasbro renew their copyrights every few years. You're unlikely to outlive any copyright of these major board games.