Simply select a different game that's culture-appropriate. If you're interviewing in Asia, perhaps Go would be more appropriate. (And I believe the original author has a thing or two to say about that game as well. :)
Or don't even pick a game; I love "design an elevator control system". Most anyone looking for a programming position has interacted with one at some point in their life, and while you could easily mire down in details, it's not so complicated that you couldn't give it a fair hearing in the context of an interview.
There's a million things like this in our everyday lives that make great fodder for mental exploration in an interview.
The rules of Go are well defined, the interesting thing about Monopoly is that it's 'loose' definition replicates many of the real world problems that arise in a devs life.
One of my first Uni projects was to write an elevator control system and as you say, it's very revealing.
Or don't even pick a game; I love "design an elevator control system". Most anyone looking for a programming position has interacted with one at some point in their life, and while you could easily mire down in details, it's not so complicated that you couldn't give it a fair hearing in the context of an interview.
There's a million things like this in our everyday lives that make great fodder for mental exploration in an interview.