Montreal top property in new Monopoly game
Updated Wed. Aug. 20 2008 9:19 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Montreal has been voted the most expensive property to buy in a new international version of Monopoly, edging out major tourist destinations like London, Paris and New York.
The capital of Latvia, Riga, was chosen as the second most expensive property, capturing the other sought after dark blue real estate spot.
The new board game, called "Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition," is using cities rather than streets. Montreal and Riga will take the place of the highly-sought Boardwalk and Park Place properties.
"We are thrilled that the first-ever global game board includes an interesting mix of cities that showcases the dynamic cultures, sights and history of the planet," Helen Martin, Vice President of Global Marketing for toy and game-maker Hasbro, Inc., said in a press release.
Two other Canadian cities made it into the game -- Toronto and Vancouver -- but they're both in the lower half of the properties.
Canada and China are the only countries to feature three cities on the new board.
"In terms of promoting Canada and tourism here this is good...and it goes to 103 countries around the world," travel expert Loren Christie told CTV's Canada AM.
"Literally if you look at this board it's quite interesting," Christie said. "It's all based on the votes and how they placed in the voting and has pretty much nothing to do with financial and geographical flow, which is traditionally what we think of in Monopoly."
The 22 cities that earned spots on the "Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition" are as follows, listed in order of property groupings with the highest rent properties listed first:
Dark Blue: Montreal, Riga
Green: Cape Town, Belgrade, Paris
Yellow: Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Beijing
Red: London, New York, Sydney
Orange: Vancouver, Shanghai, Rome
Magenta: Toronto, Kyiv, Istanbul
Light Blue: Athens, Barcelona, Tokyo
Brown: Taipei, Gdynia
The cities were chosen by voters from around the world, and more than 5 million Monopoly fans reportedly cast ballots to have their favourite cities included in the first ever global edition of the game.
"We are thrilled that the first-ever global game board includes an interesting mix of cities that showcases the dynamic cultures, sights and history of the planet," Martin said.
Cities like Montreal reportedly launched campaigns encouraging people to vote, in order to get people talking about the city.
"From a tourism perspective what better advertising could you get, and I think people will be talking," Christie said. "'Why did Montreal get Boardwalk?' Wow, that must be something amazing and 'Why are Vancouver and Toronto both on there?' For Canada this is actually great. "
The game's makeover goes further than just replacing streets with cities, though.
The old utilities "Electric Company" and "Water Works" will be replaced by "Wind Energy" and "Solar Energy." Also, three of the four railroads will be replaced by air, cruise and space travel options.
"Community Chest" and "Chance" cards didn't escape the makeover either, and will now allow players to attend cultural events and organize festivals.
With files from The Canadian Press
