Now anyone can get from Japango Sushi to McGuckin Hardware with a roll of the dice.
Monopoly: Boulder Edition was unveiled at the Museum of Boulder on Thursday to a crowd of city figures, business owners and Mr. Monopoly himself. The small ceremony capped a year-long effort from Top Trumps USA, which is licensed by Hasbro to create regional editions of its iconic board game. Boulder is the second Colorado city to be given its own official Monopoly game. A Colorado Springs edition was unveiled in April.
Top Trumps took ideas of what to put on the board from the community and the city. “Monopoly: Boulder Edition” can be found in various businesses around the city, such as Village Coffee, Boulder Bookstore and the Museum of Boulder, said Top Trumps project manager Jennifer Tripsea.
“With Boulder, we chose a city that celebrates spirit and landmarks, and it’s a beautiful city as well as there’s a lot of local pride,” Tripsea said, later adding: “We like to give all of our property squares a color theme. So we like to do food, a little bit of culture, a little bit of history. We do our best to represent everything and everyone in the city.
Monopoly: Boulder Edition swaps the landmarks of Atlantic City, New Jersey, for local favorites. Instead of staking a claim to Pacific Avenue, you can establish a hotel on the Boulder Creek Path. There are spaces for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, Visit Boulder and the Downtown Boulder Partnership.
The Boulder edition also boasts localized chance and community chest cards true to the city. If you’re lucky, you’ll get $100 in-game cash for inspiring others with your zero-waste lifestyle and your skyrocketing property value. On the other hand, you may have to fork over 100 in-game dollars for ski rentals to make the most of fresh powder at Eldora or $50 to get a bear out of your backyard. The game features standard Monopoly pieces.
“The museum hopped on board with this Monopoly game production because we knew it would bring all of the downtown businesses together,” said Juliette Leon Bartsch, director of development and marketing at the museum, later adding: “We’re an official Monopoly, so we have made it to the big leagues.”
Boulder has had its own Monopoly-like game before.
A Reddit user posted on the subreddit r/Boulder earlier this year a photo of a Boulder-opoly by the defunct radio station 1490 KBOL in the 1980s. That off-brand game shows some long-gone Boulder businesses such as the Red Lion Inn, Penguin’s Place frozen yogurt and Boulder’s Baseball Cards. Boulder On Board is another off-brand Monopoly-like game. None of those games has the University of Colorado Boulder on its board. Game company Late for The Sky has also produced off-brand Monopoly games such as Denver-opoly and Colorado-opoly.
Top Trumps has churned out regional editions over the past year or so, with cities from coast to coast getting their own games. Even cities such as Boise and Greensboro, North Carolina, are getting their own official Monopoly games.
The modest crowd in the museum lobby welcomed Mr. Monopoly with cheers on Thursday, although the enlarged and fabric head indicated it was probably just someone posing as the tuxedoed mascot. Mr. Monopoly posed with Museum of Boulder Executive Director Christopher Taylor and Mayor Aaron Brockett to unveil the Boulder board, which is backdropped with photos showcasing the city’s natural beauty.
Mr. Monopoly had no comment for the Daily Camera. Instead, he stared with his likely artificial eyes and unflinching gaze, and silently gave two thumbs up.