Monopoly alert: Spread the word

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

While attending Toyfair, I found out that Hasbro is putting together an international version of Monopoly, and instead of street names on the board, there will be city names. The color coding remains the same: The most valuable real estate will be on blue spots, for instance (normally occupied by Broadway and Park Place), and then green, yellow and so on. There is currently a vote going on that is open to anyone in the world with a computer, and you can vote once a day for up to ten cities. The top vote getters will be on Broadway and Park Place, and the rest will be apportioned to the remainder of the real estate.

Now how, you may ask, is the United States faring in this international voting? The answer: Miserably. Of the twenty eight properties on this quintessentially American game, only two US cities are making any kind of showing, and neither is in prime real estate. New York is #8 (relegated to the much less tony yellow section of the board), while, Las Vegas is an abysmal #23. What’s number one, you may ask? The most popular international city?

Istanbul.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Personally, I think this is an abysmal state of affairs. Istanbul the number one city of international Monopoly? The best thing one can say about Istanbul is that it’s a catchy song covered by “They Might Be Giants.” But “New York, New York” is practically an anthem.

According to the woman at Hasbro I spoke to, the website where the voting is going on–www.monopoly.com–is getting 10,000 votes a day. That’s not all that much. A concerted web effort can turn this around.

Obviously I want to see New York nestled in the top spot, with more US cities occupying as many of the rest of the valuable properties as possible. Knee-jerk patriotism? Unreasonable nationalism? Well…yeah. You got a problem with that? If the residents of freaking Turkey should be allowed that indulgence, so should I.

We’ve only got until February 28th to get it done, so spread the word to all and sundry. Feel free to repost this anywhere and everywhere.

PAD

101 comments on “Monopoly alert: Spread the word”

  1. Yeah, I’m not following that claim either. It was invented in America and first produced in America. There was a British edition, much as there have been editions in other countries, but America was first.

    All the more aggravating to see us being given short shrift.

    PAD

  2. I have the British edition! My sister spent a year in England a long time ago and brought it back for me. I might have actually bought Trafalgar Square more times in my life than Boardwalk.

  3. There was a monopoly version in my country during the 80’s (either a ripoff or a licensed version, I dont know) called “Treasure’s route” (La Ruta del Tesoro).

    Instead of street names you had ports of the mediterraneum, instead of hotels you built forts and the currency came in the form of bronze, silver and gold coins, in diferent shapes and sizes, plus scrolls representing the biggest form of currency.

    And the most expensive port in the mediterraneum…?

    Instanbul, of course

  4. Given the fact that this is the International version of the game I kind of like the fact that other cites around the globe take precedence over New York and America in general.

  5. Man, getting that site to take my vote was a pain in the ášš. Now that I’ve registered I’ll throw a few votes to NYC (which was number 8 on the leaderboard a few minutes ago).

  6. “And as a poke at Turkey, Istanbul should be the first corner after Go. The jail corner, ’cause we all know you can’t get out of jail free in Turkey.”

    Midnight Express!!! I tip my hat to you, sir. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t think of that one myself.

    Great movie. Great tag team. ~8?)

  7. Fûçk! Someone alert Stephen Colbert! He got a bridge in Hungary named after him, he can get American cities on Boardwalk and Park Place.

  8. seriously… do you think more than two american cities deserve to be represented in the game over other places in the world? or you simply dont care if they do and want them to be there anyway?

  9. This post really reeks of bad nationalism. So what if Monopoly is American-made. It’s worldwide now and other countries seem to like it more. If New York isn’t #1, it’s because enough people don’t care about it. THAT’S JUST HOW THINGS ARE.

  10. I was being ironic…sorry.

    I played it insesssently as a boy, my friends and I often had championships where games could last for days.

    Here in Brazil it’s called “BAnco Imobiliario” = Real Estate Bank.

  13. Istanbul’s a great place, well worth a visit. I have seen the dagger and beard clippings of the Prophet, who could ask for more?

    But I can’t work myself up to be excited by all these ‘there’s a new edition of Monopoly’ stories the media are running. FFS, there are hundreds of different Monopoly boards, with new ones coming out each week. Kudos to Hasbro for making a story out of it, but it’s stopped being news.

  14. I’ve been voting the past two days. Perhaps Hasbro hasn’t been advertising this as well as they could have? What good is it going to do them if the voting produces skewed results? It won’t be a good product, and it won’t sell.

    Then again, it’s an opoly game. The presence of so many of them tells me that people are like lemmings when it comes to them.

  15. They took the leaderboard away! Now we can’t even see how our cities are doing…but I continue to vote anyway…

  16. This post really reeks of bad nationalism.

    Well, gee…you really got me there. Perhaps you’re remarkably perceptive because you know me so well. Or maybe you came to that conclusion because I admitted that it was “unreasonably nationalistic” in the original post. Because of course the residents of Turkey, they’re NOT being nationalistic in their block voting. They’ve taken a reasonable, dispassionate look at the entirety of the globe and decided, realistically, that Istanbul is THE paragon of international cities. Right. That’s why the United Nations HQ is there.

    So what if Monopoly is American-made. It’s worldwide now and other countries seem to like it more.

    And since baseball is now international, let’s relocate the World Series to Tokyo.

    If New York isn’t #1, it’s because enough people don’t care about it. THAT’S JUST HOW THINGS ARE.

    NO IT’S NOT. It’s entirely possible that, with a national election eating up the news cycles, the vast majority of Americans simply don’t KNOW about it. So what I’m doing is trying to MAKE them aware and get things stirred up on the internet.

    PAD

  17. I think this is good nationalism. In fact, I think this is *absolutely the best* nationalism.

    Is this thread demanding that other countries act like us? Think like us? Change their government to be like ours? Nope, we’re yelling, “Let’s get ’em!” about a board game. That’s about as harmful as rooting for your own country in the Olympics.

    But if you really feel like we’re doing something horrible, bruholland, just tell me what country you’re from. I’ve got five cities left I can vote for, so I’ll show you how horribly nationalistic I am by voting for one of yours, too.

  18. Reasonable pride in one’s country or home city justifies voting for it. I did.

    But if someone asked me to vote for Valencia, Bilbao or Sevilla (all spanish cities, all over the million, all historically and artistically rich) I would have laughed. Because, in my book, London, Paris, NY, Honk Kong (and Instanbul, of course)… dozens of cities, are far more relevant. And because the more diverse the board, the more appealing the game, worlwide.

    The sting of pride that makes you flood the voting site to get your city elected is fantastic. But when it turns into an effort not to get A city but as much as possible, just to be on Top, to get as many of the others out… when, thats ugly. Because its no longer a game of jumpingh higher, but a game of pushing the others out. And thats bad nationalism (is there any kind of good nationalism?)

  20. Because, in my book, London, Paris, NY, Honk Kong (and Instanbul, of course)… dozens of cities, are far more relevant.

    Yes, except…I voted for London. And Paris. And Hong Kong. And Madrid.

    I will venture to guess that residents of those other countries dominating the voting did not return the favor.

    So again, your point is?

    PAD

  21. “Because its no longer a game of jumpingh higher, but a game of pushing the others out. And thats bad nationalism (is there any kind of good nationalism?)”

    It’s the exact same game. In this case there is absolutely no difference between trying to do better and trying to put others in second place. A footrace is about running faster than the other guy, a a pie making competition is about trying to make a better pie than the other guy, and this race is about making your favorite cities do better than other cities.

    The whole contest is “show your support.” We’re trying to show the most support for the cities we like and they’re trying to show the most support for the cities they like. All sides are trying to be number 1 and all sides are trying to make everyone else *not* be number 1. That’s just a contest, nothing more. Calling that “bad nationalism” without showing that it actually harms anyone is silly.

  22. El hombre Malo: “Because, in my book, London, Paris, NY, Honk Kong (and Instanbul, of course)… dozens of cities, are far more relevant.”

    Geez Louise, it’s just Monopoly. It’s not like anyone’s voting for “Which City Should be Nuked Into Non-Existence.”

    Although if I wanted to market a game to Al Qaeda, that might not be a bad title.

  24. The British version (rather, the London version) got punted round the Commonwealth. As a result it became the iconic worldwide version of the board game.

  25. Rich Johnston: “Been to New York and Istanbul. Istanbul wins. Sorry.”

    Well, I’m glad that’s settled. Now all you need to do is weigh in on whether there’s a God, and there’ll be nothing left for anyone anywhere to disagree about.

  26. Hmmm… OK, I’d have a tough time choosing between London and Edinburgh, but luckily I didn’t need to.

    Cardiff is actually a nice city these days. Mainly because they threw a shedload of money at it over the last decade, so if you don’t mind the homecoming queen being surgically enhanced, it’s a maybe.

    BTW, PAD, FWIW (ugh, acronym headache!) I would have given a vote to San Francisco, but it appears not to have made the cut…

    Cheers,
    PJP

  28. Peter J. Poole:”…I would have given a vote to San Francisco…”

    Having been to both cities, I’d agree that both are significant. But I’d have to say NYC is the more significant of the two. The U.N. Building, the New York Stock Exchange, Broadway… NYC just has more impact on the U.S. and the world.

    On an emotional level, I prefer NYC. Yeah, NYC can be congested, noisy, foul… but to me it’s also vibrant, electric, filled to the brim with the potential for anything to happen. It’s diverse, it’s dynamic, it’s filled with obstacles and opportunities.

    I’m saying: I love NYC. And I don’t even live there. So I’m voting for NYC.

    I mean, I like Rochester, N.Y., and am happy to live there, but let’s face it: no one is going to vote for Rochester. Not even me.

  29. Haven’t checked the complete list yet. Is Houston included? Then one could vote for the NYC/Madrid/Tokyo/Houston quartet of cities in the original ROLLERBALL movie.

    Hey, there’s probably far worse reasons to vote for a place.

    As for Ottawa? Live there. Like it. But it’s no Montreal when it comes to multiculturalism.

  30. Hmmm. Enid, Oklahoma should be on the list. I am sure that anybody who has ever visited or lived there would agree. 🙂

  32. Bill, I truly and absolutely believe you. Once you experience life in Enid, you are no longer afraid of death. 🙂

  33. I posted the story and link on my two sites.

    I think it’s wrong that only one company is allowed to manufacture the game Monopoly. — Steven Wright

  34. [i]Well, gee…you really got me there. Perhaps you’re remarkably perceptive because you know me so well. Or maybe you came to that conclusion because I admitted that it was “unreasonably nationalistic” in the original post. Because of course the residents of Turkey, they’re NOT being nationalistic in their block voting. They’ve taken a reasonable, dispassionate look at the entirety of the globe and decided, realistically, that Istanbul is THE paragon of international cities. Right. That’s why the United Nations HQ is there. [/i]

    But, as far as I know, they’re not writing blog posts telling their fellow citizens that their country’s city isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Your nationalism strikes me as bitter.

  35. Well, gee…you really got me there. Perhaps you’re remarkably perceptive because you know me so well. Or maybe you came to that conclusion because I admitted that it was “unreasonably nationalistic” in the original post. Because of course the residents of Turkey, they’re NOT being nationalistic in their block voting. They’ve taken a reasonable, dispassionate look at the entirety of the globe and decided, realistically, that Istanbul is THE paragon of international cities. Right. That’s why the United Nations HQ is there.

    But, as far as I know, they’re not writing blog posts telling their fellow citizens that their country’s city isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Your nationalism strikes me as bitter.

  36. But, as far as I know, they’re not writing blog posts telling their fellow citizens that their country’s city isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Your nationalism strikes me as bitter.

    As far as you know. I see. And just how far DO you know? How many blogs of how many residents of Turkey have you actually surveyed? How much have you investigated the efforts of bloggers in Turkey to catapult Istanbul to the top? For that matter, are you fluent in Turkish?

    My nationalism is at most, as I upfront admitted, unreasonable, and now I’m starting to think it wasn’t even that. Your post, however, strikes me as stepped in ignorance and false assumptions, unless you can prove otherwise.

    PAD

  37. “Yeah, NYC can be congested, noisy, foul…”

    Okay, even though there are literally a dozen different responses to that, most of which involve my family and how even with all that, I like ’em anyway, not going there. That could be said of ANY major city in the world. Get that many people living in a confined space, it’s not going to be spic and span. Or quiet. But, for this case, and others I suppose, if you focus on the more positive aspects of NYC(the Met, Rockefeller Center, the UN, Broadway, the arts, the Village, the Mets, the Empire State Building, New York style pizza, egg creams, the list is endless-ish!)

    I will, just so everyone knows it’s actually me and not some fake, say that what would a blog in Turkey be like? “Not happy with the giblets today. The cranberries are giving major ‘tude. Stuffing hit the floor, ROTFLMHO.”

    Great. Now I’m hungry.

  38. Your nationalism strikes me as bitter.

    based on exactly what?

    This has turned from an amusing little throwaway bit into an example of why many Americans find it hard to take many non-americans seriously. Is this really worth getting angry over? I mean really angry, not like what PAD posted.

    Or to put it another way, I could easily, all too easily, see this actually making the news and having riots in some third world backwater over the perceived slight toward said backwater. “You have insulted the name of Bûŧfûkìšŧáņ! Now you must die!”

    Here, not so much. Better things to do.

  39. Sean: “…if you focus on the more positive aspects of NYC…”

    In fairness, Sean, that’s what I was doing. As I said, I really do love NYC, and I believe the positive aspects of the city by far outweight its flaws.

    Bill Mulligan: “Is this really worth getting angry over?”

    I hate you.

  41. Istanbul!

    LOL I would vote for that, but didn’t. How couold you not laugh at Istanbul, it’s got that funny song too Istanbul from Constandanoble(or something) LOL

    OMG! (that’s so sad)

    PS: does anyone even play that game anymore? I knew there are collector but I don’t know anyone that plays it, anymore….

  42. Look Bruholland,

    It’s a game. Not Monopoly mind you, the whole thing. It’s like rooting for your favorite football team. Everybody does it and everybody says that their team should win/be #1. And it’s not like we’re talking politics, war, major life and death issues or sharks with laser beams on their heads here. We’re talking about a fricking board game people. The competition is meant to be as fun as the game. It could be as well if certain types of people would learn to not get a bug up their backsides.

    This entire thread is pretty much just the sports/team/competition mindset going on. It’s not that bad and it’s not just us Americans. Three minutes on Google gets you all of this and more. If you wanna complain here about us, go tell it to the posters in Turkey, Canada, England, Israel, India, South Africa, etc.

    ”Genel Forum –> monopoly world edition (vote for istanbul)”

    http://www.dt-home.com/forum/cevaplar.asp?konuID=6792

    “Istanbul nominated for global Monopoly”

    http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=94787

    “Vote for Montreal as a city in the new Monopoly game”

    http://www.topix.com/forum/ca/montreal-qc/TPJE4232FTF3HJF3O

    “World Monopoly – Vote for Singapore”

    http://www.sgclub.com/singapore/world_monopoly_vote_47705.html

    ”Jerusalem on the Monopoly board”
    ”Please ONLY vote for Jerusalem.”

    //bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2008/02/jerusalem-on-th.html

    ”Did you guys VOTE for INDIA yet?”

    //in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080126091040AAuj98B

    ”Your country needs you: Historic rivalry reignited as France tries to sabotage our Monopoly board bid”

    http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=516148&in_page_id=1770

    Oh, and if you think we’re being bad…

    ”Hasbro pulls countries from Monopoly site after Israel flap”

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-21-hasbro-countries_N.htm

  43. Look Bruholland,

    It’s a game. Not Monopoly mind you, the whole thing. It’s like rooting for your favorite football team. Everybody does it and everybody says that their team should win/be #1. And it’s not like we’re talking politics, war, major life and death issues or sharks with laser beams on their heads here. We’re talking about a fricking board game people. The competition is meant to be as fun as the game. It could be as well if certain types of people would learn to not get a bug up their backsides.

    This entire thread is pretty much just the sports/team/competition mindset going on. It’s not that bad and it’s not just us Americans. Three minutes on Google gets you all of this and more. If you wanna complain here about us, go tell it to the posters in Turkey, Canada, England, Israel, India, South Africa, etc.

    ”Genel Forum –> monopoly world edition (vote for istanbul)”

    http://www.dt-home.com/forum/cevaplar.asp?konuID=6792

    “Istanbul nominated for global Monopoly”

    http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=94787

    “Vote for Montreal as a city in the new Monopoly game”

    http://www.topix.com/forum/ca/montreal-qc/TPJE4232FTF3HJF3O

    “World Monopoly – Vote for Singapore”

    http://www.sgclub.com/singapore/world_monopoly_vote_47705.html

    ”Jerusalem on the Monopoly board”
    ”Please ONLY vote for Jerusalem.”

    //bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2008/02/jerusalem-on-th.html

    ”Did you guys VOTE for INDIA yet?”

    //in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080126091040AAuj98B

    ”Your country needs you: Historic rivalry reignited as France tries to sabotage our Monopoly board bid”

    http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=516148&in_page_id=1770

    Oh, and if you think we’re being bad…

    ”Hasbro pulls countries from Monopoly site after Israel flap”

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-21-hasbro-countries_N.htm

  44. Look Bruholland,

    It’s a game. Not Monopoly mind you, the whole thing. It’s like rooting for your favorite football team. Everybody does it and everybody says that their team should win/be #1. And it’s not like we’re talking politics, war, major life and death issues or sharks with laser beams on their heads here. We’re talking about a fricking board game people. The competition is meant to be as fun as the game. It could be as well if certain types of people would learn to not get a bug up their backsides.

    This entire thread is pretty much just the sports/team/competition mindset going on. It’s not that bad and it’s not just us Americans. Three minutes on Google gets you all of this and more. If you wanna complain here about us, go tell it to the posters in Turkey, Canada, England, Israel, India, South Africa, etc.

    I had to cut a “w” off the fronts of the addresses because the post was catching in the filter due to the amount of links.

    ”Genel Forum –> monopoly world edition (vote for istanbul)”

    ww.dt-home.com/forum/cevaplar.asp?konuID=6792

    “Istanbul nominated for global Monopoly”

    ww.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=94787

    “Vote for Montreal as a city in the new Monopoly game”

    ww.topix.com/forum/ca/montreal-qc/TPJE4232FTF3HJF3O

    “World Monopoly – Vote for Singapore”

    ww.sgclub.com/singapore/world_monopoly_vote_47705.html

    ”Jerusalem on the Monopoly board”
    ”Please ONLY vote for Jerusalem.”

    //bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2008/02/jerusalem-on-th.html

    ”Did you guys VOTE for INDIA yet?”

    //in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080126091040AAuj98B

    ”Your country needs you: Historic rivalry reignited as France tries to sabotage our Monopoly board bid”

    ww.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=516148&in_page_id=1770

    Oh, and if you think we’re being bad…

    ”Hasbro pulls countries from Monopoly site after Israel flap”

    ww.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-21-hasbro-countries_N.htm

  46. Bruholland,

    There’s another post I made to you, but it’s being snagged in the filter due to the links I took from Google. First, this is basically just a big game. This is like rooting for your favorite sports team and doing the whole “rah-rah-rah” thing. We’re not here discussing something serious like war, death, politics or zombie films. It’s silly, goofy, fun gamesmanship over a game. And American’s aren’t the only ones.

    Try doing a Google search on “monopoly “vote for Istanbul”” or “turkey monopoly vote for Istanbul” when you have a minute. You’ll get links of blogs and news site’s chat boards from Turkey, England, Canada, Japan, Israel, South Africa, etc. where people in each of those countries is doing exactly what’s being done here. And, unlike some here who are voting New York and then voting for some other non-American cities, you’ll find people instructing others to only vote for their cities.

    And I’m not going to hold that against them. They’re playing the game and having fun just like we were. If you’d learn to lighten up a little, relax and not try to take offense to things like this, you’ll have more fun.

    Now to a downer note:

    The radio just announced that Ben Chapman passed away today. Chapman was a former Marine and, more importantly to geeks (like me) everywhere, he was chosen due to his 6’4/6’5 frame to be the Creature in all of the above water scenes in Creature from the Black Lagoon.

  47. Bummer about Ben Chapman–he did a great job, one of those iconic roles that will live forever.

    Just got back an hour or so ago from Conoogah where I got to meet Mr. Chapman’s physical opposite– Felix Silla. Yeah! Got to meet the freaking Manitou!

    Great great guy, btw. Really sweet and down to earth. One nice thing about these smaller cons is that the celebs who show up tend to be among the nicest– Mr. Silla, Michael Berryman, Dee Wallace-Stone, the guy who walked into the helicopter propeller in DAWN OF THE DEAD…friendly folks all, not like certain stuck up superstars like Bill Shatner or the guy who gets hit in the head with a machete in DAWN OF THE DEAD.

    (I kid. Leonard A. Lies (Machete Zombie)is a super nice guy.)

  48. Well, I’m from the US and New York State to boot, but I’m not sure if I would vote for New York City. Why? Because I just really don’t care for NYC. It’s kind of dirty and smelly and the city itself just feels kind of overwhelming to me. It has some good cultural institutions, but I don’t like it much beyond that. I also harbor a grudge over the fact that everyone semms to think that New York City is the only New York there is. You go out of state and tell someone you’re from New York, they automatically think you’re from New York City. You tell someone from New York City that you’re from Upstate and they roll their eyes and start talking to you like you just wandered off some dairy farm in the middle of nowhere (note, I live near Albany, which is itself an important city in that it’s actually the seat of governmental power for the whole freakin’ state).

    I’d vote for Boston, though. I love Boston. I usually have a good time when I go to Boston and I could easily see myself living there.

  49. People who have been writing very intelligent comments like “Istanbul, oh my goooooooood, are you kiddin’ me?”, have you ever taken any art history classes? or let me put it this way, have you ever taken anything in history? Read any books? nah? I thought so. Go at least on google and find out about the city. I have been there and it is definitely one of the best cities, for sure.

  50. Hi,i’m from Turkey. And it’s nice to see that while you have a competitive spirit about this,you don’t insult us or belittle Turkey.I just wanted to thank you for that.

    And it seems even after all those years,we can’t shake off the “Midnight Express” effect.Even though author of the book admitted that a lot of things were exaggerated.We just need better propaganda,i guess.

    Anyway,i just searched the relevant words like monopoly in Turkish using google and it seems lots of people in Turkey are voting for this and write about it in blogs.

    PS:Correct me if i’m wrong but: wasn’t there 2 Ataturks in Time Magazine’s voting? One at first spot and the other in #8.

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