Board games: Pass go and collect £2m...

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Peter Seddon considers the incredible appeal to collectors and game players of the classic board game Monopoly.

A Nottingham edition of the famous Monopoly board game

The special 70th edition of Monopoly where players collect £2m for passing go

BEING a collector can be a definite curse at times. Take my recent performance in a pub quiz. Up comes a question about that love it or loathe it game Monopoly.

It seemed straightforward enough: “Which is the most expensive property on a Monopoly board?”

Each of my three highly-competent (but not interested in collecting) companions quickly came up with the answer – all “knowing” it was Mayfair at £400, they looked at me for the tacit nod of agreement.

But I had a problem. I also “knew” that an updated 70th anniversary collectors’ edition had been launched in June 2005. It’s called the Here and Now Limited Edition, and lots of things have changed. A skateboard and mobile phone are among the playing pieces, and woe betide anybody seeking to “baggsy” the trusty old boot – it’s been modified into an in-line skate. Is nothing sacred?

More to the point, both Mayfair and Park Lane have been ousted in favour of The City and Canary Wharf, and it’s The City which is now the most expensive property on the board at a whacking £4m. Even the cheapest, Portobello Market, costs a cool £600,000. So it’s just as well that “passing go” entitles players to collect £2m, especially as “using a mobile phone while driving” can attract a fine of up to £150,000.

Naturally, it was dilemma time. How up to date was the quizmaster? And what about overseas editions? Some of those incorporate more expensive real estate again. Could it be a catch question? After a quick conflab the decision was made – the rest of the team bowed down to the “superior knowledge” of yours truly and went with The City as the answer.

Of course, the definitive answer given by the quizmaster (“that’s what it says in my book and I’m darn well sticking to it”) was Mayfair.

We lost out on the first prize of a gallon of ale by half a point and I was chastised all the way home for knowing “far too much for your own good”.

Resistance was futile – my collector’s mentality, not for the first time, had muddied the waters, queered the pitch, and upset the apple cart all in one fell swoop. The beer was lost and I was the guilty party.

This sobering episode (literally) at least opened my eyes to what other collectors get up to, for there is a small but avid circle of Monopoly fiends intent on acquiring every single edition ever published.

Personally, I’ve never enjoyed the game (too long for my liking – the world record is 70 days), so that’s one quest I’ll gladly forego. But anyone who does crave completism would need to track down more than 200 different versions.

These embrace 32 languages, including Hindi, Icelandic, Catalan and Welsh, and more than 200 million sets have been sold worldwide since the 1935 launch.

It seems Monopoly has journeyed from humble American game to worldwide cultural phenomenon in its 70 year life. The unemployed chancer Charles Darrow couldn’t possibly have envisaged such a success when he first dabbled with his crude prototypes in the early Thirties, but soon after his invention went official he was a millionaire.

Despite claims (still ongoing today) that he had pinched the idea, he was able to retire, aged 46, to become a gentleman farmer in Pennsylvania.

And with time and money to spare, he travelled the globe and pursued his own collecting passion for rare wild orchids.

Now some of those very early Monopoly sets are just as scarce as the world’s most elusive blooms, for generations of play have taken their toll, and the right sets in good condition can sell for many hundreds of pounds.

The world record is $25,000 dollars for a gold-plated edition! The full range is mind-boggling.

Most of the world’s major cities have their own set, and regional and special editions also abound. English versions include Yorkshire, Coronation Street, Manchester United and, heavens above, even Nottingham. Does it include a certain airport, one wonders?

The list of American sets is endless, including TV spin-offs such as The Muppets and I Love Lucy. There is even a Doggie edition in which hotels are replaced by kennels. Not to mention Bibleopoly for the religiously inclined and Anti-Monopoly for those who despise capitalism.

As for the Dutch, their Homonopolis edition affords players the opportunity to trawl the gay bars of Amsterdam into the early hours of any morning they care to choose. I think I’ll stick to Ludo.

Nor does a Monopoly collection stop at the games themselves. There are badges, T-shirts, mugs, advertising memorabilia and much more besides. Many items carry the cheery image of the game’s mustachioed mascot, gloriously named Rich Uncle Pennybags – that is until the manufacturers changed it to plain old Mr Monopoly five years ago. That’s another quiz night stumbling block on the horizon.

I’m certainly not tempted to start collecting (although I might just buy a Derby set if ever one is done) but at least I know what to look out for to bring in that extra cash should the odd deal present itself. If the truth be known, having promised the unforgiving quiz lads “liquid compensation” for their tragic losses, I’m in desperate need of beer money!

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