A new Yorkshire version of the world's most popular board game, Monopoly, has gone on sale in York. Adam Wolstenholme went straight to WH Smith - without passing Go - to buy one
TAKING A CHANCE: Toki the Viking, alias Jim Glazzard, checks out the Yorkshire version of Monopoly
A Yorkshire reader of the booklet accompanying the new edition of Monopoly cannot help but feel a glow of Tyke pride.
The booklet hails York as "one of the medieval showpieces of Europe'' and dubs Yorkshire the "perfect touring country with space and solitude never too far from the perfect place to stay.'' Players have no end of reminders of what a great county it is.
The Yorkshire equivalent of the traditional game's most exclusive address, Mayfair, is taken by York Minster - the most expensive property at £400.
Next door is Castle Howard - the equivalent of Park Lane - priced at £350.
Other key attractions and businesses from across North Yorkshire also feature, including the Jorvik Viking Centre in Coppergate, York Railway Station and John Smith's Brewery of Tadcaster.
No Yorkshire edition would be complete, of course, without Ilkley Moor, and it features, along with the great Yorkshire soap Emmerdale, Leeds Bradford Airport and the Humber Bridge.
A modern touch is the web site address for QXL on the Chance space..
The pawns are the more traditional hat, dog, boot and ship, although there is also a jockey and thimble, presumably meant to denote the racing and textile industries, respectively.
Monopoly, the brainchild of Charles Darrow, a heating engineer, originated in America in 1934. Perhaps the prospect of throwing around large sums of money just for fun appealed to a country in the grip of economic depression. In 1935 the game was taken on by Waddingtons who had the idea of changing the place names for a London version. More than sixty years later, the game remains the most popular board game ever produced.
Kelvin Grant, toys and games manager at the Coney Street branch of WH Smith in York said: "The new Yorkshire edition has been on sale since Monday and has been selling very well.''
The Yorkshire edition Monopoly is on sale priced £24.99
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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