Welland BIA rolls the dice on board game
Organization taking pre-orders for Monopoly spinoff, Welland-opoly
Go straight to the Black Sheep Lounge. Do not pass Start.
If the above sounds familiar but just a little bit off, there’s a reason for that.
The Welland Downtown Business Improvement Area board is accepting orders for its new board game, Welland-opoly, a take on the famous property-amassing Hasbro game Monopoly.
The board game was created in part to celebrate the city’s 160th birthday.
BIA executive director Amanda MacDonald said the game, now available online at wellanddowntown-bia.myshopi fy.com, is not the first version of Monopoly to feature Welland landmarks and businesses. Earlier this year, Krista Bowie, the city’s community development and volunteer co-ordinator, was given a vintage copy of a board game created in the ’70s.
MacDonald said she was intrigued. Over the summer approached the BIA board about creating an updated version. She was given approval on one condition: she had 20 days to get all the pieces together, all the spots on the board had to be sponsored in less than three weeks, so the project wouldn’t interfere with the BIA’s busy fall schedule.
MacDonald said it took some hustle, but it got done.
“We had it all sold within 20 days,” she said.
To bring the idea to life, the BIA worked with the company 521 Promo, which specializes in customized Monopoly and ensures copyrights aren’t infringed.
Again, there was a tight timeline. Initially told it would take 12 weeks to put together, MacDonald said the company had it done within three.
For the cover art, MacDonald enlisted the help of graphic designer Andrew Niven, who works for Konzelmann Estate Winery, which has worked with the BIA on a number of events. Niven did the work for free.
The BIA began selling the games, which include a game board, tokens, property management cards, Downtown Welland cards, Seaway Mall cards, condos, mansions, dice, a PenFinancial money pack and a game guide on Nov. 15. Selling for $40 a piece, the games moved fairly quickly, and within four hours more than 150 were sold.
In total, a production of 500
games has an aim of raising some $20,000 toward a number of the BIA’s downtown initiatives. These include a Canada Day flag project, welcome wagon packages for new businesses and residents, and beautification work including decorative street pole wraps.
The games will be distributed at a launch party to be scheduled for some time in December at the Leisure Loft, which is currently in the midst of facade improvements. However, because of the ongoing Canada Post strike, it’s possible the games won’t be ready until January.
For more information, email info@downtownwelland.ca.