Fort Oglethorpe is a board game
Not every town has its own board game. It’s probably safe to say most towns don’t. But as of January 2020 Fort Oglethorpe does, and it’s for sale at Walmart on Battlefield Parkway.
The game is called “Ft. Oglethorpe-opoly.” It’s played a lot like Monopoly, with money and properties and rents and fines and rewards. Cards in the game and spaces on the game board feature places you’ll find in and around Fort Oglethorpe:
Downtown Fort Oglethorpe
Chickamauga National Military Park
Wilder Tower Brotherton Cabin Barnhardt Circle
Sixth Cavalry Museum VFW Post 3679 Gilbert-stephenson Park Fort Oglethorpe Swimming Pool
Lake Winnie
Park Place Restaurant BBQ Shack
Donut Palace Battlefield Elementary Lakeview-fort Oglethorpe High School
State Route 2
Lafayette Road
Forrest Road
Reeds Bridge Road West Chickamauga Creek Battlefield Golf Club
Lookout Mountain Directional cards in the game include humor, events and references to local places. Here are a few:
Walk your dog. Advance to Gilbert-stephenson Park.
You’ve been elected mayor. Pay $20 to every person who voted for you.
All tokens advance to Lafayette Road.
You placed first at the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon. Collect $20.
Game tokens that players move around the board are generic: a hand, a heart, a pretzel, a big smile, a sneaker. But one looks suspiciously like a bull dog.
The game is made by a company called “Late for the Sky” (after a Jackson Brown album the founders like) based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Late for the Sky specializes in making custom and theme-based board games using recycled or environmentally-friendly materials and soy-based inks.
Game tokens, says Late for the Sky’s website, are made of lead-free pewter and will soon be made of zinc.
All of Late for the Sky’s games are made in the United States, says the company’s website, with most parts being produced less than 50 miles from their headquarters.
Late for the Sky marketing manager, Michael Schulte, says the company has been
working with Walmart to bring locally-based games to their stores. “We do research for the games by visiting the cities’ websites and the website of the Chamber of Commerce in the area. We look at social media, too.”
Schulte says that board games are a good fit for today’s world when people are trying to break their addiction to screens.
Ft. Oglethorpe-opoly sells at Walmart for just under $20.