Dublin’s Monopoly dices with tradition
SAY goodbye to Crumlin and Ballsbridge – the new Dublin Monopoly board is all about shopping malls and trendy restaurants.
The newly-designed game has stripped away all neighbourhoods and streets in favour of shops, tourist haunts and commercial interests.
It was launched yesterday with novelty Monopoly characters and oversized money at the Freshly Chopped food shop in Smithfield – which is now a square on the board.
Henry Street has disappeared from the game, to be replaced by the Arnotts store on the same thoroughfare.
The chance cards’ standard instruction to ‘collect $200’ has been replaced by a shopping spree at the department store.
The press release from Monopoly licensees, Winning Moves UK, says that Arnotts has been given one of the ‘most landed-on squares’ on the board.
The release also quotes Arnotts childrenswear buyer Jenny Erwin, who said: ‘We are delighted that Arnotts is on the new Dublin Monopoly board, which is the perfect family gift.’
Strictly speaking, this is the first Dublin edition of the famous board game. A previous Ireland edition featured Shannon Airport, along with some of the capital’s most expensive residential streets such as Shrewsbury Road and Ailesbury Road, but they have been wiped from the map.
Some of the city’s much-loved landmarks feature on the new board, including St Stephen’s Green, Dublin Castle, Dublin Zoo, the Molly Malone statue and the Phoenix Park.
Top of the pile is the GPO with a price tag of 400 Monopoly dollars, while the Ha’penny Bridge is the capital’s least expensive location, at 60 Monopoly dollars.
The Phoenix Park has a high value and is worth 350 Monopoly dollars. It was originally set for a lower position, but its value soared after the recent Mass there by Pope Francis.
Kilmainham Gaol also has its
‘You are buying those memories’
own tile, so players will be twice as likely to pass by a jail.
The Aviva Stadium and Croke Park also feature, as does Dundrum Town Centre and Ireland’s most expensive school, Nord Anglia in Leopardstown.
Winning Moves admits it has entered into commercial partnerships, and says that the revamp has removed streets and neighbourhoods to emphasise landmarks and memories.
Robert Osborne of Winning Moves said it was the right time to introduce a Dublin edition, and that it represented ‘all that is great’ about the capital.
He said: ‘We’ve gone landmark-based, it’s the places you work, you eat, you go to school, so you’re buying those memories as opposed to just the streets.
‘It’s the locations and the people included in those that make it just that bit more personal.’