Look What You Made!
A modified Monopoly board brings memory-filled family game nights.
This game is a family affair.
The game Monopoly had already been on the market
for at least 15 years when Myron and Jeanne Krong were married in 1950. Their lives—born in a small town in Nebraska, service in World War II, their first kiss on a street corner, workdays spent in construction—seem far from the world depicted in the game. But that’s just where they ended up on their 69th wedding anniversary.
Their granddaughter, Nichele McCague of Poway, California, presented them with an original Monopoly box as the family gathered to celebrate. But when the couple opened it, they found “Krong-olopoly” instead.
“Nichele had changed the property squares to places that were unique to my parents and our family,” says her mother, Kallee Krong-McCreery.
Rosenborg Church, where Jeanne played piano from the time she was 11, occupied one square. Another depicted the country store Kallee’s grandfather owned with her dad. There were squares commemorating their hometowns, the ancestral family farm and the churches in Sweden from which their grandparents had emigrated.
There were squares noting Myron and Jeanne’s travels, and others remembering family celebrations, photos of former houses and country schoolhouses. “She even had a photo of the spot of Mom and Dad’s first kiss!” Kallee says.
Nichele changed the Chance and Community Chest cards to reflect family lore, and the banker’s money transformed into Krong Bucks.
“Her creativity was just so amazing in all that she captured,” Kallee says. “It was a one-of-akind gift that tells the story of my parents’ lives. We will all be cherishing the memories as we play Krong-olopoly for generations to come.”