Take the scenic route through California
A new limited edition version of Monopoly gives the classic an artistic twist
Forget Mediterranean and Baltic avenues, Monopoly gets the California treatment — minus the traffic on Interstate 80 — in a new artistic version of the classic board game.
A newly released limited edition of the classic board game comes with a scenic California route where players can take in the view from the Pacific Coast Highway, cruise along Route 66, check out Rodeo Drive, head to the desert or up to the Bay Area for a look at the Lower Haight.
“I loved Monopoly my entire life and I love California and
I was honored to be invited to do this beautiful new take on Monopoly,” said Kathleen Keifer, the Manhattan Beach artist behind the new “California Dreaming” version of Monopoly, which is $199 via Amazon and Kathleenkeifer. com. That’s spendy for a board game, but not so spendy for art — and the first 100 games will be signed and numbered by the artist and sold via her website.
“I love that this ( board) has a canvas texture. If you put a wire on it, you could hang it and it would serve as a piece of art in addition to a game,” said Kerry Addis, vice president of product development for WS Game Company, which creates high- end versions of classic board games.
Keifer is a Chicago- born painter whose work focuses on pop art and landscapes, and California landscapes in particular. She is also an avid fan of board games and fell in love with California after moving originally to Malibu in 1996.
The 56-year-old artist was recruited by WS Game Company, a licensee of game maker Hasbro, to create a new limited-edition artsy version of the game, which features California landmarks painted by Keifer instead of the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
“They basically gave me a challenge to come up with a California- based Monopoly with my art. The challenge was, what do I want to say about
California?” she said. “I thought about the diversity of where we live, about the different styles of architecture.”
The WS Game Company also makes an $899 Monopoly set that includes crystals, sterling silverplated houses and hotels, and features the three- dimensional artwork of American pop artist Charles Fazzino.
There are 1,000 “California Dreaming” versions of the game on sale for its first run, with a second run planned, Addis said.
While the typical Monopoly game board comes folded in a cardboard box, this deluxe version is a heavy wood box whose top serves as the game board. You’ll find all the game components inside: Monopoly money, game pieces and a wooden banker’s tray, updated for this new version.
The updated tokens include a die- cast woody with a surfboard on top, a modern cruise ship and a jet. The houses and hotels are made of wood. The money is decorated with a drawing of the woody on one corner and the artist’s signature above. And Rich Uncle Pennybags, aka the Monopoly
Man, is drawn with a surfboard on some of the game cards.
The game board itself is meant to look like painted canvas with a textured feel, bright colors and detailed images that look as though they’ve been hand-painted on each board.
The typical Monopoly streets have been replaced by iconic California locales, with the Beverly
Hills Hotel and San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado in the spots normally occupied by Boardwalk and Park Place. Head for the Pacific Coast Highway and you’ll land on an image of a Volkswagen bus parked on the sand between two palm trees. San Francisco is represented by the Victorians of Chestnut and Divisadero streets and the Lower Haight. Palm Springs and
the Coachella Valley’s modernist architecture appears on Bob Hope Drive in Palm Desert.
SFO and LAX airports replace the railroad stops. And instead of Free Parking, there’s a Free Rent square, decorated with a drawing of a couch.
“Hey, it’s expensive to live here,” Keifer said, “so sometimes you have to do a little sofa surfing.”