Warsaw has been named as one of twenty world capitals to be featured in the new Monopoly Here & Now: World Edition. Hasbro announced the selected cities on March 19, 2015, the 80th anniversary of the famous board game. Fans worldwide were invited to vote for their favorite cities, and the ranking of capitals is based on the voting. Four million votes from 182 countries were cast.
A Yellow Monopoly: Warsaw, Mexico City and Santiago, Chili
Warsaw, as a yellow property, like Marvin Gardens, will share the higher rent yellow corner of the game board with Mexico City and Santiago, Chili. Since the yellow monopoly will now be Warsaw, Mexico City and Santiago, I’m assuming the national alliances, er, monopolies, are . . . a roll of the dice. According to a Polish news source, Warsaw collected over 100,000 votes out of the four million overall, coming in sixth globally, ahead of London and Moscow.
The New Park Place and Boardwalk: Hong Kong and Lima, Peru
The two highest rent, blue properties, aka Boardwalk and Park Place will be Lima, Peru and Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong is high rent in any description of the city. But Lima Peru? There must be a lot of voting Peruvians out there, because I can’t remember the last time Lima Peru occupied the world stage of fame, or my horizon of knowledge.
The game should be available in the autumn. Interestingly, I’ve had to compile this information from international news reports. Hasbro has only released information in the United States about the Monopoly Here & Now – U.S. Edition. The news omission by Hasbro actually bothers me. It’s a blatant statement that the company assumes all Americans are so tunnel-visioned they wouldn’t be interested in a world edition that features New York City among other great capitals of the world. In fact, New York City ranks far lower in rent than Warsaw – perhaps it’s like the rest of our recent elections in this country – Americans just need to vote more.
Warsaw Scores Higher Rent than London, New York City and Moscow.
Congratulations to Warsaw for scoring a higher rent district than New York City, London, and one that’s especially sweet for Poles – Moscow.
Note – Information gathered from news reports in ToyNews, The Independent and Radio Poland. All three (secondary) sources included the same cities and ranking. I was unable to locate an official statement or release directly from Hasbro.