Another jewel in CT's crown

2008-08-21 12:25

Aneeqah Emeran

Cape Town - Earning third place on Monopoly's new board game Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition is just another jewel in Cape Town's crown, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, believes.

Cape Town earned third spot on the board, after Montreal, which came tops and Riga. The Mother City came in way ahead of London, New York and Sydney, which was placed ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively.

Du Toit-Helmbold told News24 she was thrilled at the announcement.

"This is a tribute to the people of Cape Town that got behind this campaign and made it happen. The competition was tough, but through the continued support of Capetonians, friends of Cape Town and the media we have managed to stay under the top three," she said.

According to the Monopoly website, fans from around the world were given a six-week period in which to vote. Seventy "world-class cities" were nominated and 5.6 million votes were cast.

"This accolade is yet another jewel in Cape Town's crown, along with recently being voted third Best City in the World and Best City in Africa and Middle East by the US Travel and Leisure Awards," Du Toit-Helmbold said.

"I love Monopoly and cannot wait to get my hands on my own brand new World Edition Monopoly Boardgame and seeing Cape Town's name on the board amongst the best cities on earth."

"South Africans demonstrated a lot of passion for the Mother City. Their enthusiasm catapulted Cape Town onto the third highest rent space on the board, which is a huge honor for South Africa, " Monopoly spokesperson Mark Newman told News24.

"Its placement on the board - which was based on the number of votes received - trumps such famous international cities like Paris, Tokyo, and Rome. Congratulations!"

Patricia Riso, of Hasbro Inc, told News24 on Wednesday that there have already been pre-orders for the game through their website. "We know that people will love playing this new game... Playing this game is like taking a virtual trip around the world."

What does the new game offer?

Riso revealed what the new version of the game would be like: "First, this is the first ever global Monopoly game and it features the world's greatest cities as voted on by Monopoly fans around the world. There is information about and photographs of the cities in the game; the community chest and chance cards have also been updated with international scenarios.

"In addition, cash has been replaced by bank cards and a dealer button has been added to speed up game play. Next, tokens have been updated to reflect iconic images from each of the continents and train stations have been replaced by different modes of transportation (land, sea, air and space).

"We've also changed the utilities to renewable energy sources - wind and solar energy."

Here is a list of the 22 cities that made it onto the worldwide edition:

- Montreal
- Riga
- Cape Town
- Belgrade
- Paris
- Jerusalem
- Hong Kong
- Beijing
- London
- New York
- Sydney
- Vancouver
- Shanghai
- Rome
- Toronto
- Kyiv
- Istanbul
- Athens
- Barcelona
- Tokyo
- Taipei
- Gdynia

Monopoly Here & Now: The World edition will be available in 50 countries and 37 languages and will be in stores across the globe from August 26, said Riso.

Contact your local stores to find out about availability.

- News24