TUNBRIDGE WELLS will join London, Paris and New York in having its streets and landmarks forever immortalised in arguably the world’s most famous board game.
In an announcement due to be made today (March 15) at the Trinity Theatre, game wholesaler Winning Moves UK will declare that for this year Tunbridge Wells has been selected as an edition of Monopoly.
However, the board is almost a completely blank canvas – although the historic Pantiles, King Charles the Martyr Church and Trinity Theatre have been tipped as possible locations.
With over 30 spaces to fill, the public will be called upon to nominate what they believe should appear on the colour coded ‘streets’.
“Absolutely everything is up for grabs” said Robert Osborne of Winning Moves. “We expect to be absolutely spoilt for choices on which Royal Tunbridge Wells landmarks will star and feature in this game. It’s an opportunity to showcase the great and the very good of one of Britain’s most historic towns.”
The public are invited to not only pick the landmarks that could appear in the game but to also suggest Royal Tunbridge Wells themed Chance and Community Chest cards.
“We want to hear from the public with both serious and fun suggestions. You could maybe send players back three spaces for getting stuck in Royal Tunbridge Wells’ notorious traffic bottlenecks. Or send players to Tonbridge instead of the jail.”
The game will be ready for Christmas and will be stocked at major retailers and online by October. It is expected to cost £30.
Mayor David Neve, who will be speaking at the launch today (Tuesday) said: ” As a young lad I spent many hours playing Monopoly, I never got bored.”
Trinity Theatre’s Artistic Director John Martin said: “Locals will definitely have their views about what landmarks should feature. Perhaps they’ll be on track if they suggest one of the train stations in the town or maybe they will spring into action and suggest the spa water at The Pantiles.”
Votes and suggestions to: rtw@winningmoves.co.uk or MONOPOLY Royal Tunbridge Wells Edition, Winning Moves UK, 7 Praed Street, London W2 1NP. Polls close on 31st March 31.
The history…
The board was the brainchild of Elizabeth Phillips in 1903. In its first incarnation, The Landlords Game, it was designed to be an educational game that highlighted the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. Monopoly is currently published in 47 languages and sold in 114 countries.
