A new Oxford edition of Monopoly has been launched 23 years after the first one.
The new board game features city landmarks such as Covered Market and Oxford Town Hall while one card sends players back three spaces for getting stuck behind cyclists.
A grand launch took place on Tuesday morning at the Norrington Room inside Blackwell’s Bookshop on Broad Street.
Yasmin East, Custom Games Executive at Winning Moves UK, councillor James Fry and even Mr Monopoly himself featured throughout.
“Monopoly: Oxford Edition reflects the Oxford of today with a new board for a new generation,” said Yasmin East.
“The response from the public has been overwhelming. A very big thank you to everyone who sent in nominations and congratulations to everyone featured in the game.”
There were giant life-sized versions of the board, gigantic money and top hats while games were given to representatives from the featured businesses.
Last year, it was announced that Oxford was getting its very own official version of the game and localised changes have been made to the original.
The Ashmolean Museum replaces Mayfair, the game’s top-ranking space, while Old Kent Road, the game’s most affordable square, has become The Saxon Tower on account of it being very old.
Another notable change seen on the board is regarding the four train stations from the classic which take a travel theme.
That’s because Oxford does not have a multitude of main-line train stations to select from so in this edition all four stations are handed over to Park and Rid’ terminals.
The game also features local charities such as Yellow Submarine, which was nominated to be featured following a public vote.
Formed in 2009, Yellow Submarine is an Oxfordshire charity that believes people with learning disabilities and autism deserve to live life to the fullest.
“It’s an honour to be included in this special edition Monopoly board game, particularly as it's a result of support from the community,” said Yellow Submarine co-director Kate Sankey.
“For our members and team, seeing our very own space is something we’re all going to treasure for a long time.
“We are so incredibly grateful to the community for voting for us.”
In all, more than 30 Oxford landmarks and organisations were included.
Blackwell’s, the hosts of the launch event, also appear on a space leaving bookshop manager Charlie Bush delighted.
“It's enormously exciting to have our bookshop on the new Oxford board, recognising over 140 years of bookselling in our home city,” he said.
“We are confident that players will roll the dice and snap up Blackwell's as soon as they land on it, putting down their Monopoly money to own this world-famous bookshop."
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