Fancy yourself as a bit of an expert at Monopoly? Hundreds of people in Britain certainly do, as the Monopoly World Championships tour bus continues its journey around the British Isles this week. With six of the regional heats having already been completed, this week sees the turn of Scotland and the North West. Glasgow and Manchester will welcome board game enthusiasts to their fine cities, as the players attempt to win through to the UK and Ireland final.
To help celebrate the 80th anniversary of Monopoly's creation, a double-decker bus has been visiting twelve regional centres, with the ultimate aim of finding one senior and one junior champion (aged 8 to 17) from each area.
The bus has been specially fitted out with purpose-built Monopoly tables inside to facilitate the Games at each venue, with the heats and final being fitted into a hectic 9am to 6pm time window on each day.
Regional heats
Having already visited the Midlands, North east, East Anglia, Yorkshire, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the final six regional visits will be to:
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Scotland: 20th June, intu Braehead, Glasgow
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North West: 21st June, ASDA Manchester Eastland's, Manchester
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Wales: 27th June, Cardiff Celtic Manor, South Wales
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South west: 28th June, ASDA Bristol Patchway, Bristol
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South east: 4th July, Portchester Castle, Hampshire
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London: 5th July, Kenwood, Kenwood House, London
National and world champions
The winners from each regional heat will then be invited to participate in the national final on July 19th in London.
There is also a chance to become the senior world champion, as following a 6-year break a new global champion will be crowned in early September at the Venetian in Macau, China. The top world Monopoly players will assemble from such as Australia, Japan, Canada and Germany. Norway's Bjørn Halvard Knappskog is the reigning champion from 2009 in a competition that has been historically held every four to six years.
Monopoly evolution
Most people will be familiar with Monopoly from their youth, as it has been a popular board game with families for over 80 years, having been developed in America back in 1933. The first version of the game went on sale in 1935 and since then over one billion people have played worldwide.
As the popularity of the game has grown, so have the needs of its players and Monopoly has been quick to enhance its versions and formats to cope.
During the 1970s, the first version of the game in braille format was developed. Into the 1980s, card and video games were produced to expand the franchise to a wider market and broaden its appeal. In more recent years, the mobile app has been developed with downloads totaling almost 10 million globally. Monopoly even went into space in 2007, with tokens from the game on board that year's Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Monopoly is now available to buy in over 100 countries and caters for more than 40 different languages, as a reflection of its enduring popularity across the world. For some the game itself is not sufficient a challenge though, as there are records for the longest underwater game (more than 72 hours) and also the longest individual game itself (70 days).
Although the registration for the regional heats has already closed, why not pop along and support the family-orientated and iconic game players as they strive for regional, national and world domination? Failing that, dust off that old board from the attic and hone your skills in readiness for the next competition.
