New version of Monopoly board game to feature Mumbai

Mumbai: Monopoly, the popular board game published by Parker Brothers, an imprint of toy maker Hasbro has decided to make a new version of the game called Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition.

Parker Brothers has initiated a global vote to find the 22 greatest cities in the world that would be included on the new ''Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition Board Game''. The coloured property spaces will be cities of the world, following the same vote or popularity formula as for various national editions of the game.

The ever-popular board game was first launched in 1935 in US, and is named after the economic concept of monopoly, with the objective of domination of a market by a single provider. Arguably the best-selling board game in the world, it is sold in 103 countries, and is produced in 37 languages. Over the game's 65-year history, an estimated 500 million people have played it.

Funskool India, India's leading toy manufacturer and the maker / marketer of Monopoly in India, has requested all Indians to vote Mumbai onto the board game, as one of the 68 nominated cities across the world. To vote for Mumbai, players would need to go online and visit www.monopoly.com, and cast their votes to Mumbai placed on the Global board game. A voter can cast ten votes a day and get their choice of city onboard and also vote for 1 wild card city a day from January 23, 2008 until February 28, 2008.

Eventually, 20 cities would find their way on board the game, selected from amongst the 68 nominated cities, and 2 wild card spots.  To add to the excitement of the voting process, two wild card spots on the board are reserved for voter's choice cities that can be nominated through the wild card vote.  Based on the one vote that each fan casts for their favourite city, the top 20 wild card cities will be nominated.  The final voting for the 2 most preferred wild card cities will happen between February 29, 2008 and March 9, 2008.

General Manager for Sales and Marketing, Jeswant said, ''The game of Monopoly, enjoyed by young and adults alike, was introduced in India by Funskool in1995 and instantly became the most popular and best selling board game of all times. For the first time we have an opportunity to place Mumbai on the board along with 21 other cities from across the world. Its time that we Indians join hands and get Mumbai, one of the world' s most popular city, a place for itself on the world's most popular game ever!''

The cities voted onto the final game board will be announced in August 2008.

The new Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition will be available in stores around the world from September 2008.