Monopoly has to be our all time favourite childhood, Hasbro board game. The Christmas tradition of getting out the board game and playing day and night over the course of the holiday week, accruing debts and taking loans brings back fond memories. There was usually a bit of underhanded stealing from the bank during breaks, and it usually ended with a disgruntled sibling folding the board and demolishing all the houses and hotels if they didn’t land on “Mayfair.” Since the evolution of tablets and technology, digital Monopoly is not quite as exciting as it used to be. With auto roll of the dice, and no loans or I.O.U’s available, and no possibility of cheating it has become less exhilarating.
Imagine the delight when we found our favourite board game in the form of a gigantic, life size monopoly board in The Mall of The Emirates, Dubai.
This was complete with an actual prison cell for you when you were dealt with those infamous words “Go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go,” With a policeman to escort you there, Mr Monopoly hosted the game clutching his stick and stroking his perfect moustache. Drawing in the crowds, we queued for the best part of three hours to have roll on the giant dice. It made for a fantastically fun evening, and rather nostalgic. There were generous cash prizes being handed out, which is only to be expected in Dubai.
If you didn’t get to catch this in Dubai, rumour has it that Trafalgar Square in London is going to be transformed into a giant Monopoly board during the London Games Festival on April 2nd-3rd 2016. We can only hope it will be similar. There is unlikely to gold bars or cash prizes but it’s likely to be a lot of fun.