London, Chicago, Las Vegas, Wollongong. What do they all have in common? From tomorrow (Wednesday), they will all have official Monopoly boards based on their city.
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While it might seem like a small achievement and not much to shout about, we disagree at the Mercury.
Getting a bespoke Wollongong edition of Monopoly puts the city on the map. It's in the same league as Wollongong being awarded as host of the 2022 UCI Road World Cycling Championships or Elton John playing the Wollongong Entertainment Centre. These things don't happen to just any city.
They happen to cities with a sizeable population, with world class amenities people will travel to visit, infrastructure to support big businesses and beautiful scenery that looks amazing as a backdrop.
The Illawarra ticks all of those boxes. In fact, only nine Australian cities have a special edition Monopoly board, so we could be safe to say that Wollongong is among the the top nine cities in the country.
While only two of the 40 spots available on the Monopoly board are being announced today, we can take a guess at the places we'd expect to see represented on the Wollongong version.
We asked readers what they thought a few months back and they told us that they wanted to see, the list included Jamberoo Action Park, Piccadilly Centre and Cliff Road.
We'd also expect to see our local beaches, Bluescope Steel Works, Anita's Theatre and Wollongong Train Station represented front and centre. We might even expect a miniature surf board to replace the dog and a lump of coal to replace the top hat.
The full board will be unveiled on Wednesday in Wollongong Central, where Mr Monopoly will be on hand to take questions.
Almost everyone has memories of playing Monopoly as a kid. We have our favourite squares and love/hate relationship with Community Chest. Imagine your grandkids dusting off an old Monopoly set they've found in the attic in 30 years time. They'll rediscover the Wollongong we all love.
- Gayle Tomlinson
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Gayle Tomlinson
Editor of the Illawarra Mercury. Scottish but fell in love with Dharawal Land. Send us your feedback and questions. Subscribe so we can continue to speak up for the Illawarra.
Editor of the Illawarra Mercury. Scottish but fell in love with Dharawal Land. Send us your feedback and questions. Subscribe so we can continue to speak up for the Illawarra.
