“Free parking — $500 for me.”
“Boardwalk, with a hotel, that’s gonna cost ya.”
“You have won second prize in a beauty contest.”
We all know the game of Monopoly, high-stakes real estate deals brokered on a living room floor somewhere on a rainy day. We all had older brothers who cheated little sisters, hid money under the board or traded us railroads for more valuable property. But oh, the nostalgia.
And now the traditional game’s Atlantic City addresses have been replaced by familiar Key West businesses and locales.
Casey Arnold, who owns Key West Scavenger Hunt and works at the Conch Republic Seafood Co., recently celebrated the release of his Key West version of Monopoly, complete with licensing agreements from Hasbro.
Arnold celebrated the game release — and his birthday — with a party on Oct. 15.
“The actual pallet of games didn’t arrive at my storage unit until 45 minutes before this party,”
a stressed-out but relieved Arnold told the Keys Weekly at the gathering. “But this has been great. The game looks fantastic and sales have been really brisk.”
Each color-coded property section on the game board represents a local business or agency, including Realtors, bars and restaurants, tours and attractions, construction companies and others.
Arnold kept the Key West “occupants” of Boardwalk and Park Place a secret until the game was released. What are the dark blue properties on the Key West board? Charley Toppino & Sons inhabit the usual Boardwalk and Monroe Concrete is on Park Place.
The metal game pieces add further local flair. Instead of a horse, a top hat, an iron, a thimble and a car. There’s a manatee, a rooster, a flip flop, a conch shell, a lobster boat and Kermit, the Key lime pie master.
Games retail for $50 and are for sale at the Conch Republic Seafood Co. and various other locations around town.
