How the living crap did this happen?
Toy and board game giants Hasbro today unveiled and launched the brand-spanking-new and fully revamped playing board for the upcoming ‘Monopoly Australian Edition‘ game, and a rather surprising location will be the one costing you top dollar.
The local edition of the game was put up for a full refresh late last year, with fans invited to vote for which locations made it in, and which were sent directly to jail sans $200.
New South Wales was given the honour of snaring the board’s coveted blue spaces, with which potential board game tycoons can ruin familial relationships by callously piling hotels onto just in time for Dad – who at this point in the night is half a bottle of red deep and *just* irritable enough to start some shit – to land on.
But rather than prestige and high-value suburbs of inner Sydney, the local versions of Mayfair and Park Lane will be filled by Sydney Harbour and, uh… Orange.
Orange.
Orange, New South Wales.
Most expensive slot on the board. Orange.
For real.
Turns out that residents of the inner-NSW town with a population of about 40,000 caught a sniff of the on-going poll – that ended in November of last year – and voted with their godforsaken feet, leading to the boilover result and their enshrinement as the envy of all dice rollers.
Hasbro’s associate brand manager Ritika Grey stated that the surprise result was thanks in large part to a steady stream of votes from the area.
“The people of Orange backed their town quite heavily.”
“They are clearly very passionate about what they have to offer and they voted very consistently. Their passion is pretty clear from the results.”
Meanwhile, NSW Tourism Minister Adam Marshall delighted in this grand victory for his state – two slots on a board game arbitrarily attributed value.
“We’re delighted our state has trumped the competition, which once again reinstates NSW as the number one place to live, work and enjoy.”
Elsewhere on the new and improved board, Northern Territory locations Darwin and Alice Springs filled the board’s least expensive positions, Tasmania is being represented by Hobart, west coast town of Stanley, and the Freycinet National Park, the ACT‘s clear two finest features – Questaconn and the Australian War Memorial – got a nod, and all four railways have been replaced by the Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane Airports.
So the question remains, how on earth did Orange wind up with the top spot?
In our estimation, it’s either due to a relatively low amount of overall votes or that Orange is full to the brim with fuckin’ nerds.
Our money? It’s on the latter.
Congratulations, pals! Extremely keen to come to blows with relatives when the new edition of the game arrives this Thursday.
Photo: Don Arnold/Getty.
