One of my favourite pieces of merchandising for the Hessentag was released last week: Oberursel Monopoly*.
As a fan of Monopoly, this was going to be a special edition that I had to have, so I was one of the first to buy it at the local retailer.
The Oberursel edition of Monopoly is played the same way as the standard version, except that the streets have been replaced with familiar names from Oberursel and its suburbs.
So the Turmstraße becomes Epinayplatz (Whitechapel in the standard English edition), Seestraße becomes Holzweg (Pall Mal), the Lange Straße in Bommersheim replaces the Berliner Straße (Vine Street), and the Marktplatz replaces Schlossallee (Mayfair).
The stations have also been replaced with their local counterparts.
A particularly nice touch is that not only the names of the streets have been replaced, but the squares contain a photo of them as well.
But not only the streets, but also the Chance and Community Chest (Chance und Gemeinschaftsfelder) cards have received the Oberursel touch.
It is not your Birthday, but being elected into the local celtic organisations committee that makes you pay out to each player.
Rather than a crossword competition, you win a prize draw in the Taunus Zeitung.
For advising someone what to visit at the Hessentag you receive a payment.
And rather than just any beauty competition, you win second prize in the Brunnenkönigin contest.
All prices are shown using a variant on “M” rather than using an existing currency, although the values are the same as on a standard German Euro or UK Sterling board.
My only criticism would be the way that the streets have been placed on the board. To me, they do not appear to be in ascending order of value, by location (eg. by suburb) or anything else, meaning that if you are used to a board like in London where the prices on it generally go up with the prices on the ground it might take a bit of getting used to.
At a recommended retail price of €44,95 it costs quite a bit more than the standard German Monopoly edition, but I suspect that this has something to do with the limited production run and if you have any connection to Oberursel and like playing Monopoly then it is probably going to be a price worth paying.
However Spielwaren Rompel (located between the Vorstadt and the Holzweg) are offering a 20% discount** on it until 8th June 2011!
For anyone living further away, the Oberursel edition can be ordered on Amazon.
Whatever else the Hessentag brings in the way of souvenirs, I think this is going to be one of the most treasured.
* Monopoly is a registered trademark of Hasbro, the game is produced by Winning Moves Deutschland GmbH
** We can take no responsibility for the availability of either the discount or the game. Please contact the store directly for more information.
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