Leicester’s beloved King Power Stadium is set to be going up for sale – as are The King Richard III Visitor Centre, The National Space Centre and Leicester Cathedral. It’s all in the game – the brand new and first ever Leicester MONOPOLY game.
Mr MONOPOLY this morning broke the news at the King Richard III Visitor Centre, one of the world’s most visited attractions and sure to be starring in the new game.
There was a MONOPOLY: LeicesterSHIRE board (launched 18 years ago).But the game was discontinued very many years ago. In 2016, the year that Leicester City were crowned Premier League champions, the city very narrowly missed out to Derby in an eagerly contested East Midlands public vote to land a game for the first time.
The makers of the new game Winning Moves UK stress that the Leicestershire board was heavily county centric and – being produced a “generation” ago in 2001 –came before Leicester’s great “renaissance” which has seen it propelled to world status following the discovery of King Richard III’s remains and Leicester City’s footballing odyssey.
“The King Richard III legend and a certain football fairy-tale story have made it absolutely irresistible for us to make this game,” says Afolabi Omotola, Custom Games Executive at Winning Moves UK, who are producing this board under official license from MONOPOLY owners Hasbro.
“Leicester has emerged as a leading world tourist venue, with people flocking to the city to experience at first hand the King Richard III legend.
“And as they do, they also visit the Cathedral, the National Space Centre, the football stadium and lots of other great landmarks too. We are delighted that the MONOPOLY dice for this year will be rolling on Leicester – and for the very first time.”
Iain Gordon, Director of the King Richard III Visitor Centre, says:
“Since the discovery of the King’s remains in 2012, the car park has become one of Leicester’s most famous landmarks and we are very pleased that it is being mooted to feature very prominently on the new Leicester MONOPOLY board!”.
Following today’s announcement, the public has been invited to vote for Leicester landmarks and themed Community Chest and Chance cards to feature in the game. One card could see Leicester City football club reach EVEN loftier heights than when they lifted the Premier League title in 2016 at odds of 5,000.1, stunning the world of sport and picking up millions of fans across the globe along the way.
“Outside of the city it seems Leicester are everyone’s favourite second team – or even first,” adds Mr Omotola.
“In view of this, we think a Community Chest card could maybe say something like you ‘You have won tickets to see Leicester City in the (European) Champions League final’. Another could maybe send someone to space courtesy of the National Space Centre. But we want to hear what the Leicester public thinks and suggests.
“We believe this will be a world seller this Christmas. Not just in Leicester – but across the globe too, with the city having won so many new friends all over the world.”
And another great title race now looks set to be in the offing too – the race to land the title deeds of the game’s most expensive and highest ranking location Mayfair, which sits atop the MONOPOLY board.
Adds Mr Omotola:
“This could be as exciting as Leicester City’s league run: The National Space Centre, Leicester Cathedral, King’s Power Station, the King Richard III Visitor Centre, several others – it’s impossible to call. Winning at MONOPOLY seems easier!
“We believe we will be absolutely spoilt for choice putting this board together and we are very excited and honoured to be doing so.”
In the game, ALL the traditional MONOPOLY multi-coloured streets will be handed over to leading Leicester landmarks.
So a leading park could feature on a green square – or a newspaper on Fleet Street.
Leicester was the first UK mainland city to have local radio – so a local radio station could be immortalised on one of the two utility spaces on the board, Water Works or the Electric Company.
Red light may spell danger on a Community Chest or Chance playing cards (which will be largely Leicester themed). That’s because the city is reputed to have more traffic lights than anywhere else in the UK. So a card could say ‘Go Back Three Spaces for getting stuck at city centre traffic lights’.
Belgrave Road could emerge as a contender to star on the famous Electric Company space. Why? Because Belgrave Road hosts the largest Diwali celebrations outside of India, heavily lit each October.
Leicester Market – Europe’s largest outdoor covered market – could land on one of the three most landed on spaces in the orange section of the board, in recognition of the market’s massive footfall.
