REGINA -- New board games are helping highlight unique spots in two southern Saskatchewan cities.
Outset Media has teamed up with Walmart Canada to create community based Monopoly style games in Regina and Moose Jaw.
Regina-opoly includes locations like Albert Street, Victoria Avenue, Wascana Centre, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Saskatchewan Science Centre featured on the board.
Moose Jaw-poly shows off Mac the Moose, Crescent Park, Caribou Street and more. The boards also feature local businesses and events like Canadian Western Agribition.
Outset Media does not receive any money from the locations featured in the game, saying it’s meant to serve as a way “to help cities and towns across Canada celebrate what makes them great.”
To avoid playing favourites to any parts of the city, Outset Media made the Boardwalk spots Downtown Moose Jaw and Downtown Regina.
The game pieces include a heart, pretzel, dog, hand, smile and a shoe. The company produces the games in Canada. To save on costs, the company decided to keep the game pieces the same for each local version.
“We just had to switch a few things around on the board. There’s no free parking. Instead of going to jail, you’re stuck in a traffic jam. Other than that you’re still passing go and then play is basically the same,” Jean Paul Teskey, Outset Media’s Senior Vice President.
Outset Media acquired the rights from Monopoly inventors Parker Brothers, which predates the acquisition made by Hasbro, so it is allowed to use “Opoly” in the name and use the Monopoly style of play.
Regina and Moose Jaw are two of the newest communities involved in the company's venture that has included about 100 communities across Canada. Outset Media started making Monopoly based games for Toronto and Vancouver, but created one for the smaller community of Sarnia, Ontario, which quickly outsold both major cities. The company then decided smaller communities could be a better target.
The company produced 720 copies of each game. The games are on shelves in Regina now and will be delivered to stores in Moose Jaw soon.
Outset Media said early statistics show the first order of both versions is expected to be sold out this week. The company plans to order more copies of both versions for the fall so they can be stocked on shelves for the holidays.
Outset Media plans to produce more games for different communities around Canada and says the limited additions of Moose Jaw and Regina will most likely be stopped following the fall.
