Well, it’s official – the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges are getting their very own Monopoly board, inspired by the vastness of the landscape and the many wonders and landmarks that make the region special.
Officially launching on Wednesday 5 November, Star Mail has been given exclusive access to announce two of the 22 locations that will feature on the board.
When it comes to the Dandenong Ranges, nature is a first port of call for visitors but it’s also why residents choose to live where they do.
So it’s no surprise that two iconic gardens have been selected for this special edition of Monopoly.
The first two properties to be announced are Brown 1: George Tindale Memorial Gardens and Brown 2: Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden.
Winning Moves sales executive Michael Counsell said for him personally, the natural landscape is always one he’s excited to explore in a location specific game but the Yarra Ranges provided so much to choose from.
“I’m always a fan of a good river or waterfall or a bush track. We’re dealing with the Yarra Ranges here and I was gobsmacked with the amount of options we had, especially from a visual perspective of photography, to put into this game,” he said.
“The amount of natural landscape that we managed to fit into this one, for me, is pretty impressive.
“It is a Monopoly board game still, but to me, first impressions, it almost looks like a topographic map, because there’s just so many different natural landmarks in the game. So I’m pretty excited about that.”
While nature is a big feature, Michael said people should be rest assured that there’s much more to it than just that.
“We need to capture absolutely everything, from nature to family, attractions, tourism, even education. We always want to make sure that we’re featuring the best schools, best universities in town as well,” he said.
“Those are all important walks of life. So realistically, for each of those sectors, we’ve probably only got two or three spots that they can actually look at.”
The process from conception to completion, Michael said, takes about 12 to 18 months, first selecting a region, then engaging with the community to understand what should be included in the game and then narrowing down the final list of suggestions.
Michael said every custom edition of Monopoly follows the same process but it’s the feedback in the early stages that shapes the game into what it is.
“The feedback that we get is unbelievably varied. So whenever we go to a new area, we never know what to expect. When we are picking an area, we try to find somewhere that has a little bit of everything, of what we think is important for a family edition of Monopoly,” he said.
“We don’t want all of these Monopoly editions, whether it’s Yarra Valley and Ranges or Melbourne CBD, to be the same. We want to put up in lights the things that make your town unique.
“So I think we’ve done a really good job on this edition. And when you compare it to something like a Melbourne or a Geelong or a Ballarat Monopoly, they all look completely different, and to a local, it’s their town. They can see it in that snapshot.”
The Monopoly: Yarra Valley edition is launching at 10am on Wednesday 5 November at CherryHill Orchards in Coldstream, with the community invited to attend to see the rest of the board unveiled.
