A Global MONOPOLY? MONOPOLY Fever Goes Global as Cities around the Planet Battle to Earn Their Place on the First-Ever Worldwide MONOPOLY Game Board



    Global games giant Parker Brothers is launching a worldwide vote
    to find the 22 greatest cities in the world to be included on the new
    MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board.

    Beginning 22 January 2008 at midnight GMT/Universal Time, MONOPOLY
    fans around the world can visit www.monopoly.com to cast their online
    votes to help create the first-ever worldwide edition of the game.
    Voters are invited to cast their ballots for ten great cities each day
    of the vote, which will be open until 28 February 2008. The city that
    receives the most votes will be placed on the highest rent property.
    To facilitate voting for MONOPOLY fans worldwide, the website is
    available in more than 30 languages.

    The twenty cities that receive the most votes will be part of
    MONOPOLY history as the first cities selected to be on the World
    edition game board. However, two spaces on the board will be reserved
    for cities that are nominated through a wild card vote. Any city in
    the world can be nominated for these property spaces.

    "MONOPOLY is the world´s most popular board game and it transcends
    cultural barriers," said Helen Martin, Global Brand Leader for
    MONOPOLY Brand. "More than 750 million people have played the game
    since it was first introduced nearly 75 years ago and its popularity
    shows no signs of slowing down."

    "The final result of MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition voting
    may be just as surprising as the votes conducted in each country,"
    said Martin. "It will be exciting to see how the vote will turn out!
    We hope that fans will vote early and often for their favourite
    cities."

    MONOPOLY is sold in 103 countries around the world and available
    in 37 language versions. For more than 70 years the official MONOPOLY
    board has represented elite locations in individual cities. However,
    recently Parker Brothers invited fans of the game to help update the
    board in their respective countries to reflect what the game board
    would look like if it were created today instead of in 1935. The votes
    resulted in the "Here & Now" versions of the game in each country -
    with often surprising results! In France, Paris never made it onto
    game board. In the United States, powerhouse-city Dallas landed in the
    low-rent district. In Australia, fans logged more than 17 million
    votes. And in the UK, more votes were cast during the UK online vote
    than were cast in local elections taking place at the same time.

    The cities voted onto the final game board will be announced in
    August 2008. The new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition will be
    available in stores around the world in Autumn 2008.

    The following 68 cities have been nominated for the global vote:

    -0-
    *T
    Amsterdam Helsinki Queenstown
    Athens Hong Kong Riga
    Barcelona Istanbul Rio de Janeiro
    Beijing Jerusalem Rome
    Belgrade Kiev Santiago
    Berlin Kuala Lumpur Seoul
    Bogota Las Vegas Shanghai
    Boston Lisbon Singapore City
    Bratislava Ljubljana Sofia
    Brussels London St. Petersburg
    Bucharest Los Angeles Stockholm
    Budapest Lyon Sydney
    Buenos Aires Madrid Tallinn
    Cairo Melbourne Tokyo
    Cape Town Mexico City Toronto
    Caracas Montreal Vancouver
    Cardiff Moscow Vienna
    Chicago Mumbai Vilnius
    Copenhagen Munich Warsaw
    Dubai New York Washington, D.C.
    Dublin Oslo Zagreb
    Edinburgh Paris Zurich
    Frankfurt Prague
    *T

    Since 1935, more than 250 million copies of the MONOPOLY game have
    been sold in 103 countries and 37 languages. More than 200 different
    editions of the game have been published, but the most popular
    continues to be the classic "Number Nine." Affectionately known by its
    original product number, "Number Nine" is based on the streets of
    Atlantic City and is nearly identical to Charles Darrow´s original
    submission to Parker Brothers. The MONOPOLY name and logo, the
    distinctive design of the game board, the four corner squares, the MR.
    MONOPOLY name and the character, as well as each of the distinctive
    elements of the board and playing pieces are trademarks of Hasbro for
    its property trading game and game equipment. (C) 2008 Hasbro, All
    Rights Reserved.

    Hasbro is a worldwide leader in children´s and family leisure time
    entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture
    and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech.
    Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON
    BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and
    products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play
    experiences in the world.