PUPILS AT Oakfield Primary School were overjoyed to welcome the new Isle of Wight edition of the iconic Monopoly board this week and happily posed with their free copies of the game.
Children from the school were the guests of honour at Osborne House as it was they who wrote to Mark Marriott, managing director at Monopoly, requesting that an Isle of Wight Monopoly Board was made. Not surprisingly the school was given their own location on the board – as one of the orange properties.
Not one, but three launch events for the new Isle of Wight edition Monopoly board tumbled across the Island on Monday (November 1).
First on the timetable was the press launch at ‘Mayfair’ or Osborne House in this instance as it is Queen Victoria’s family home that takes pride of place on the new Monopoly board’s prestigious location.
The two top slots, Mayfair and Park Lane are taken by Osborne House and Carisbrooke Castle respectively and cost M400 each (that’s 400 Monopoly pounds).
These jewels in the Island’s crown are two of English Heritage’s most visited properties in the country and came top in the poll that the Monopoly Company staged to find the most suitable locations to be included.
Each ‘street’ on the board was taken by a location on the Island with many being associated with Island businesses. Some actually took the location too such as The Isle of Wight Festival which occupies what was Piccadilly.
Town and Village estate agency took another of the yellow slots, with their location ‘Shanklin High Street’, and is accompanied by fellow yellow property East Dene, who hosted the lunch stop on the launch and took the ‘Bonchurch’ location.
The Needles took what is arguably the trendiest slot on the board at ‘Angel Islington’ (cost M100) and the other two pale blue slots were taken by The Leafy Bean Café at ‘Falcon Cross Road, Shanklin’ (M100) and Alum Bay (M120).
One of the utilities slots was taken by the Island’s only cable supplier Wight Cable and the other by Island Training.
The four train stations were taken by three different modes of transport and Cowes Marina. The IW Steam Railway and Hovertravel took two further station slots with Wightlink taking the fourth location all at M200.
The IW Gazette and the County Press took Community Chest locations on the board. We were given the slot between ‘Old Kent Road’ that took on the new mantle of the Military Road and Brading featuring the Roman Villa, both at M60. An ideal location for us we thought – we can only go up from there! And we have a square that is frequently landed upon, featuring in every opening throw of the game.
The centre of the board is a montage of photographs of the Island in a diamond shape with the ‘Go’ square at the top. The Island at night features to the top of this clever collection of photos designed by Natasha Malik at Monopoly, with the Longstone to the left, Cowes fireworks in the top centre and a large Dinosaur to the right.
The Island during the day features on the bottom of the montage and includes walkers on Tennyson Down, a hovercraft, two divers, Godshill’s cute thatched cottages and the Needles. Pride of place to the far right is the new Metropole building on Ventnor’s seafront and a sweeping view of Ventnor’s beachfront.
Next stop on the Monopoly launch Roadshow was the lovely East Dene House - a children’s holiday centre and wedding and party venue. Invited guests were offered Champagne and orange juice as they entered through the heavy oak door. Walking through to the stunning wood paneled room that stretches the width of the house with bay windows overlooking the sea, boards were laid out on tables for all to see.
East Dene donated a bottle of special fizz for the launch ceremony on the lawn where Mark Marriott became a Formula One racing car driver (as portrayed in one of the die cast player pieces in the game) and shook the bottle before opening it in a cascade of bubbles and Champagne.
Posing with an enormous copy of the board on the lawn were all of the invited guests along with representatives from Monopoly.
Teachers from Oakfield School invited everyone to sign ‘their’ squares on two Monopoly boards that are to be auctioned to raise funds for the school.
After this guests tucked into a spread of honey roast ham, succulent chicken pieces, home made samosas, deep fried potato wedges, mini lamb and veggie burgers, spicy sausage pieces and other savoury delights accompanied by tomatoes and salad bits. All the ingredients had been sourced from Island producers where possible.
White and milk chocolate mini cheesecakes followed the buffet with an eye-catching fruit salad platter and Isle of Wight cheeseboard and fresh coffee to complete the meal.
Unfortunately the Monopoly representatives were running late and in a rush to get to Oakfield School to present all of the children with a free copy of the new board and missed the end of the meal.
“It’s fantastic!” said Steve Gascoigne of Available Light Photography who provided many of the images for the board and whose son Ewan (3) was playing with the board at the lunchtime reception with Steve and mum Sharon - a new Monopoly player in the making.
Lastly on the whistle stop tour around the Island was Monopoly’s final port of call at Oakfield Primary School in Ryde. Here copies of the board were given to each child who was involved in the project as they left to go home.
“A big thanks to the thirty or so landmarks on the board. Without these attractions the board would not have been produced,” said Graham Barnes for Monopoly Plc.
“Also a big thanks to the great Isle of Wight public. Without their suggestions and support, again we could not have put together this Monopoly board and of course to the children of Oakfield Primary School for suggesting the idea in the first place.”
