Canterbury Monopoly a big disappointment.

It is many years since I have played the board game Monopoly. When we did play it we always availed ourselves of the 'short game' rules whereby you did not have to auction or purchase every property the moment that it was alighted upon. This made the game more fun for us children.

The 'Canterbury' version of the board
game Monopoly on sale at last.

I am not a great fan of board games (or any games for that matter) but when it was announced that there was to be a Canterbury version of Monopoly my interest was awakened. It would be fun buying and selling the local streets and even more amusing would be to learn what was considered to be the local equivalent to the cheapest Old Kent Road or the dearest Mayfair.



Well, the game has been released and it is a great disappointment to me. I suspect that the manufacturer auctioned the squares on the board to the local businesses since no streets appear, only enterprises. Mayfair is Canterbury Cathedral. What sense does that make? I was going to ask, 'how can you put a hotel on the cathedral?' but of course, they have already done it in real life.

Why is Rochester Castle illustrated in the middle of the
Canterbury board version of Monopoly?

But what must be a rather embarrassing aspect of this undisguised and rather callous marketing exercise is the artwork itself. What is Rochester Castle doing in the middle of the board? Rochester is a town on the River Medway, forty miles from Canterbury.

Oh dear!