Monopoly's eagerly awaited 'World Edition' to pass go early next month

Monopoly, the beloved real estate game that's been played by an estimated 750 million people in 50 languages worldwide, is about to go truly global.

Hasbro, Inc., which owns Monopoly, says "Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition" will debut early next month.

You might recall Gadling's Aaron blogging early this year about the company's online fan survey to find the 22 cities that will be featured in the new game.

Well, the wait is over: The two most expensive properties on the new Monopoly board will be Montreal and Riga, Latvia, which will occupy the blue property group, replacing Boardwalk and Park Place.

Riga? You're saying. Indeed, Riga.

In the new version it appears that gamers will vie to own whole cities, rather than specific streets. The other 20 cities that will appear on the new board are:

Cape Town, Belgrade, Paris, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Beijing, London, New York, Sydney, Vancouver, Shanghai, Rome, Toronto, Kiev, Istanbul, Athens, Barcelona, Tokyo, Taipei, Gydnia (Poland).

Wow, that must have been one hell of a Polish campaign to get Gydnia on the board.

Oddly enough, Atlantic City apparently couldn't muster enough votes.

More than 5.7 million votes were cast for 70 cities worldwide to come up with the final list, according to Reuters.

Filed under: Arts and Culture