Do not pass Bendigo … Melbourne's new Monopoly board…

Do not pass Bendigo … Melbourne's new Monopoly board leaves nothing to chance

‘Mr Monopoly’ unveils a new Melbourne Monopoly in Federation Square. Photograph: David Crosling/AAP

It seems appropriate that a famous board game about property deals and capitalism isn’t entirely what it seems. Melbourne’s very own Monopoly game was launched on Tuesday, but which landmarks made up the 22 spots on the board weren’t just those that truly represent the city.

For the record, the coveted and horribly expensive “Mayfair” of the London-based game is taken by the Melbourne Cricket Ground (the MCG). Not that you can buy the MCG – it’s priceless – but nobody could deny it’s a beloved Melbourne icon.

Sport and the arts dominate Melbourne’s edition appropriately enough. Would any other city nominate a football stadium, a tennis compound and a racecourse as its favourite treasures?

This is a Melbourne of venerable institutions, a legacy of its grand gold rush history and its earnest self-regard. The University of Melbourne is there, the Shrine of Remembrance, the zoo and the National Art Gallery of Victoria. There are quirky lanes because Melbourne loves quirky lanes – Hosier Lane and Hardware Lane take the cheapest property spots on the board (think Old Kent Road in the original).

It’s just that none of these are here, in Monopoly speak, by chance.

Jason Cain, the business development manager of Winning Moves Australia, which has the licence to produce the game, said it wasn’t as simple as a company or institution buying a spot on the board, but “without the help of our generous sponsors we wouldn’t be able to have a game”.

The process, he said, was that Melburnians were asked via Facebook what they would like to see highlighted in their own edition. Once a list was finalised “we connect with those places and see if we can collectively work out a way of getting them on the board … there is a financial element to it”.

In other words, it’s marketing.

Perhaps to question this isn’t entirely fair because Monopoly is about buying and selling property, always a game of winners and losers. And there are some nice touches in the Melbourne edition for your $49.95. To play, you’ll need a token, and for the first time the traditional tokens – the thimble, the iron, the boot etc – have given way to local playing pieces. You’ll get a Sherrin football, a Phar Lap racehorse, a tram, a City of Literature book, a street art spray can or a coffee cup. That just about sums up the city.

This is the fourth Australian city the company has honoured with its own edition. Sydney was first in 2012 (Mayfair was Sydney Harbour of course), Perth in 2013 and Adelaide last year. Brisbane will be next.

Cain said there had been a big response from Melburnians, who were keen to send themselves up a little. One Chance card reads: “A Fitzroy hipster takes too long ordering a half-strength, decaf, soy mocha frappuccino. Go back three spaces.” All Melburnians can relate to that.