This past Saturday, Oct. 5, a new version of MONOPOLY was unveiled at Queens Center Mall. Hasbro, a leading toy and game company, and Top Trumps USA, the USA division of Winning Moves International, have created a unique board to celebrate the borough of Queens known as MONOPOLY: Queens Edition. The new board features iconic sites, landmarks, and businesses throughout Queens.
The official reveal of the Queens edition was held at Queens Center Mall, a premier shopping site for the people of Queens, which warranted its own spot on the board. Kelly Cefai, Senior manager at Queens center spoke to QNS about the impact Queens Center has had for the community. “We love bringing the community together and being a place where we can acknowledge and represent and really celebrate all the different businesses that make Queens what it is. We’ve been standing here in Queens for 50 years … So it’s just a true mark to how important we are to the community” Cefai stated.
The event started off with an introduction from Tim Barney, game manager at Top Trumps USA, who spoke about the creation and process of this unique board.
“Choosing cities to create for isn’t always the easiest job because there’s so many wonderful places across the USA, but Queens was an obvious next choice” Barney announced. “With the help of literally thousands of people, thousands of submissions and nominations from requests from the public, I feel we’ve successfully captured the essence and wonder of the world’s favorite borough, Queens, New York.”
A few notable figures made an appearance at the event such as Queensborough President Donovan Richards, Assembly members Catalina Cruz and Steven Raga, and of course Mr. MONOPOLY himself. President Richards started off his speech asking the crowd, “Is Queens really ready to get the money?”, paying homage to the widely known slogan “QGTM (Queens gets the money) that is used by many people in the borough. “For all the things that are on this board, one of the things we can pride ourselves about in Queens county is our diversity. There is no county more diverse than Queens country in the United States of America” President Richards spoke.
Each space on the board was announced by Barney, and a representative for each landmark/business then walked across the stage holding up a life size MONOPOLY square piece of their location. QNS spoke to the owners of New Park Pizza, a pizzeria in Howard Beach that received its own spot on the Queens board. “We grew up playing Monopoly and we never thought we’d be on one of the boards. We’ll play a lot more of it now” Janet Sarrica said.
Individuals were able to enjoy food after the launch, with restaurants such as Applebees, Burmese Bites, and New Park Pizza offering food catering for the public. Gary Ferrar the Magician made an appearance, providing a magic show that excited kids around. Followed by a trivia game show experience that rewarded winners with gift cards to businesses in Queens Center. The event ended with a performance by Gatsby Dancers by Scarlett Entertainment.
With over 200 copies of the Queens Edition being sold at the unveiling, all boards available on site sold out. Many Queens residents and mall-goers had lined up to purchase this unique version of the MONOPOLY board. It was announced that proceeds from the board game sales at the event will be going to Commonpoint Queens, a social services organization that serves individuals and families from a large range of ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds.
“I think it only sets to continue the work that we’ve already been trying to do. Our roots are in Queens, we’re dedicated to Queens as we have over 83 locations throughout the borough. We’re really looking forward to just continuing impact, continuing how we service the Queens community” Heather Liverpool, a representative with Commonpoint, said.
