ALEXANDRIA: Monopoly, one of the most played games around the globe, will finally incorporate cities of the world into its game. In just 14 days time, votes will be cast on which top 20 cities in the world will be used in the new edition of Monopoly. The game was created in 1934 by Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania, in the United States during the Great Depression, and was first handcrafted by the creator and sold to different department stores. It became a best-seller in the first year, and over the past 65 years it has been played by 500 million people around the world, according to the Monopoly website. Now, "Monopoly is launching a new Here & Now World Edition and is inviting everyone around the world to vote for the greatest cities around the globe. The 22 cities with the highest worldwide votes will make it onto one global Monopoly board, the monopoly website said. The city with the highest votes will be the city with the most valuable property and the city with the second highest votes will have the second most valuable properties and so on. The leader board will be removed from the website on Feb. 21, yet voting will continue up until Feb. 28. The worldwide website has a list of different cities from around the world with a short summary of what can be found in the city. There is also an option whereby you can nominate a city that isn't on the list. Nominations will stop on Feb. 29 and voting on this city will continue until March 9. The final board with the 22 cities selected will be on display in August 2008. Naila Fateen, a fan of the classic board game said, "Being on the board will definitely do wonders to our economy by increasing awareness of Cairo and hence tourism. I believe a daily exclusive vote for Cairo will ensure a rapid climb to the top, especially by not voting for cities that are currently topping Cairo in the chart. Some have taken it upon themselves to promote Egypt in the voting process, either by asking friends to vote or through organized campaigning. There's a Facebook group, created especially for this purpose, with over 2,000 members. Monopoly is a game where the players go around the city buying, renting and selling property, the object being to become the wealthiest player on the board, ultimately putting everybody else out of business. Darrow himself was unemployed during the Great Depression, and he created the game to give the many people who were like him out of work at the time a taste of the high life, according to the Monopoly website. There are all kinds of Monopoly games that range from Disney characters to a brail edition for the blind. The game has created memories for many people, including Naila Fateen, 26, who has been playing the game for a very long time. "I don't remember when I started playing monopoly, but what I do remember is playing it in the summer with my cousins for hours. In a way, I feel like your true personality is reflected in the game, said Fateen."In the game you can easily tell who, in real life, is gullible, a rip off, street smart, convincing . and it s interesting to see who makes allies with who based on what they currently need from the game. I also find it interesting that each family/group of friends who regularly play monopoly together, create their own set of rules without realizing it, and when they play with a different group, they start arguing about the authenticity of their rules, she said.When the game was first created, it was presented to game makers Parker Brothers in 1933, who rejected it, citing 52 fundamental playing flaws. The creator then took the game to a friend of his who had a printing company and made 5,000 sets by hand. They sold it to a department store and now over 250 million board games have been sold around the world. To vote please visit: http://www.monopolyworldvote.com/en_EG/world
