The phrase “buy local” has a whole new meaning, thanks to a new Monopoly-like board game.
Vermont-opoly allows players to purchase local companies Cabot Creamery ($90), Jay Peak Resort ($170) and Smugglers’ Notch ($190), as well as natural areas — which, arguably, should not be privately held. Lake Champlain sells for $290, the Green Mountain National Forest can be had for $310, and Mount Mansfield will set you back $290. For just $425, one can hold the deed to the entire Green Mountain State.
Development is encouraged. Cabins and lodges — as opposed to the houses and hotels in the original game — can be erected anywhere. If you’ve got the candy-colored cash, you can plop a lodge on the Long Trail, no water-quality study or Act 250 permit needed. Build and watch the rent roll in.
The game — starting at $19.99 and available at Walgreens and St. Johnsbury’s Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium Nature Store — is one of more than 2,500 Monopoly spin-offs that Cincinnati-based company Late for the Sky has created. That’s legal, company spokesperson Michael Schulte said, because the concept of Monopoly’s gameplay is in the public domain. “Anyone can make an ‘-opoly’ game as long as you stay away from the trademarked design of the original game,” he said.
In the Vermont game, “Go” is “Go Vermont!,” “Free Parking” has become “Free Camping,” and “Jail” is “Snowed In.”
“Big Fun” and “Contingency” cards, like their counterparts “Chance” and “Community Chest,” present scenarios that can cost or benefit players. “Come for the natural beauty. Stay because you can’t get out! Go directly to Snowed In,” one says.
Game developers got Vermont mostly right, though properties “Down South” and “Up North” sound like they belong in Alabama and Michigan. Property tax, $200, is surprisingly low. Cabins start at $50.
Sounds dreamy to one young Vermonter. The game, she observed, is “probably the closest I could get to affording a house in Vermont.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Game On”
This article appears in The Reading Issue 2023.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
