Get ready for a board game night — the Arlington Chamber of Commerce said its custom, Arlington-themed board game, Arlingtonopoly, is now available for purchase.
Much like in the classic game you’re probably thinking of (though there’s no official affiliation), players in Arlingtonopoly trade and buy properties as they progress along the board. In this version, the board is decked out with real-life businesses and locations from Arlington.
Chamber of Commerce members could sponsor a place on the board, cards, or playing pieces. Some of those sponsors that players will see represented include George Mason University, Crystal City Sports Pub, Dominion Energy, and Virginia Tech.
The pewter playing pieces are also customized to reflect the county’s character. There’s a flamingo to represent Freddie’s Beach Bar, a 737 Max plane to represent the Boeing Company, and a miniature version of the Air Force Memorial. There’s even a hard hat, a nod to Arlington’s ongoing construction.
The Chamber of Commerce said in a news release that the game was inspired by Lizzie Magie’s The Landlord’s Game, the precursor to Monopoly. Magie lived in Maryland at the time she invented the game, and she was later buried in the Columbia Gardens Ceremony in Arlington.
Arlingtonopoly was created as a way for the Chamber of Commerce to recognize its 100th anniversary. And this actually isn’t the first time a game like this has been released, according to Kate Bates, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, who says that the Arlington Chamber released a “Chamber-opoly” in 1995.
Design Powers, an Arlington-based graphic design company, created the design for the board.
Arlingtonopoly is for sale at the Chamber of Commerce, located at 2009 14th St. N., Ste. 100, Arlington, for $40. Move fast — the chamber produced 1,000 games, and since putting them up for sale on January 31, fewer than 300 remain.
Feature image courtesy Arlington Chamber of Commerce
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