What is it about the “-opoly” phenomenon? For some reason, attaching this term to the name of any city or university suddenly transforms that place into a series of properties to be purchased in a game where the object is to “monopolize” the board.
Even the University has its very own, personalized real estate trading game: DUCKOPOLY, produced by Late for the Sky Production, which proves it’s the little things that count. Students, faculty and alumni might enjoy the chance to buy “Track Town Pizza” or “Greek Row” in a cut-throat game of capitalistic enterprise.
With 46 different versions of college-themed “-opolys,” Late For the Sky Production, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the largest real estate trading game manufacturers in the country. It got its start in 1984, when Robyn Wilson made MIAMIOPOLY for her alma mater, Miami University. The company has since expanded to include other themes, such as cities, as well as making custom-order games.
Wilson said making a game takes about six weeks. To get the local flavor, a scout is sent to gather information about the university or town by asking students, faculty and alumni questions. Wilson said the scout’s goal is to “gather a lot of opinions in what should be in the game” by asking questions such as, “What do you think should be the highest-priced spot?”
The highest price spot in DUCKOPOLY is “Johnson Hall.” In a recent game of DUCKOPOLY, player Jeff Pyler noted an oddity that “Eugene, Oregon” was one of the properties, and not even the most expensive.
“How can they have Eugene?” he asked. “Doesn’t that encompass the whole board?”
Pyler was playing with friends Brook Reinhard and Parrish Danforth. Other problems arose during their game because the players could not disassociate DUCKOPOLY from Monopoly. From the get-go, the incorrect amount of money was distributed because while using the same colors, DUCKOPOLY money associates those colors with different dollar amounts. Pyler and friends also referred to properties using names from Monopoly, not the given names on the board.
It is important to remember that DUCKOPOLY is not Monopoly. Wilson said the real estate trading game format has been open to duplication since Parker Brothers’ copyright expired in the 1970s. Besides the above mentioned items, there are other important differences:
1. The colors differentiating the properties are not the same as Monopoly. They are also triangle-shaped, not rectangle-shaped.
2. There is no “Jail” or “Free Parking.” There is “HOME” and “SPRING BREAK.”
3. Players don’t “build houses,” but get “Years of Credit,” ultimately leading to a “Diploma.”
4. There is no Mr. DUCKOPOLY.
Also, in no game of Monopoly will anybody say, “How about I give you $200 and the Green Garter Band? Then all you have to do is get the Willamette River.” This trade staged by Danforth didn’t go through.
Reinhard said that there is something about possessing your favorite local stores and buildings: It gives the game a personal stake.
The cards from the “Contingency” and “Campus Mail” piles (not “Chance” and “Community Chest”) add more local flavor to the game. Some examples are: Pay $20 to every player (for their vote) for being elected student government president; Lose two turns for having “too much fun over the weekend”; and collect $50 for selling textbooks back to the bookstore. Danforth thought that $50 was “pretty generous.”
About half of that fictional sum would go to purchasing the game for $23.95 at the University of Oregon Bookstore. Sportswear buyer Bev Emery at the Bookstore said 148 copies have been sold since last September. Reinhard was surprised by this number, thinking it would have been much lower.
“I see them in the Bookstore, and they look very pathetic,” he said.
Not for long. Within the month, a new version of DUCKOPOLY will be on the Bookstore’s shelves. Wilson said the board and box will be redesigned to have more visual appeal, though no fundamental changes will be made to the game.