Mr. Monopoly and Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse outside City Hall on Tuesday. | Credit: Carl Perry

Well, it’s official: More people will soon be able to own Santa Barbara properties. Hell, they’ll even be able to build a hotel or two — if they have the rainbow-colored cash to back it up. 

Mr. Monopoly, outfitted in his timeless tux, white mustache, and top hat, visited Santa Barbara City Hall on Tuesday to announce the newest planned rendition of his classic board game, Monopoly: Santa Barbara Edition. Replacing the game’s traditional properties, such as Boardwalk and Park Place, will be locally themed squares representing favorite businesses and locations decided on by the Santa Barbara community itself.

Credit: Carl Perry

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse stopped by City Hall to snap photos and crack jokes with Mr. Monopoly, saying he “feels it’s a fitting match, as both Santa Barbara and Monopoly are loved by all who know them.” 

Families will battle it out for ownership of Santa Barbara’s iconic destinations, paying homage to the region’s history, community, and Spanish-style architecture. The game’s classic “Community Chest” and “Chance” cards will also be customized Santa Barbarastyle. Otherwise, elements of the game will remain true to the original Monopoly experience.

Game-making company Top Trumps, a global licensee of Hasbro, is putting together the Santa Barbara version of Monopoly as part of their wider efforts to create completely customized, community-based editions of the game for the North American market. 

“We aim to showcase Santa Barbara in all its glory, displaying all the local favorites and cherished places, from the Old Mission Santa Barbara to La Super-Rica Taqueria, to many other iconic landmarks,” said Top Trumps representative Jennifer Tripsea. “We want to hear from the community which local favorites they would like to see represented.”

Until April 28, Santa Barbara fans can suggest which locations they would like to see featured on the board via the official Monopoly email at santabarbara@toptrumps.com. The finished game will be released around November 27-28 this year. 

While this will technically be the first official Santa Barbara edition of Monopoly, this is not the city’s first trip around the game board. In 1984, Hometown Games released its own variant of the classic board game, Santa Barbopoly, and more recently, a company called Late for the Sky put out Santa Barbara–opoly.

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