Moscow will be one of 20 world locations to feature in a special edition of the board game Monopoly where winning players will not be the most convincing wannabe real estate tycoons, but the fastest globetrotters.
The Russian capital will line up alongside other major world cities, including New York, Riga and Amsterdam in the Monopoly: World Edition version that will be sold later this year in honor of the board game's 80th anniversary, maker Hasbro said Thursday in a press release.
Moscow will feature along with London and Tokyo in the orange section on the board — placing it among the game's averagely priced properties.
The traditional Monopoly board game sees players compete against each other to buy and develop properties, with the ultimate aim of bankrupting the opposition by establishing a monopoly on property ownership.
In the limited special edition, however, players must visit as many world locations as possible and fill up their passports with country stamps. If you land on a location you don't own, you are asked to pay a visitor's fee.
More than 4 million people cast their votes online to decide which cities would appear on the board, with news site Buzzfeed running the competition from Feb. 18 to March 10 in conjunction with Hasbro.
While the majority of spots in the game were reserved for world capitals, Buzzfeed saved two places for cities or towns that received the most votes, regardless of their size or location.
The popularity vote went to Spanish capital Madrid and a little-known village in the Netherlands called Giethoorn, both of which will occupy the cheapest spots on the board. The most expensive locations on the board went to Lima and Hong Kong.
Thursday marked 80 years since former producers Parker Brothers bought the rights to the popular board game from its designer, and March 19 is now celebrated as World Monopoly Day.
The World Edition will go on sale this fall.
