Maitland was unable to roll lucky double sixes and has missed out on having its own space on the Monopoly board.
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The city’s campaign to secure a space on the new Monopoly board has come to an unsuccessful end.
Hasbro, the makers of Monopoly, delivered the sad news late yesterday.
The Spanish city of Madrid and the town of Giethoorn in the Netherlands stole the two wild card spots from Maitland’s grasp and will take over the brown spaces on the special edition board called Monopoly Here and Now.
More than four million votes were cast in 182 countries during the competition.
“It is extremely disappointing,” the mayor of Maitland, Cr Peter Blackmore, said.
“I want to thank the people who voted, particularly the national and international assistance we received.”
The Mercury launched the campaign with a front-page article in February and the idea of getting a regional city on to the Monopoly board piqued the interest of both Hasbro and the Today Show.
Maitland was featured on a weekend segment on the national breakfast show and soon the campaign snowballed, with Maitland South Australia and Maitland in Florida, USA, jumping on board the campaign.
“The positive of this campaign is that it brought promise to Maitland,” Cr Blackmore said.
“At least we had a go and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”
He said the welcome mat would be rolled out for all of the residents of Maitlands around the world.
“Drop in and say hi,” he said.
Yorke Peninsula mayor Ray Agnew OAM, the location of Maitland, South Australia, said he would accept the invitation to come and visit one day.
He was happy to be part of the campaign and hoped to meet Cr Blackmore in person at the local councils’ annual conference later this year.
“It was a great promotion for our areas and my wife even cut out the photograph of myself as the Monopoly man.”
Today also marks Monopoly’s 80th anniversary.
GIETHOORN FACTS
- It is located in the province of Overijssel in the Netherlands
- While roads have been built on the outskirts, the old part of the village is only accessible by water or on foot over wooden bridges.
- It has four miles of canals and farmhouses with thatched roofs dating back to the 18th century.
- All traffic has to go over the water and it is done in so-called whisper-boats as they are driven by an electric motor so as not to disturb the peace.
- With 2620 inhabitants, it is a popular destination in summer for obvious reasons, but also in winter when you can go ice skating both on the canals and nearby lakes.
