Fourteen years after local board game enthusiasts finally got their hands on the Maltese edition of Monopoly, a new version of the popular board game is hitting shelves in shops today.

Monopoly Malta, crafted by local company Modeltoys, was revealed yesterday evening.

The game, however, no longer features street names but local businesses and well-known landmarks.

Now you can personalise Monopoly, make it represent what life truly is like in Malta by having a combination of culture, local heritage and local businesses- Modeltoys managing director Karl Camilleri

The 2008 Monopoly Malta, the brainchild of Sabrina Mulligan, showcased the Mnajdra Temples on the box and featured localities across the island in their original Maltese names.

The modernised Monopoly Malta ditched the classic sea foam green background colour for the board and replaced it with a colourful photomontage of locations and companies which Modeltoys believes best represent the island.

The board features the coastline of Valletta and the clear blue sea waters, with a backdrop of Comino. It also shows pictures of the popular shopping centre Tigne and the Malta International Airport.

The rules of the game remain the same but now players can purchase famous local landmarks or businesses. PHOTO: JONATHAN BORG

The rules of the game remain the same. But now players no longer buy a random street in Naxxar. Instead, they can purchase Ħaġar Qim, the Twistees Factory or the Triton Fountain.

So, why ditch the street names?

“We believe the connection to a location is much stronger than the connection one has to a street,” managing director at Modeltoys, Karl Camilleri told Times of Malta.

Camilleri, along with his son, Luke Camilleri and nephew, Mark Pace, spent two years bringing the new localised Monopoly to life.

“Most of the time you don’t even know the name of the street you are in. As a local, we have all been to St John’s Co-Cathedral, Mosta Dome or the airport.”

He said the company bought the rights to produce the game from Hasbro and Winning Moves.

The team spent two years bringing the new localised Monopoly to life.

“In previous editions, you could only have a street name but now you can personalise Monopoly, make it represent what life truly is like in Malta by having a combination of culture, local heritage and local businesses,” he said.

With just 25 tiles on the board, Camilleri said one of the biggest challenges was picking which companies and brands will feature on it.

“We wanted to make sure that the places or companies we opted for are well known and loved by locals and tourists alike,” he said.

Apart from the locations and companies found on the board, Camilleri said the Chance and Community Chest cards also have a local touch, mentioning events such as Birgufest or popular shops such as Antonio’s Barber.

None of the companies knew where they would be placed on the board until the launch yesterday.

“Of course, everyone wants to know where and whom they were going to be placed next to but that has been a secret for the past two years,” Camilleri said.

The game, he added, begins and ends with players landing on heritage and cultural sites.

All sponsors on the board had to pay a fee. Unfortunately, Modeltoys were unable to change the Monopoly pieces.

“We hoped to have had a little pastizzi or a crane piece,” Camilleri said.

Unlike the first Malta Monopoly, the game is not in Maltese.

He said that people from Canada and Australia have already reached out to Modeltoys to get their hands on the new Monopoly.

Even the holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Monopoly boards has contacted the local shop.

Monopoly Malta is priced at €49.99, with the classic Monopoly priced at €39.99.

Board games not going away

The pandemic saw an increase in sales of board games, as people found different ways to pass the time in quarantine. Two years on, despite life going back to normal, these board games aren’t being packed away too soon.

“The market is not dying, on the contrary, we are trying to diversify and provide board games for different age groups,” Camilleri said. 

“The pandemic did increase our sales, but now there is more awareness about spending time with family, and people enjoy doing that by playing games together.”