Park Place or Summit Avenue? Monopoly plans St. Paul gameboard, seeks local input

Do not pass the State Capitol dome; do not collect $200. Yes, Monopoly board game fans of St. Paul, you’re in luck.

Monopoly is set to release a special St. Paul edition of its classic board game next June.And for anyone who ever had an opinion about Minnesota’s second-largest city, its makers are seeking input on what businesses, restaurants and landmarks to include in the game.

Tim Barney, who’s in charge of creating the city editions for Monopoly, said public involvement is essential to creating an authentic city-themed game.

“We really want the public to get involved,” Barney said. “If you live here, you used to live here, you like to visit. Whatever it is, if you’ve got a strong opinion about what makes St. Paul perfect, then that’s what we want to include.”

So instead of Park Place or Pennsylvania Avenue, the James J. Hill House or the St. Paul Hotel could take their place. It’s that type of local favorite that Barney and his team are looking for.

Jack Stransky, co-owner of Midway Used & Rare Books, said it’d be cool if businesses like his were featured in the game.

“If we get in it,” he said, “it’s free advertising for us. We can’t deny that.”

Stransky said he hopes some lesser-known St. Paul staples might be included.

“The Amsterdam (Bar and Hall) or the Turf Club come to mind for me,” he said.

If residents want a specific place or business to be featured in the game, submissions can be emailed to SaintPaul@toptrumps.com.

The St. Paul edition will be the first Minnesota-themed Monopoly game in 27 years; there was a Twin Cities edition in 1997. Local companies, such as General Mills, Byerlys and Dayton’s, were featured.

Instead of just updating the Twin Cities edition, Barney said he and his team wanted to focus on St. Paul specifically to provide a more local feel to the game.

“But you know how hard it is to capture these two cities and the surrounding communities in a single game? It is so hard to fit one city in a single game!” he said.

Barney did not rule out a Minneapolis edition sometime down the line.

“We’ll probably do Minneapolis,” he said. “I know St. Paul and Minneapolis; there’s a competitive nature to them, you know, which city is better? So that’ll be a fun dynamic.”

The St. Paul edition will be one of many city-themed monopoly games that Top Trumps USA, in partnership with Hasbro, has been making since 2020. They’ve made games for cities as big as Las Vegas and as small as Portland, Maine.

“We’re working on maybe 15 to 20 city editions a year,” Barney said. “But we thought, why not St. Paul?”

Leo Pomerenke is a University of Minnesota student on assignment with the Minnesota Star Tribune.