If Airdronians are looking for a last-minute Christmas gift idea or a game to play at their next family gathering, they need look no further than the local Walmart, an exclusive re-seller of an Airdrie-themed board game.
The board game, entitled Airdrieopoly, features favourite local joints such as Abe’s Diner, and the Airdrie Pro Rodeo, along with points of interest such as the Yankee Valley Crossing and the Airdrie Farmer’s Market.
Jean-Paul Teskey, senior vice-president at Outset media (the production company behind the board game) said the game features streets, local businesses, and festivals that Airdronians would know and love.
“I think it makes it really personal for people to be able to play a game like this,” he said, adding Airdrieopoly is one of 170 location-themed -opoly board games in the company’s arsenal.
He said the -opoly brand of board games came about when Walmart proposed the idea to them, knowing the company held the rights from an agreement with Parker Brothers that predates Hasbro purchasing the Monopoly game.
“We were doing games like dog-opoly, cat-opoly, and [Walmart] said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to develop a line of games that celebrates the different cities and town that we’re in across the country?’” he said. “And so, we started a few years ago with larger centres, but we quickly found that our best sellers were in smaller cities and towns.”
He noted the best-selling -opoly game to date is a game based in a small town in Ontario called Sarnia. The success of the game encouraged the Vancouver-based media company to focus on smaller markets across the country.
And he said since their introduction, the location-specific board games have been really embraced by towns and cities across Canada.
“It’s unique these days to get something that’s custom-made on a small scale like this because we only produce just over 700 games at a time for any location,” he said of the game's popularity. “We’re able to custom make them and we’re now up to almost 200 different cities and towns across Canada.”
According to Teskey, people are spending a lot more time in front of screens or electronic devices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he hopes the location-themed games will help to breed new connections within households and communities.
“To reconnect with people in your own household or friends and family to do so socially over a game, I think, is just a great way to spend time, and promote conversation,” he said. “What better way to do it than with a game like this, which is based off the best-selling game in history – Monopoly – but with a local twist to make it really personal.”
He added board games have seen a resurgence in popularity in the last few years, with people spending more time at home during the pandemic. While the Airdrie-specific game has been on shelves since last year, Teskey urged those interested to get the game while they can.
“It’s available for a limited-time only,” he said. “We’re never sure on how long exactly we’ll keep different city titles in production, so get it while you can.”
Mayor Peter Brown noted he is eager to go purchase the game and said he hopes they aren’t all sold out before Christmastime.
“Anything like this helps put Airdrie on the map, and I think that’s such a positive message to put out there,” he said. “It makes me proud to live here that they would think enough of us to actually develop a Monopoly game that has details surrounding our community.
“I just think it’s awesome – hopefully they have some [left].”
The Airdrieopoly board game is available exclusively at the Airdrie Walmart or online at Walmart.ca
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