Monopoly The Hamptons Edition Recalls Classic Local Game

An official, Hasbro-licensed Monopoly Hamptons Edition is currently in the works for a summer 2022 release. Instead of the game’s original Atlantic City-based squares, this edition will feature numerous Hamptons landmarks, locations and even businesses on a redesigned version of the classic Monopoly board, with all the Chance and Community Chest cards themed to fit with our local hamlets and villages.

Little has been revealed as of yet, aside from a handful of squares — including Montauk Lighthouse as a blue property, LongHouse Reserve in the orange and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club as part of the fuchsia neighborhood — but these may not be the final product. That, it turns out, will depend greatly on suggestions from the public and who decides to buy in as a sponsor.

Top Trumps USA, which has already released Monopoly games themed for San Antonio, Texas; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Greenwich, Connecticut, announced their new Monopoly The Hamptons Edition on August 18 along with a request for submissions from Hamptons locals, fans and vacationers in-the-know via email at thehamptons@toptrumps.com through September 8. Now is your chance to campaign to see the Montauk Walking Dunes, Agawam Park, Long Wharf in Sag Harbor or any other spot that matters to you immortalized in cardboard!

The submissions are already filling the Top Trumps inbox, but the Monopoly board has just 22 squares, and the company says they want an accurate portrayal of the region and what this community truly wants to see. Then again, if you’ve got the bucks, you might just be able to buy your way in — after all, this is America, and Monopoly has always been a game about economics, real estate and high-stakes development. What could be more on-brand?

“We want to give everybody the opportunity to be on the board and have a chance to be part of this game,” Top Trumps marketing manager Dennis Gavaghen explains, noting that sponsors can have their company, museum or landmark included in a wide variety of ways, such as property squares, customized Chance and Community Chest cards, or even just an appearance on the box lid photo montage. That said, Top Trumps is making sure all the final businesses and landmarks are true Hamptons mainstays and not fly-by-night operations that will be gone before the game has been on shelves for a year.

“Sure, someone might want to be a sponsor for the board, but we do have to make sure on our end these places are credible, too,” Gavaghen points out, noting that they’re only accepting three restaurants, and have denied places that aren’t the right fit. “We expect this game to be played for the next 20 to 50 years. … We want the partners on the board to be around for as long as the game is.”

Speaking of 20-year-old games, this all may sound rather familiar to longtime Hamptons residents. Monopoly The Hamptons Edition almost exactly follows the idea and business model of the once quite popular Hamptonopoly, an unofficial version of the classic game first sold locally as far back as 1989, according to its creator Matt Senie.

While Senie’s version couldn’t legally use the iconic Monopoly imagery or words — Chance cards, for example, became “Fate,” and “Go” became “Start” — the layout and play were identical, with each square representing an area business. Hamptonopoly was even featured in The New York Times back in July of 2003. And, like Top Trumps, Senie made “opoly” games for lots of different locales, along with other creations, including a trivia game and beautifully painted town posters featuring all the area business that bought slots.

So the story goes, Senie copied Monopoly and now, it seems, Monopoly could be copying him. The circle of life, and business.

“They may be doing exactly what I was doing,” Senie says, amused to learn Hamptons Monopoly is going legit. “I’ll be interested to see whether they’re chasing the Hardy Plumbings of the world or really chasing Hampton corporate America, if you will,” he continues, adding, “Somewhere they have a game of ours.”

Senie says he became known as “the Monopoly man” around town while he was making the games, and he considered it a “badge of honor.” He’s still proud of the products he made, and enjoys talking about the old days running his games operation while living in Sag Harbor. “We were a mom-and-pop [business], but we were a little bigger than a mom-and-pop in our heyday,” he recalls. “I supported a wife and two kids in good enough fashion for two and a half decades,” Senie adds, noting that he’s a salesman at heart and could have just as easily ended up selling insurance. But that definitely wouldn’t have been as fun.

Gavaghen says Top Trumps is aware of the “copycat” companies making Monopoly-like games in cities all over the world. “Those are fine — they’re always very successful, but there’s only one Hasbro. There’s only one of the world’s largest gaming brand. There’s only one Mr. Monopoly,” he explains. “That’s what we’re bringing to the table. We’re bringing the real Monopoly game. … We’re the only Hasbro out there. There’s no other us.”

Today, copies of Hamptonopoly fetch a pretty penny from collectors on eBay, with prices ranging from around $100 to as much as $200 at Christmastime. A new copy of Monopoly The Hamptons Edition will retail for $39.99 and it will be released next summer with a special launch event where all final selections on the board will finally be revealed.

Visit toptrumps.us to learn more about region-specific Monopoly games and more.