Collingwood-themed board game gives you a chance to own local landmarks

Roll the dice and take a walk along Collingwood’s biggest attractions without leaving the comfort of your home.

Collingwood-Opoly, a new board game being released by Outset Media in partnership with Walmart Canada, is being released this week at Collingwood’s Walmart and online, but only 120 copies have been printed as a first run.

“Walmart came up with the idea. They wanted to celebrate the different communities they’re in across the country and they approached us as we’re Canadian owned and operated,” said Jean Paul Teskey, senior vice-president of Outset Media.

Outset Media is a Canadian privately held wholesale supplier and manufacturer of toys, games and puzzles based out of Victoria, B.C.

“I picked Collingwood as a location in February of this year. I thought it was the perfect-size town that would embrace the idea of having a custom game and my family is originally from the Collingwood area; my grandfather and grandmother were born there,” said Teskey.

Landmarks that are featured in Collingwood-Opoly include the downtown Collingwood, the Collingwood Museum and Sunset Point Beach. Local businesses such as Black Bellows Brewery are up for grabs, and local schools such as Collingwood Collegiate Institute.

This is the second run of municipality-specific versions of Monopoly created by Outset Media.

According to Teskey, in the first year the company focused on major cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

However, the best seller of the first run surprised them all.

“Our best-selling game last year was Sarnia-Opoly, by far,” said Teskey. “So this year, our selections are more mid-size cities that are a little more hometown-proud. We’ve had great success.”

Collingwood is one of 70 communities across Canada that have seen a hyper-local version of famous game hit store shelves. The local versions are also officially sanctioned by Parker Brothers.

Earlier this summer, a Barrie version of the game was released. According to Offset, the game sold out in Barrie stores within a week and the game is now on its second run.

“It’s not really a big money-making venture. It’s meant to celebrate, with Walmart, the different communities they’re in across Canada,” said Teskey.

Collingwood-Opoly will be sold at the Walmart located at 10 Cambridge St., and is expected to hit shelves this week. It will also be available on Walmart.ca.