World Monopoly Champion from Norway

Norwegian Student Captures Title in Las Vegas Final

Oct 23, 2009 Rupert Taylor

Now, here's an irony; a young man from one of the least red meat capitalist countries on the planet has won the World Monopoly Championships.

The world’s most popular board game (at least according to its manufacturer) was introduced in the depths of the Great Depression. A man who sold domestic heaters for a living, Charles Darrow of Philadelphia, is one of several developers of the game, Monopoly.

According to The Guardian (October 23, 2009) “Darrow lost his job in the stock market crash of 1929 and was inspired to create Monopoly after seeing neighbours play a homemade game about buying and selling property.”

Darrow sold the version of the game he produced to Parker Brothers and it became an instant hit. Happily for Darrow he became a millionaire from his invention and probably died a happy man in 1967.

Many Versions of Monopoly

Parker Brothers is no longer an independent business and the game is now licensed to Hasbro. Since the first game was introduced Monopoly has been turned out in a wide variety of guises.

National versions of the game were produced for distribution. In Britain, the prime properties were Mayfair and Park Lane, while the French had the Rue de la Paix and the Champs Elysees. Editions have also been published in Dutch, Swedish, Chinese, and many other languages.

The Games Museum at the University of Waterloo says that “Under license, one company markets an American version with components of sterling silver and gold and a board of mahogany. Another company offers a Standard version made of chocolate which is completely edible.”

There is a Star Wars version and an online game is very popular.

Monopoly World Championships

Between October 21 and 23, 2009 winners of national Monopoly tournaments gathered in Las Vegas. There were 42 players to start with, who were whittled down to 16 at the end of day one.

By the end of the contest, there were four players left for the final showdown representing, the United States, Russia, New Zealand, and Norway. The contest organizers tweaked the rules a little for the final and added a “speed dice” to get the game moving along a little faster than on the average dining table.

BBC News reports (October 23, 2009) that, “Oleg Korostelev, 24, from Russia was first out of the game, followed by Rick Marinaccio, shattering the 26-year-old U.S. lawyer's hopes of becoming the first U.S. champion.”

Norwegian Student Captures Monopoly Title

It was down to head-to-head competition between Bjorn Halvard Knappskog of Norway and Geoff Christopher of New Zealand. Playing the iron token (nobody chooses the iron) Knappskog held some good real estate on the green properties.

Oscar Garcia of The Associated Press (October 23, 2009) gave a play-by-play write up of the final moments: Christopher (playing the battleship) landed consecutively on “Pacific Avenue and North Carolina Avenue, and he couldn’t afford the combined $1,600 rent.

‘(I’m) the most surprised you could ever be,’ Knappskog told The Associated Press… Knappskog won $20,580 in real money for the title - the total amount in the bank of a standard Monopoly game.”

The final game took less than 45 minutes to complete.

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Caesars Palace Hosts Monopoly Championship.