Monopoly rolls the dice on Dauphin County version of board game

• Ben Wasserstein/WITF
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  Howdy, I’m Ben, and I cover the state Capitol. In an alternate universe, my bio would read that I graduated from college, traveled to Bhutan and trained in martial arts so that one day I could return and defend my city from crime … like Batman.
  
  In reality, I graduated from the University of Richmond in 2021 and joined WITF in June of 2023. In between I was down in Charleston, South Carolina at the Post and Courier.
  
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Milburn Pennybags, the Monopoly Man, stopped at the state Capitol in Harrisburg on Jan. 16, 2024. Ben Wasserstein - WITF

Monopoly fans in the Harrisburg area will soon be able to buy a part of their hometown, rather than far-flung landmarks such as a railroad in Berks County.

Top Trumps, a global licensing partner for Hasbro, is creating a new Monopoly board based on Dauphin County.

“Dauphin County stood out because of the amount of community pride that it has,” John Marano, sales executive for Top Trumps, said Tuesday. “It also has a plethora of different attractions, businesses that could be represented in this game.”

The original game is based on streets and landmarks in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Classic areas, such as Reading Railroad, will be replaced in this new version by something from this county.

“Instead of the Pennsylvania Avenues and the Baltic Avenues, you might see something on the Capitol Building or Hershey Park,” Marano said.

The locations will be decided by the community.

“Our goal here is to keep this a community edition through and through. It’s not what some guy from New Jersey’s idea of a Dauphin County Monopoly board is,” Marano said. “It’s what Dauphin County wants represented.”

Monopoly fans can submit their suggestions at dauphincounty@toptrumps.com.

Dauphin County is not the first Pennsylvania locality to have an official Monopoly edition as a Pittsburgh edition also exists.

The game is expected to be released this fall and will be available at local retailers as well as bigger sellers such as Amazon and CVS.

Submissions will go through a vetting process to ensure they come from locals.

A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.

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