Monopoly players from across Ireland were sent directly to Gaol – Wicklow Gaol – on Sunday.
Luckily they were ‘just visiting’ to compete in the 2015 Monopoly World Championships. Wicklow Gaol played host to the Double Decker Monopoly bus, complete with Mr. Monopoly and his team.
There was great excitement as players from across Ireland competed to win the Irish leg of the Monopoly World championships.
In honour of the 80th Anniversary of Monopoly, 80 adult and 80 junior competitors participated in Sunday’s event. A Kilcoole man – Christy Kavanagh – was crowned overall winner and he will now head off to London to compete in the UK & Ireland finals in July.
The winner will then head off to represent the UK and Ireland in China in September.
Sunday also celebrated the launch of Ireland’s first ever Monopoly board completely ‘as Gaeilge’.
Glór na nGael have teamed up with monopoly makers – Habsbro to create the Irish version and four monopoly tables were dedicated to Irish speakers during Sunday’s finals.
Cries of Té go dtí an prisiun’ could be heard as the players competed on the first ever Monopoly board completely ‘as Gaeilge’ featuring place names from across Ireland.
Taking in the very best of Irelands culture, scenery and language, the Glór an nGael board is manufactured in the Hasbro factory in Waterford and offers players the chance to buy and own such heights as Benbulben in Sligo, Carrantwohill in Kerry and Mweerea in Mayo, or perhaps relish planting hotels on the lawns of Áras an Uachtarán or Stormont – or maybe even outside Leinster House.
The most valuable properties on the Board are Teach anPhiarsaigh in Rosmuc, in Co. Galway and the GPO, with more than a passing nod to next year’s 1916 centenary. But the real strength Monopoly is its playability. This is a really useful tool for helping people speak – or scream – the Irish language in a social setting.
All of Ireland’s regions receive equal mention, and the rules of buying, selling, making a fortune and losing it hold as true in Gaeilge as they do in all the other 130 languages the game has been produced in.
Monopoly as Gaeilge is available now from www.udar.ie
