Cape Town on the World Monopoly board

The last time I had anything to do with Monopoly, it involved an attempt to drink 10 pints of beer in 10 London pubs, in as many hours. I still have the t-shirt and photos to prove that I never finished - but I did get to experience Trafalgar Square from a whole new perspective. I mean, who ever finishes a game of Monopoly anyway?

If you haven't already heard of the Monopoly fever taking Cape Town and South Africa by storm, then let me do my duty of keeping you in the know.

Just a week ago, visitors to monopolyworldvote.com began voting for 22 cities that will be included in the first-ever worldwide edition of the game - MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition:

Voters are invited to cast their ballots for ten great cities each day of the vote, which will be open until 28 February 2008. The city that receives the most votes will be placed on the highest rent property.

The twenty cities that receive the most votes will be part of MONOPOLY history as the first cities selected to be on the World edition game board. However, two spaces on the board will be reserved for cities that are nominated through a wild card vote. Any city in the world can be nominated for these property spaces.

Only two African cities constitute the list of 68 that were nominated for the top 20 position: Cape Town and Cairo. When I first registered after reading eishman's blog post, Cape Town was placed outside of the top 20. But by the power of social media - the FB group 'Vote for Cape Town on the World Monopoly Board' and some blog posts, the Mother City is now sitting fine at 9th position, and climbing steadily. How awesome is that?

As a wildcard entry, Johannesburg is sitting at 13th position. Voting for the top 20 of the wildcard cities will commence on 29th February, when voting for the nominated cities comes to an end.

If you've got a minute to spare in your daily routine, I urge you to register at monopolyworldvote.com and join in the fun of getting Cape Town and Jozi to the top. I've also been voting for our African brother Cairo, which has dropped down to 23rd, so share some of that ubuntu lovin' while you're at it.

Aanndd... go!

Oh.. as it happens, myself and a group have been talking about organizing a pub crawl around Cape Town soon: 10 pubs/bars in 10 hours. By blogging it here, I'm putting the word out and committing to it, so stay tuned if you think that's something you'd fancy having a go at. Maybe when it's time to celebrate that Cape Town has reached number 1 position, which will be sometime in early March if the voting trend continues...!

UPDATE [04/02]: One week later and now we're 4th! Keep up the voting! Jozi is now 9th on the wildcard list and needs that extra push.