Chamber revives Issaquah-opoly board game for Christmas season

"It's the type of thing you can bring home once every generation," she said.

By Daniel Nash • November 30, 2015 3:42 pm
Local items like kokanee salmon replace the familiar die-cast Monopoly pieces in Issaquah-opoly.
Local items like kokanee salmon replace the familiar die-cast Monopoly pieces in Issaquah-opoly.

Getting stuck in one of Issaquah’s trademark traffic jams may not be as unpleasant as going to jail — but it sure can feel like it. And if you believe the board game recently put out for sale by the local chamber of commerce, there’s no difference at all.

The Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce revived Issaquah-opoly — a localized version of the classic board game Monopoly that the business networking organization has not put out for several years — after staff discovered copies of an old publication run of the game in storage. They decided to put the games out for sale at the Salmon Days festival in October, where copies were snatched up quickly.

The item’s popularity prompted the chamber to publish a new run of copies of the game, Executive Director Kathy McCorry said.

In terms of rules and general play, Issaquah-opoly follows its Hasbro progenitor exactly. But instead of playing with lap dogs and worn-out shoes, game pieces are items like salmon and hiking boots. And instead of Baltic Avenue and Boardwalk, players can buy up real estate from Grand Ridge Plaza and Recology Cleanscapes (the Issaquah Reporter appears in one of the four traditional train station spaces on the board).

“The game is highly customized to Issaquah, all the way down to the chance and community chest cards,” McCorry said. “For example, one of our chance cards is ‘Stuck on Front Street; Go back three spaces.’ It was fun for us to come up with these little details that would uniquely reflect our city.”

The game has been updated with new box art and higher production values from its older version, including custom art of salmon and a paraglider taking off from Tiger Mountain.

The new run was debuted at the Issaquah Coffee Company for group play in the lobby, where it drew curious inquiries from customers, McCorry said.

“Everybody was like, ‘What’s that? What is that?,’” she said.

McCorry said she expects the board game to become a collector’s item for locals — something families can bring out on holidays for nostalgic playtime.

“It’s the type of thing you can bring home once every generation,” she said.

Issaquah-opoly is being offered for sale at the Issaquah Visitor Center at 155 Northwest Gilman Boulevard.