After a competition earlier this year, Taipei came out as one of the 22 cities listed on the new world edition of the board game Monopoly, its creator Hasbro Inc said.
In January, Hasbro launched an online vote inviting Monopoly fans worldwide to vote for cities they wanted to see represented on the new Monopoly game.
In addition to voting for 70 cities on a list, Monopoly fans could also suggest other cities of their choice to add to it.
“More than 5.6 million votes were cast for 70 world-class cities, which determined 20 of the 22 cities featured in the game,” a Hasbro press release said.
The 20 most-popular additional cities faced off in a bonus vote with the two gaining the most votes added to the new edition of the board game, the statement said.
The result was finally released on Wednesday — with Taipei and Gdynia, Poland, coming out as the top two bonus cities on the new board.
“I’m very, very happy [to hear the news],” said Crane Lee (李鶴婷), an Internet user and a passionate campaigner for Taipei during the voting process. “I voted every day myself, and asked as many people as I could to vote for Taipei.”
Lee was not the only enthusiast, as many other Internet users nationwide mobilized their families and friends to vote for Taipei using e-mails, text messages or online messengers.
Some even used words urging their friends to vote for Taipei as the screen name on their online messengers.
“I hope that more people learn about Taipei and become interested in the city through playing Monopoly and with their interest in Taipei, I’d hope they would want to know more about Taiwan,” Lee said.
“We are thrilled that the first-ever global game board includes an interesting mix of cities that showcases the dynamic cultures, sights and history of the planet,” Monopoly global marketing vice president Helen Martin said in the press release.
The new game will feature cultural events around the world and tokens, houses and hotels will represent styles from all continents, the press release said.
Outside the bonus vote session, Montreal, Canada, and Riga, Latvia, were the two cities that received the most votes.
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