Have you always loved McGuire Lake? So much so that you would like to have it for your very own?
Now’s your chance.
Outset Media, in partnership with Walmart Canada, has created a new limited edition board game, Salmon Arm-Opoly.
Like the original version of Monopoly, the Salmon Arm game, “celebrating the city on Shuswap Lake,” as the playing board states, features businesses you can buy. They include the Barley Station Brew Pub, Marionette Winery and the Salmon Arm Golf Club.
In fact, you don’t have to limit your spending to a single business. Why not buy Downtown Salmon Arm? It’s for sale too. As is the Roots & Blues Festival and even Hillcrest Elementary.
If luck is not with you, you won’t have to go to jail, directly to jail, but you might hit a traffic jam and have to detour.
Jared Clarkson, public relations co-ordinator with Outset Media, said jail was purposefully omitted.
“We wanted to make sure to highlight the positive aspects of Salmon Arm as opposed to having to get stuck in jail.”
Currently eight B.C. communities, including Salmon Arm, have games featuring them.
Clarkson said the games with smaller communities are selling the best, perhaps because people have a little more pride in their communities. They include: Victoria, Quesnel, Abbotsford, Powell River, Campbell River, Williams Lake, Prince Rupert and Salmon Arm.
“Our biggest selling game over the past year has been in Sarnia, Ontario. Not one of the places you might expect.”
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Since the coronavirus pandemic, quarantining and social distancing have meant the demand for board games has soared, he said.
Businesses on the board aren’t consulted and don’t pay for the mention.
Stu Bradford at the Barley Station confirmed he didn’t know about it until someone showed him the game on Facebook.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said, noting that anything that promotes a local business farther afield is good.
Clarkson said one of Outset Media’s big games is the Canadian Trivia Game, which is where a lot of the information on towns comes from. Also, the company has an office in B.C., so researchers are familiar with the communities.
“We want to do our best to reflect what people love about the community. We want to make sure if someone from Salmon Arm does play the game, we want them to feel like we’ve done a fair job of representing highlights of the community.”
He said the company that Outset Media does distribution for in Canada had a prior agreement with Parker Brothers who make Monopoly, so there are no issues in terms of legality.
If Salmon Arm-Opoly is not already for sale in Walmart, it should be “very very soon,” he added. It’s also being offered online at Walmart.ca.
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