Arguably the world’s most popular board game, Monopoly has featured many global cities over the years – and even a version with cats.
Now a group of enterprising expats has created 1880 Saigon Monopoly board game, featuring historic buildings and some of the city’s original street names from the era before the city’s name changed to Ho Chi Minh City.
“We wanted to take the game a step further and create something more interesting and artistic and what better than to do an illustrated vintage version and share some the city’s history along the way,” explained one of the creators of 1880 Saigon Monopoly, which retails for VND700,000.
“We wanted to create something that looked more like a piece of art than a board game, and I think we achieved that by incorporating an old 1881 map of Saigon with some traditional Vietnamese art into the game design and gave it an antique feel, even down to the fonts used.”
Although the game is called 1880 Saigon Monopoly it is actually set between the late 19th century to early 1900s and all photo illustrations are from this period including most of the city’s famous architectural landmarks such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Post Office, the People’s Committee Building and the Opera House.
The board displays both the original street names around that time and the current street names for reference, and the Community Chest and Chance cards are all illustrated to incorporate some of old Saigon’s history and pastimes.
If you want to purchase a copy of the unique game, email 1880saigonmonopoly@gmail.com for free delivery within Saigon.
