{"id":275516,"date":"2026-04-19T12:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/275516\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:26:10","slug":"how-does-a-city-get-its-own-monopoly-game-just-ask-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/275516\/","title":{"rendered":"How does a city get its own Monopoly game? Just ask Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monopoly lovers can now buy up the Queen Mary, collect rent on Belmont Shore and park their token at a storied tattoo shop, Outer Limits.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach landmarks line the spaces of a new Monopoly edition themed around L.A. County\u2019s second biggest city, released just this month.<\/p>\n

The Long Beach edition is part of an expanding series of Monopoly games featuring dozens of American cities, which Hasbro licensee Top Trumps<\/a> started to produce about five years ago when interest in board games surged during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

What it takes to make the cut<\/p>\n

How does a city land on one of the world’s most popular board games? Turns out, it\u2019s not just a roll of the dice.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for places with strong community pride, places where people will really love seeing their city on a Monopoly board,\u201d said Jennifer Tripsea, a partnership sales executive with Top Trumps.<\/p>\n

Long Beach fit the bill and got to join a list of SoCal cities on Monopoly boards including Huntington Beach, Riverside and Palm Springs.<\/p>\n

Tripsea said in some instances, a city will pitch themselves to the company \u2014 she didn\u2019t disclose which have \u2014 but not every place makes the cut.<\/p>\n

There has to be enough population \u2014 or local enthusiasm \u2014 to support a run of thousands of games.<\/p>\n

Top Trumps sells the games online and through local businesses, sometimes the same ones featured on the board. That creates a built-in customer base: residents, tourists and collectors hunting for their next addition.<\/p>\n

And while some businesses may offer to sponsor their way into consideration, their inclusion isn\u2019t a given.<\/p>\n

Tripsea said when deciding who earns a spot, the company weighs cultural relevance, brand standards and community input.<\/p>\n

The community gets a turn<\/p>\n

Once a city is selected, residents are invited to help shape the board.<\/p>\n

That means emailing suggested landmarks and drafting potential Chance and Community Chest cards. For Long Beach, one Community Chest card directs players to collect $100 if they “attend a beach cleanup at Alamitos Beach.”<\/p>\n

Hundreds of submissions flooded in over the last year, many pointing to the same top attractions, Tripsea said. The Queen Mary and Aquarium of the Pacific take up the same spots on the board that are occupied by Park Place and Boardwalk in the original game.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Of course the Queen Mary historic ocean liner landed a plum spot on the Long Beach version of Monopoly.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Patrick T. Fallon<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Others featured on the board are lesser known to outsiders, like Rosie\u2019s Dog Beach and the Arts Council for Long Beach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The arts nonprofit was \u201csurprised and excited\u201d to hear from Top Trumps last year that they were being included in a version all about Long Beach, said interim executive director Lisa DeSmidt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI describe Long Beach as a big city that’s run like a small town, and that everybody kind of knows each other to some degree,\u201d DeSmidt said. \u201cLong Beach has a sense of community in that Long Beach takes care of Long Beach people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An intern for the Arts Council for Long Beach designed its space on the Monopoly board.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Arts Council for Long Beach<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

An intern for the arts council, Peyton Smith, designed its space on the board, featuring small, intricate renderings of landmarks like the Long Beach Airport and the pyramid arena at Cal State Long Beach.<\/p>\n

For DeSmidt, the game serves as a kind of cultural snapshot highlighting the city\u2019s mix of arts, neighborhoods and institutions. It\u2019s reminiscent of the council\u2019s own project mapping the city\u2019s cultural assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ties into uplifting what makes Long Beach unique and what people love about it,\u201d DeSmidt said.<\/p>\n

Monopoly’s lasting pull<\/p>\n

Outer Limits Tattoo<\/a> was also invited to be part of the game, where it now appears next to VIP Records on the board.<\/p>\n

Recognized as the country\u2019s oldest continuously working tattoo shop, Outer Limits\u2019 history dates back to 1927, when it opened in the waterfront amusement district known as The Pike, now home to the Pike Outlets.<\/p>\n

Outer Limits’ general manager Matt Hand said once word got out that the shop was stocking the game, customers started showing up just to buy it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a cool thing,\u201d Hand said. \u201cEspecially when it\u2019s like, \u2018The business where I get tattooed\u2019 is on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big reason Hand thinks these editions are catching on is nostalgia. Seeing your own city in a board game that you played as a kid \u2014 and may be now playing with your own kids \u2014 is thrilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re basically like a part of the game now,\u201d Hand said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monopoly lovers can now buy up the Queen Mary, collect rent on Belmont Shore and park their token…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-275516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}