\u201cThe reason why San Diego was chosen \u2014 San Diego is one of the most iconic, vibrant cities, in my opinion, in the country,\u201d said Jennifer Tripsea, who works on client partnership for Top Trumps USA and oversaw the San Diego version\u2019s development. \u201cIt has a perfect mix of culture, tourism and local pride, which makes it an ideal fit for any Monopoly city edition.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego has a special meaning for Tripsea. She grew up in inland Orange County and soaked up the fun on trips to the zoo, whale watching and marveling at the seals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSan Diego definitely has a special place in my heart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Those seals get star treatment on the board, with a rectangle called \u201cDon\u2019t Disturb the Seals.\u201d It replaces the classic board\u2019s far less cute Income Tax spot.<\/p>\n
To choose the board\u2019s 22 properties, Top Trumps USA asked for input last spring and got a huge response. \u201cWe received over a couple thousand suggestions,\u201d Tripsea said. \u201cThe San Diego community is very vocal. That\u2019s what we want. It\u2019s very collaborative.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game maker then whittled down suggestions to a handful of world-famous tourist draws, like those seals, plus fish tacos, the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, Coronado Beach and Mission Beach. Several regional favorites made it onto the board, including Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and the Lions, Tigers and Bears Sanctuary in Alpine.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SanDiego-Monopoly-US-BoardELM-1.jpg\")
The new Monopoly San Diego Edition board game has local attractions, including museums, parks and beaches. (Top Trumps USA)<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s curiosity and ingenuity get a nod, with rectangles for UC San Diego and museums.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Midway being such an icon here in San Diego, and the game (being) a global icon, we were really excited to be a part of it,\u201d said Koontz, with the USS Midway.<\/p>\n
Koontz played Monopoly more than any other board game growing up and still loves it. He said it is not a game one can rush, fortunately.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really do get a chance to spend time with each other while you\u2019re playing,\u201d Koontz said. He also appreciates the randomness of it: roll the dice, draw a card and see what chance brings. \u201cEverybody has a fair shot of winning every time you play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Longstanding San Diego businesses have spaces, too, including Geppetto\u2019s Toys and Broken Yolk Cafe.<\/p>\n
Broken Yolk is approaching its 50th anniversary and was a trailblazer in San Diego\u2019s now hopping brunch scene. Some of the staff have been with the company for decades, said its director of marketing, Conner Gossel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that Broken Yolk Cafe will now be able to play a part in people\u2019s mornings, and perhaps in their evenings, in their games, in their holidays, is a really unique opportunity to further ingrain us into their lives,\u201d Gossel said. \u201cWhat better way to really encapsulate a brand that\u2019s getting near its half-century mark here in San Diego than by appearing on our local version of Monopoly, one of the most successful board games ever created?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gossel also grew up playing Monopoly. He did so with his two brothers, in a quiet Ohio town called Beavercreek, where the \u201conly surroundings were corn fields, forests, rivers.\u201d Board games offered a distraction, and they\u2019ve never lost their grip.<\/p>\n
\u201cMonopoly, The Game of Life, Risk \u2014 sitting down, enjoying friends, enjoying family,\u201d he recalled. \u201cEven as you got into your older years, just coming back for a holiday. In a lot of ways, it was a surreal kind of \u2018pinch me\u2019 moment (with) the licensees of Hasbro reaching out and saying, in some way, shape, or form, in our own research, we think that you guys could be really applicable to this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board has a few less recognizable entities, including a small business named Whiskers & Wine Bar, which has a rooftop catio and offers cat yoga. The Sorrento Valley office of a company headquartered in Acton, Mass., called Insulet, which makes insulin pumps, also has a rectangle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s actually the best part of these community editions,\u201d Tripsea said. \u201cWhen people send the suggestions, we always get the obvious choices that you can essentially read off of Google. But when we create these community editions, we also find some local gems that as a San Diego native like yourself, you did not know about. So now you get to go check out and see what these places are all about, or know a little bit more about what\u2019s happening in your community.\u201d<\/p>\n
She declined to say if companies can buy a place on the board.<\/p>\n
This is not the first San Diego twist on Monopoly. One version in the 1990s had a classic board, with names adjusted for local landmarks.<\/p>\n
These various earlier versions of Monopoly San Diego, not licensed by Top Trumps USA, featured different names, some past, some still present. The Del Mar Fair, as it was known. Scripps Bank, which was acquired in a merger. The Hotel del Coronado, The Old Globe and SDG&E have staying power. \u201cStar 100.7,\u201d as the station was known for about a decade starting in the 1990s, is now \u201cFrontera 100.7,\u201d with a different style of music.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_2034.jpg\")
A former San Diego Monopoly version, not created or licensed by Top Trumps USA, featured Star 100.7 and KFMB TV 8. (Lori Weisberg \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The San Diego Union-Tribune also had a rectangle in an earlier version of the game.<\/p>\n
But the rectangles, like the city\u2019s most favored attractions, have changed with the sands of time.<\/p>\n