Thanks to a concerned reader, we were alerted today to a potential tragedy in the making. It seems that the folks over in Monopoly Land are holding an online vote to choose the world’s top twenty cities (in addition to two wild cards) for its Here & Now: World Edition version of the classic game. Winners will be awarded prime real estate slots in the world edition board game – leading us to wonder what currency will be favoured in so international a speculative property market – and the top city wins the board’s coveted dark blue space, usually occupied by Mayfair. At the time of writing, Montreal had a decisive hold on first place, followed by Paris and Cape Town in second and third, respectively, and London in fourth.
Pardon – fourth? That can’t be right. We find ourselves flabbergasted, mortified, appalled. Surely the city chosen as capital of the world just a few months ago should occupy a similarly prestigious position on the Monopoly board? What is this mockery Mr Monopoly’s making of the democratic process? Our only consolation right now is that we lead all the other cities in “ist” world. Cold comfort, that.
With the outlook so decidedly dire, we feel we have no choice but to appropriate the slogan of Diddy’s (Puff Daddy? Puffy Combs? P. Diddy? Sean John? We can’t keep track) 2004 U.S. voting campaign: Vote or Die! Is it really that important? Oh, absolutely. Why? Civic pride, obviously. And we don’t know about you, but this is all our (collective, single-minded) Londonist brain can handle after an exhausting weekend spent basking in the springlike temps.
Show some love, London. Go vote. We all know where our beloved city belongs on that Monopoly board.
Image courtesy of mondayneflickr’s photostream
