Help Winnipeg make it on to the Monopoly Board

[Only The Lonely..]

To nominate Winnipeg go to here: http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/

You have to register but its a quick process and its free.

C'mon folks, get voting: We're closer to having city on Monopoly game board

By JULIE HORBAL | Winnipeg Sun




Seems it doesn't take much to spark Winnipeggers into action when pride is on the line.

The formula?

Combine one part insult with one part challenge.

Add a dash of hatred for Toronto -- a.k.a. the centre of the Canadian universe -- and stir in the potential for worldwide recognition.

Garnish with an easily cast online ballot and let simmer for five weeks.

And, if the last five days are any indication of the finished product, prepare to do it all again Feb. 29 when the top-20 nominated cities go head-to-head vying for naming rights to two Monopoly board spaces.

Need that boiled down a bit?

As the Winnipeg Sun reported last week, the popular real estate board game will launch a World Edition next fall.

Some 68 cities -- including Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver -- were nominated to appear on the board. Following just over a month of online voting, the most popular 22 locations will secure their places on the actual board.

There's also a wild-card nomination race that will see the top-20 write-ins battle for Baltic and Mediterranean avenues in a vote starting Feb. 29.

Last Friday, the Sun challenged readers to make Winnipeg one of those wild-card cities. In a span of only 24 hours, our fine city catapulted its way onto the nomination leaderboard.

Yesterday, we were No. 4.

And that's no small feat.

When we issued the call-to-arms, Taipei, Taiwan, had the most write-in nominations, followed by Volendam, Netherlands, and Cork, Ireland.

Like Winnipeg, Quebec City has also been climbing the leaderboard and was No. 2 yesterday. Calgary, the only other Canadian city in the top-20, is barely on the radar at No. 20.

Hasbro Canada marketing specialist Marisa Pedatella said yesterday the city's ambition is nothing short of extraordinary.

She was amazed, she said, when she saw Winnipeg leap into the top-20 just a day after our initial conversation about the quasi-contest.

Winnipeg residents, however, shouldn't be surprised in the least.

Actually, we should have been more surprised if we didn't jump into the running.

After all, if we as a city have learned anything over the past year it's that when something needs doing around these parts, there's only once place to turn -- the magical wonderland also known as the dot-com universe.

After all, we have the web to thank for the upcoming Louis Riel Day. An online petition calling for a February provincial holiday gathered nearly 30,000 signatures in a week.

If only we had this much passion for politics. But that's neither here nor there.

The fact of this matter is 'Peg pride is on the line. International fame. Not to mention the chance to blow fire right back at the Big Smoke.

So keep it up, 'Peggers -- an actual space in board game history is only a few clicks away.

Let's see if we can get up to the top three by next weekend. (That there was your next challenge, folks.)


Top 20 Wildcard cities

Voting for the top 20 of the most nominated cities will commence on February 29, 2008.


Rank

#1 Taipei, Taiwan
#2 Quebec, Canada
#3 Volendam, Netherlands
#4 Winnipeg, Canada
#5 Montcul, France
#6 Auckland, New Zealand
#7 İzmir İli, Turkey
#8 Cork, Ireland
#9 San Francisco, United States
#10 Bern, Switzerland
#11 Sevilla, Spain
#12 Galway, Ireland
#13 Tamworth, Australia
#14 Johannesburg, South Africa
#15 Hamburg, Germany
#16 Pusan, Korea
#17 Seattle, United States
#18 Calgary, Canada
#19 Inverness, United Kingdom
#20 New Orleans, United States