So now we know. Montreal and Riga are the most desirable cities on the planet. London, New York and Sydney are in the fourth division. Berlin and Moscow aren't even in the game.

I'm referring, of course, to the rankings on the new Monopoly board - the first “world edition” of the world's most popular board game. Five million people around the globe apparently voted for the 22 cities that will occupy the squares usually designated to Mayfair, Park Lane and (at the less exalted end) the Old Kent Road. Clearly there are a lot of Monopoly fans in Canada and Latvia.

And there's another innovation. The squares traditionally devoted to the Water Works and the Electic Company have been reallocated to “Wind Power” and “Solar Energy”. All frightfully trendy. According to Hasbro, the game's owners, this is a “nod to the efforts of countries worldwide to increase renewable energy sources”.

Whatever, a new global version of a game that an estimated 750 million people have played since 1935 deserves something special to launch it. So, at 3pm next Wednesday there will be a worldwide attempt to get a record number of people playing Monopoly simultaneously, whether on an old-fashioned board or via the various electronic versions floating round cyberspace. The London event takes place on Covent Garden piazza, where hundreds will gather. Heaven knows how many little green houses they will need.

Is there another board game with such mystique? Castro purged it from Cuba. MI5 used it to smuggle maps to officers planning escapes from German prisoner-of-war camps. It has been translated into 38 languages, and exists in more than 200 versions. (The British are always surprised to learn that the original was based not on London, but Atlantic City.)

And it inspires fanatical devotees. The world record for the longest Monopoly game is 1,680 hours. But if you are looking for an easier target, 36 hours is the record for playing Monopoly standing on your head.

Much controversy surrounds the game's origins. Because several variants of Monopoly's basic format were drifting around the public domain before 1935, there have been fierce debates over the decades (and even fiercer court cases) about the extent to which its owners can enforce copyright over imitators. If you want an entertaining, if highly partisan, view of all that, read Ralph Anspach's book The Billion-Dollar Monopoly Swindle. What's certainly true is that some modern imitations, such as the sneering Ghettopoly, haven't pleased all tastes.

But still the spin-offs come. This month Reebok is launching a Monopoly-styled footwear range. No, I didn't make that up. And Sir Ridley Scott is working on a film version, with tycoons pitting their wits in mega-deals. I hope Sir Alan Sugar makes a guest appearance.

It's easy to see why Monopoly appeals. It brings out the vicious capitalist in us all. No mercy can be shown. Winner takes all; losers are humiliated. Just as in life, I guess. Odd to think that the first Monopoly-style game was devised by a gentle Quaker lady who wanted to demonstrate the evils of concentrating too much property in too few hands. Some hope!

www.monopoly.com

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