Take a chance on Monopoly's 70th anniversary edition

PropertyGames: A special "Here and Now" edition of the Monopoly board game is in the shops with valuations in the millions, fines for tax evasion and the chance to buy the Luas, writes Bernice Harrison

When all else failed there was always Kimmage. Buy Crumlin, build a few houses and even though the rent was hopeless at least you had a chance of taking a few quid off your fancier friends as they passed through your dull brown neighbourhood.

That's not an option in the brash new world of Dublin's property market.

Kimmage is gone and replaced by upwardly mobile Raheny, Crumlin has been scrubbed in favour of Rathfarnham and instead of costing a mere €60, would-be buyers of one of those humble brown-topped cards have to fork out €600.

To mark its 70th anniversary, the classic board game Monopoly has been updated for a special "Here and Now" limited Dublin edition, with a new range of properties at huge prices that are all-too familiar.

Pass "Go" and you get €2 million, buy the Luas instead of Busáras, and one of the "Chance" cards can send you to jail for tax evasion.

The original Dublin version was devised in the 1960s when the big shopping areas were Talbot Street, North Earl Street and O'Connell Street (all a snip at €260).

In the new 2005 version, these have been replaced by the Jervis, Liffey Valley and Dundrum shopping centres.

At least the northside gets a look in. In the original game, there were no northside residential areas on the board.

In the special anniversary edition, as well as Raheny, Clontarf is up for grabs.

Some things never change though. Shrewsbury Road is still the most expensive place on the board at €4 million.

But "nobody should rush out and get this new Monopoly for a valuation on their own property", says Sherry FitzGerald's Simon Ensor, his tongue firmly in his cheek. "If this was the real world, Shrewsbury would be €10 million, and Ailesbury around €7million instead of €3.5 million."

Sherry FitzGerald was brought in by the board game's makers, Hasbro, to update the properties on offer and the prices.

For all those who believe that all estate agents do is add noughts to any given price, there is hard evidence on this board.

Rathmines, which used to cost a manageable €100, now goes for a cool €1 million, Grafton Street surged from €320 to €3.2 million and the mono terminal Dublin Airport has gone from the budget price of €200 to €2 million.

A big disappointment for purists is that you can't buy houses, so there isn't the satisfaction of crowding all those dinky green houses on your property as you wait for a passing rent-paying victim.

Instead you buy apartments and you pile them on top of each other which isn't quite the same. You can still buy a hotel though.

In the classic game, the playing pieces included a boot and a Scotty dog and are modelled on the original idea of the game's inventor, Charles Durrow, who used the charms off his wife's bracelet.

But in the "Here and Now" anniversary version, they're replaced by a range of modern accoutrements including a mobile phone and, quite weirdly, a hamburger.

"There are winners and losers and the new Monopoly will no doubt cause debate and controversy," says Ann Dermody, sales manager of Hasbro which produces 1.5 million games of Monopoly a year at its Waterford plant.

This anniversary edition will be on sale for around a year and the 1960s version, with its reassuringly cheap houses, will continue to be the standard game.

Despite the higher prices and the updated locations there's no way anyone could think this Monopoly reflects real life in Dublin - free car-parking still exists.

The "Here and Now" limited edition costs €29.99 and is available at Tescos, Smyths and toy stores around the country