Tag Archives: monopoly

The Game is Complete!

A few weeks ago we made our final Monopoly National Parks adventure to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to complete a journey which began almost nine years ago. It’s hard to believe we were actually able to complete this goal of visiting 28 parks in that time frame.

Hawaii Volcanoes Entrance Sign

On the road to this entrance sign it was difficult to pay attention to driving as I often caught myself reminiscing over past adventures that all began at Badlands National Park where our two girls first became Junior Rangers and we all began to see the luxury of our National Parks. Once the final signature had been obtained we were congratulated by those around us in the visitor’s center but the fact that this game was now completed didn’t really sink in at first. In fact I think there was probably more sadness than sense of accomplishment because we are now without plans for another family adventure. It’s a weird, empty feeling that I’m not sure how to grasp. There’s always been another place to plan and prepare for.

The final signature on our National Parks Monopoly Board

While our board of adventures was complete there was a small piece to add in order to make our journey full circle. That was to visit Pearl Harbor. More specifically to re-enter the gift shop there 15 years later with our children to the place where this whole thing actually began. It was in this very place that Karen and I first discovered the National Parks Monopoly board and this idea of visiting each place was conceived. Only this time there were four of us to complete this list of incredible adventures.

Gift Shop at Pearl Harbor

The End!

A New Edition

FrontI was browsing for some images for an upcoming post and ran across a new edition of Monopoly National Parks. Apparently this version was released sometime in 2012. You can get a little more information at World of Monopoly. This is a site dedicated to Monopoly. The history and multitude of editions published by Hasbro and other licensed distributors. Way more information than I need in a single sitting but interesting to browse over.

Board

They certainly went further in this edition than previous ones in that the chance and community chest spots have been transformed into historic sites and battlefield parks. These areas had been left original in earlier editions however the cards themselves pertained to the national parks. In addition, the middle spots are now filled with activities available in many of the parks – hiking, bicycling, rock climbing, and river rafting. The four corners have been left as original which I believe in required by Hasbro in order to be a licensed edition.

Looking over many of the parks used on this board, there are several that we’ve been to and several more we will be going to, and a few not on our current list. Those not on our list are parks I would eventually like to get to someday as the photos and information I’ve read are very intriguing. Overall if I was starting out and choosing a Monopoly Board to travel this would definitely be at or near the top of the list. This being written, We’re going stick to the first edition as we are almost half complete with it. The only difficult spot on this entire board is the Campfire violation. I would probably have to break my rule trying to complete each location on the board minus the corners as there is no interest in a campfire violation.

View

Check it out for yourself. I did see it available on Amazon.