It has been two years in the making, but Maitland finally has a coveted spot on the Monopoly board.
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The one-of-a-kind board game was printed under licence from Hasbro and features everything from The Levee and High Street, to Maitland Hospital and even The Maitland Mercury.
It all started as a Mercury campaign to vote Maitland onto the board’s world edition in February 2015. The endeavour went viral online and was even featured on national television. It garnered international support from towns bearing the same name, but in the end our efforts were unsuccessful (we were beaten by a place called Giethoorn).
The dream of being on the Monopoly appeared to be over, until Hunter resident Hayden Moore got involved.
“By sheer chance I was made aware of the Maitland campaign,” he said.
“Like the bat-signal, I came to the aid of Maitland.”
Mr Moore had been working on an idea to create a community Monopoly board that could be used by youth services in the Hunter. The board would teach children and teens life skills and how to make positive choices. Hasbro, the company that makes Monopoly, loved the idea. A short time later a Community Drug Action Team (CDAT) grant was secured – and the idea became a reality.
The launch of the community board game will not just mark the end of the project, it will also be a form of closure for Mr Moore. When he started raising support for the community Monopoly board he was a stay-at-home dad and would bring his daughter Charlotte along to meetings with him.
“She was a good little girl,” he said.
“I would just put her in the car and bring her along, she came everywhere with me.”
But halfway through the project tragedy struck when little Charlotte succumbed to a viral infection at just 16 months old. The unexpected loss of his daughter, who had become so intertwined with this project, became the motivation to close this chapter of his life.
“I started this with her and I wanted to finish it for her,” he said.
“Charlotte was definitely the driving force.”
Mr Moore said the board game, and the gift it will be to the community, is the legacy for a little girl who will always be missed.
“Life is a mystery and I just try to smile as best I can,” he said.
“But seeing locations, services and information relevant to young people on a Monopoly board brightens my day.”
The finished board game looks just like a normal Monopoly board but is tailored to young people. The Gaol is replaced with a juvenile detention centre, cards feature trips to the bulk-billed doctor and medicare cards are part of the game. There is even an option to get the train between Maitland and Dungog stations, but players must buy a ticket of course. The finished product will be used by services such as youth mental health agency Headspace.
The Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council has also played a major role in the project and has designed the bank notes for the game.