February 24, 2008
Aw, no fair! The organizers of the online contest to choose city names that should appear in a special edition of the Monopoly board game have removed the leaderboard!
The contest closes Feb. 28. A total of 68 pre-selected cities, including Rīga, are in the running to be added to Monopoly Here and Now: World Edition.
When we last checked, Rīga had slipped to fifth place after peaking at third behind Montréal, Canada, and Cape Town, South Africa. But on Feb. 21—in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contest organized by game manufacturer Hasbro Inc.—the leaderboard was shut down.
A secondary contest to pick locations nominated as “wildcard cities” begins Feb. 29, so there is still time add more Latvian choices.
The contest has generated a certain amount of excitement in the worldwide Latvian community. The Web site helpriga.lv has been a rallying point, but Internet surfers no doubt have noticed links all over the place. Facebook (registration required) users have a group set up to support Rīga’s Monopoly bid. For more, listen to Latvian State Radio’s news report or read Kristaps Skujiņš’ blog about his efforts, too.
Andris Straumanis is editor of Latvians Online.
