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Saudi Arabia

Presentation:
version 2000

Presentatie:
versie 2000

  Number of versions: 11

   Edition: March 1, 2000
   Extended: July 29, 2010

Map of Saudi Arabia.




So far Parker Brothers/Hasbro have never published their Monopoly editions in this thriving, islamic kingdom. 
However, from the early nineties Monopoly editions of the Waddington design (feature: the green locomotive 
going backwards) in various executions have been imported from a number of countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edition: Monopoly The Original, ref. 1090
Publisher: Parker Bros./Nilco - Egypt - ±1990
Dimensions of the box: 26.0 x 50.8 cm
The game:
The manufacturer of this Arab game is Greek of origin with a plant in Egypt.

The streets of this issue are of Egypt's capital city CAIRO, being from Al Bedaya (The Start) on:

SHAREAA EL MALEK FAISAL (King Faisal Str.) - SHAREAA ALHARAM (Pyramidstr.) - Mahatta El Giza (station) - SHAREAA 13 (Street nr. 13) - SHAREAA 15 (Street nr. 15) - SHAREAA 9 (Street nr. 9) - Al Segn (The Jail) - SHAREAA NAWAL - SHAREAA MOHYY EL DIN ABOU EL EZ - SHAREAA MESADDAK - Mahatta Kobry el Lamoun ("Lemonbridge"-station) - SHAREAA SHAGARET EL DOR - SHAREAA ABOU EL FEDA - SHAREAA HASAN SABRY - Garaage/Entezar Maggaany (garage/free parking) - SHAREAA SHEHAB - SHAREAA EL BATAL AHMED ABD EL AZIZ - SHAREAA GAMEAT AL DOWAL AL ARABEYA - Mahatta Mahtet Masr (Egypt Station) - SHAREAA EL HEGAZ - SHAREAA EL NOZHA - SHAREAA EL MERGHANY - Ezzhab ela al Segn (Go to the Jail) - SHAREAA SHERIEF - SHAREAA 26 JOLIO (Juli 26th Str.) - SHAREAA EL BOSTAN - Mahatta Bab el Louk (station) - SHAREAA SOLIMAN PACHA - SHAREAA KASR EL NIL.

This game is made "under licence", but it is not mentioned of whom. Therefore there are 2 influences noticeable, both of Parker Brothers (see Uncle Pennybags coming out the O enthusiastic again) and of Waddingtons. The execution of the solid game board (with red back) as well as the property cards is according to Parker Brothers, but with some influences of Waddingtons like the locomotives on the stations being green and pointing to the right. Also the names of the properties are mentioned twice on the spaces of the game board, like they are on the Waddingtons' sets. The fold of the board is parallel to side 1 and 3. Finally the Chance cards (= Al HAAZ) have a blue back with the "locomotive pattern", whereas the Community Chest cards (= Al KHZAANA AL AAMMA) have a pink back. The banknotes have a Parker Brothers front with engine and house and on the back the Waddingtons' engine pattern again! The currency is LE = Egyptian pound.
The 10 tokens (car, thimble, wheelbarrow, canon, dog, boat, iron, shoe, horseman and hat) are of pewter and "made in Hong Kong". The green plastic houses do have a chimney whereas the red hotels have not. The inner box has a white plastic tray with 8 holes.

An almost identical game was made in Greek by the Greek works of Nilco!

The price of this set amounted to SR 99.- (=US$ 27.-) in April 1998.

 

Edition: Monopoly, without ref.nr.
Publisher: Inland make? - ±1994
Dimensions of the box: 25.8 x 50.0 cm
The game:
This is obvious a decent copy of the original, bilingual Waddingtons issue with ref.nr. 46021 with the streets of London. On each space the text is both in Arabic and in English. Copying went even that far that, like with the English game, there is a height difference of 5 mm between the lid and the inner box.

The game board is of solid carton and has a red back. The word 
MONOPOLY (with open characters) is on the midfield parallel to 
side 1 and 3. The fold of the board is parallel to side 2 and 4.
In the inner box is a white plastic tray with 8 holes.
The banknotes are of sound paper and under the word 
MONOPOLY "Registered Trade Mark" is mentioned. The back is 
printed with the "engine-pattern".
The plastic houses are green and the hotels red. They are all provided with a chimney and a roof-edge.
The tokens (car, hat, boat, shoe, iron and dog) are ugly and coarse and made of heavy metal.
There are 2 black dice with white pips.
The yellow through Chance and pink Community Chest cards have rounded corners but they are not numbered.
The rules are printed on sound paper but they are in Arabic only.

The price of this set amounted to SR 49.- in 1995.

 

Edition: Monopoly, ref. 7405 (2)
Publisher: "Made in India" - ±1994
Dimensions of the box: 25.0 x 49.0 cm
The game:
Strange enough this game very closely corresponds to those of the neighbouring countries YEMEN and OMAN, but this time it comes from INDIA! Only a price sticker on the box shows that this set was bought in Saudi Arabia.

This issue is a bad copy of the bilingual original game of Waddingtons with ref.nr. 46021 with the streets of London. On each space the text is written both in English and Arabic. For the rest is striking that:

The game board is of soft carton. Its back is silver grey. The word MONOPOLY (in open characters) on the midfield of the board 
is parallel to the first side. There is no mention of any copyright year and no Uncle Pennybags is coming out the O.
The inner box contains but a few carton stripes to shape trays for the equipment.
The banknotes are of translucent paper! The front is in accordance with Parker Brothers, with engine and house. The backside is like that of Waddingtons, i.e. with "engines-pattern with Uncle Pennybags and £-sign".
The green houses and red brown hotels are made of plastic and have no roof edges.
The 6 tokens are the well-known car, hat, boat, shoe, iron and dog, but badly cast of grey plastic.
There are 2 redbrown dice with black pips.
The yellow Chance and pink Community Chest cards have rounded corners and are numbered.
Both instructions have been printed on thin paper, without mention of "Registered Trade Mark", as it is on the OMAN sets.

Of the three different editions (as far as known, see also YEMEN and INDIA) issued under ref. nr. 7405 this is the medium one in quality.

 

Edition: Monopoly, without ref.nr. (1)
              Monaco Trading Board Game
Publisher: Inland make, MONAKO? - ±1996
Dimensions of the box: 24.4 x 48.2 cm
The game:
It is for sure that the Waddington issue of 1995 with double ref.nr. 44021 and 06951102 (see England) is used for this game. Not only the "gathered equipment" (2 metal tokens, stack of banknotes, 2 stacks of property deeds, 2 dice, 2 houses and 3 hotels) on the lid is a copy, but also the picture at the bottom of the box! Although this very set contains a simple partition of the inner box, consisting of but 3 folded pieces of carton, the poor picture of the inner box of the English set suggest there is a nice, red Banker's Tray with this set! That is sayd on the rim of the inner box as well. The game board as well as the details shown at the bottom are those of the English set, so not of the supplied bilingual game board!

This game board doesn't mean a thing. The fold of the soft carton is parallel to the 1st and 3rd side of the board, but doesn't go right through the middle! This fold also goes right through the word MONOPOLY (with open characters). Characteristic for this game board is the Micky Mouse picture printed in black on both the Chance and Community Chest spaces. For the rest is not clear if Monaco/Monako is the name of the (inland?) manufacturer or has a total different meaning.
As well the Chance and Community Chest cards as the property deeds are printed on large sheets of thin paper and have to be torned loose! The banknotes are also printed on thin paper and do have Waddingtons engine-pattern with £-sign on the back.
The tokens are 6 hollow, plastic pawns. The houses are of very dark green plastic and the hotels are (not transparent) dark red brown. Both dice(15x15x15mm) are black with white pips.

There is an Arab and English instructions paper.

 

Edition: Monopoly, without ref.nr. (2)
             Monaco Trading Board Game
Publisher: Inland make, MONAKO? - ±1996
Dimensions of the box: 24.4 x 48.2 cm
The game:
Thiis variant (with same bar code ref.) of the the former edition has rather a number differences in spite of its great resemblance, viz.:

Under the text "Trading Board Game" this is now in Arabic as well.
The surface of the lid is softer and more glossy.
The board is made of thinner cardboard and is badly cut.
The nice "banker's tray" that should according to the pictures belong to this set as well consists of the same 3 rings as those of the further described Junior edition! 
(This is the reason to suppose that both sets come from the same manufacturer).
The banknotes are only copied one side; the back is white.
The houses are of black and the hotels of (transparent) brown plastic.
Both dice(12x12x12 mm) are blue green with pressed pips.

 

Edition: Travel Games, ref. 14248102
Publisher: Waddingtons/Tonka/Hasbro Inc. - 1997
Dimensions of the case: 5 x 12 x 18 cm
The game:
Three years later than in most European countries Waddingtons also introduces the "red case, made in China" in the United Kingdom! Obviously this edition is immediately used to export to countries without own Monopoly games like Saudi Arabia.
The only advantage of this late issue is the fact that the banknotes are of the "1996 model", i.e. without any mention of copyright, while in the upper part of the circle "MONOPOLY with Uncle Pennybags" is printed in a black bar. (On the cardboard however still the old banknotes are shown!)

This variant is a well-reflected and practical travelling companion indeed. The tokens can be fixed on each space but not more than just one. That means that the next player landing on the same street has to move one step ahead! Only on the corners is sufficient space for 4 players to stay. There are also 4 holes per street for the houses and hotels.
There are no Chance nor Community Chest cards. Instead three dice have to be thrown and the instruction mentioned in the table with the corresponding number to be carried out. Instead of a free ticket to leave Jail you get one of the 6 keys.
For the rest the rules are the same as those of the standard editions.

The price of this set amounted to SR 59 (= US$ 16.-) in January 1999.

 

Edition: Code No. 1151

Publisher: Bes Toys Co. S.A.E - Nasr City Cairo - ±1997
Dimensions of the box: 20.0 x 28.0 2.5 cm
The game:
This interesting game is also made in Egypt.
The only English (especially for collectors?) in this Arabic-speaking game is on the bottom of the box. It tells us:

Luck Bank (Monopoly) is one of the oldest collective mental and international games which examines and promote the abilities 
and Trade & Project Management skills.
A joyful competition among a group of cars, whose drivers try to invest their capital in various Arab & European countries.
No. of players ranges from 2 to 6 and it is preferable to have more than 2 players.

Of the 42 spaces of the game board of soft carton are:

27 properties, designated by flags of a number of Arab and other countries, who are to be grouped in blocs of 2 - 3 or even 4 countries. The countries are from Start on: SUDAN - LEBANON - JORDAN - SYRIA - IRAQ - SAUDI ARABIA - KUWAIT - EGYPT - SUDAN - YEMEN - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - OMAN - LIBYA - TUNISIA - ALGERIA - MOROCCO - MAURITANIA - QUATAR - FRANCE - ITALY - ENGLAND - GERMANY - USA - RUSSIA (old communist flag!) - JAPAN - SPAIN and CANADA. (Why would SUDAN appear twice?).
3 fuelstations.
4 corners: Start - 3 BES club cards (so that has to do with the manufacturer!) - 1 Bus Company (?) card - Jail.
On the midfield of the game board are 3 decks of 15 cards of which cards are to be taken on arrival on 1 of the 8 spaces. The expression of this comic version (?) of Uncle Pennybags tells you to which deck you are to go: Your Luck - Profit or Loss!

The inner box for the component parts consists but of a tray folded of white carton that has to be shoved in a casing, together with the folded game board.

There is playing with:

6 tokens consisting of a car printed on a piece of carton of 4 x 3.4 cm that is to be put in a white plastic stand.
1 white mini-die of 8 x 8 x 8 mm.
180 stocks (in the shape of green "banknotes") with the denominations of 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 - 100 500 - 1000 en 2000.
12 hotels, shaped as pink triangular forms of 10 mm high.
12 market places, shaped as black cylinders of 12 mm high.
12 parking garages, shaped as small, flat, blue discs with a diameter of 22 mm.

 

Edition: Code No. 4046

Publisher: Bes Toys Co. S.A.E - Nasr City Cairo - ±1997
Dimensions of the box: 26.0 x 50.4 x 6.0 cm
The game:
This is obviously the luxury edition of the game because the nice flexible (!) game board with red back is in a (not very strong) box with fine lid. In the inner box is an insert of thin, white plastic with holes for the equipment.

The property and "Chance" cards are made of strong carton 
instead of thin, glossy paper.
The 6 tokens are metal cars now painted in different colors.
The one die is yellow with black pips. The dimensions are more 
userfriendly again: 16 x 16 x 16 mm.
The stocks are made of more smooth paper.
The hotels became blue, plastic pawns.
The market places are yellow cylinders now.
The parking garages became big, red discs (diam. 31 mm, 5 mm thick) with print BES.

The price of this set amounted to SR 48 (= US$ 13.-) in January 1999.

 

Socalled JuniorEdition: Monopoly "Junior", with 2 bar code nrs. (!)
Publisher: Inland make, MONAKO? - ±1998
Dimensions of the box: 23.3 x 47.3 cm
The game:
Never before was such an unimaginable careless and uncorrect forgery as with the manufacture of this game! See yourself:

  1. The long box shows the picture of the square (!), English JUNIOR box. Even the bottom side shows the picture of the three laughing kids playing the Junior game. However the pictures have simply been stretched out in width!
  2. Three of four rims of the lid as well as of the inner box show an empty red bar, the place where the name WADDINGTONS stood.
  3. On the fourth rim of the lid is the bar code 9 0243025 2896327 >.
  4. The text on the rims of the inner box is upside down. On the fourth rim is the bar code 5 0525468 5893755 >. So there must be something absolutely wrong!
  5. When you open the box you won't find the Junior board but instead the gameboard for adults with the streets of London and the green engines who points to the right! The back of this soft board is red. Because this board also has Mickey Mouse printed in black on both spaces Chance and Community Chest I suppose that the maker also here must be MONAKO/MONACO.
  6. The English Instructions show an illustration of the banker's tray whit the remark that it should stay in the inner box. However my picture shows only three circles but certainly no banker's tray! (The Arab Instructions don't show that tray).
  7. Both Chance and Community Chest cards as the property cards are also in this issue printed on thin sheets of paper and must be torn apart! This also is a reason to suppose that the maker is MONAKO. Half the number of property deeds have a red back, the other half a blue one.
  8. The banknotes are one-sided color printed on white paper with the Parker Brothers pattern with value-in- circle-and-4-spares-around. There is no copyright in the circle.
  9. The tokens are 6 hollow, plastic chess pawns in pastel colors.
  10. The houses are made of black plastic, the hotels are dark blue. They both have overhanging roofs with excentric placed chimneys.
  11. The dice are red with white pips.
 

 

Syrian manufacturer address HMF.Edition: Monopoly with pink board in  white box, ref.nr. R.I.12
Publisher: Syrian manufacturer HMF - ±2000  
Dimensions of the box: 50 cm X 26 cm
The game: 
This edition is from the collection of Steve Amato - N.Y.C.

There is not much reason to estimate this edition to be from somewhat later date than the Syrian issues from the early ninetees, than the fact that the Syrian manufacturer will have started producing the games for his own country first?
Seeing all Monopoly editions made by HMF for inland distribution in Syria as well as those for Saudi Arabia, I have the impression the manufacturer has chosen for the "white box with a little board on a green square in a blue square and the red Monopoly bar", as Parker Brothers made in the period between 1960 and 1980 in the USA and Europe, to be their standard presentation.
I could not find any Syrian manufacturer under the name of HMF and it is not to be expected this manufacturer has any relations to
the Humanitarian Media Foundation (HMF).
However, there may be a connection to a poultry farm, because all 4 station squares are conseqently replaced by  poultry farms showing a white , while the HMF logo shows a little chicken. By the way, there is a different logo on top the lid: in a square, black frame are a mother and father, walking with a child.

Innerbox with one-piece insert with 3 red sections.                                                                 The playside of the solid game board is pink and does not show the word Monopoly. Its back is pink as well. 
Note that the little board on the lid is green and shows the word Monopoly, also in Arabic.
Wazeer St. on perforated sheet. The inner box is filled up by a piece of cardboard folded in such a way that there are 2 grooves,  to store all attributes, like the cards, property deeds, banknotes, tokens, houses, hotels and the dice. The top of the upstanding sections is in red showing some Monopoly symbols.
The property deeds are white cards on a perforated sheet, with the text in Arab only and with blue wording. The Mortgaged side is in red.
The Chance cards are on pink colored white cardboard, the Community Chest cards are in blue green on light yellow cardboard. The wording is in Arabic, with so every now and than a few words in English. Their spaces on the board show the Parker Bros. blue treasure chest.
The 7 banknotes looks like the official Parker notes but they are only one sided printed in color on white paper. The denominations are 10 - 50 - 100 - 200 - 500 -1,000 and 5,000 S.R. (Saudi Rial). 
The 6 tokens are pawns with a large base.
There are 32  Parker Bros. Parker Bros. poorly made small, hollow, red plastic houses and 12 slightly higher but very  poorly made, green plastic hotels
The Rules are in Arabic only, on a long, 4 times folded sheet.
The dice are very large ones, in black with the black pips in a white circle, as in the green edition.

This edition obviously is a Saudi Arabian edition, although it is hard to recognize names often translated from Arabic in different ways. See f.e. the city Tabük in the north of the country and how the blue street on the board is spelled. The same for the city of Ha"il on the map (on top) and the green street on the board.

Alakhawain poultry farm with WHITE hen, instead of a station.Alnafoora Restaurant with white cutlery.At least a number of names of the properties are from Saudi Arabia. From Go onwards they are.
   
Sowilam St. - Community Chest - Makka St. - Income tax (
Pay 2000) - M. Alakhawain Taboq St. - Chance - Aswaak Akiriya - Arouba St. - Jail -Hijaz St. - Herfy Rest. - Takhassosi St. - Alamah St. - M. Asiah  - Wazeer St. - Community Chest - 60th St. - Dabab St.- Free Parking -Taif St. - Chance - Souk Jeddah - Souk Riyadh - M. Al Watqnia - Olaya St. - Dammam St. - Alnafoora Rest. - Abha St. . - Go to Jaill - Alqaseem St. - Jareer St. - Community Chest - Hail St. - M. Faqeeh - Chance - Madeena St. - Pay Tax 1000 and 30 Th St. 

This edition is "Made in Syria".

 


Syrian manufacturer address HMF.White box with green game board.Edition: Monopoly with green board in white box, ref.nr. R.I.12  
Publisher:Syrian manufacturer HMF - ±2000  
Dimensions of the box: 50 cm X 26 cm
The game: 
This edition is from the collection of Matthew Horton - UK.

The Alakhawain poultry farm with a yellow hen, instead of a station.It comes from the same Syrian manufacturer and shows exactly the same address and white chicken 
logo as in the set before.
There is no indication of its year of publication and so no reason to assume this edition to be older 
or younger than the set with the pink board.
It is very annoying that all HMF made white box editions have the same appearance and no real 
reference numbers, making them hard to distinguish!

  Both editions are the same in all aspects except for the presentation of the 4 poultry farms (on the 
Alnafoorna Restaurant with blue cutlery."station spaces") having a yellow hen. and both restaurants (on the "utility spaces") now having a 
blue cutlery
, as they have in the Syrian editions.

 

                             



Compare these editions with those from  Syria and Lebanon.


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albert c. veldhuis
Zoetermeer - The Netherlands
e-mail: worldofmonopoly@gmail.com
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