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Number of versions: 6
Edition: December 21, 2008
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Because of the great influence England has had over a long
period in this country it not so strange to discoverd the first Monopoly
edition to be from the English manufacturer Waddington, the Parker
Brother's licencee from the very beginning in 1935.
From about 1963 the South African company Metrotoy got licence to
produce the South African bilingual editions.
Around 1990 production was taken over by Prima
Toys, who in 2002 not only started to make the
game according to the Parker Brothers/Hasbro design, but also introduced
fully new properties.
The streets and stations are
till 2002, those of the
cities Durban (on the east coast) - Bloemfontein (inland central) - Kaapstad
(south coast) and Johannesburg (inland north). From Begin on they are:
 | Durban (the
country's 3rd city): Musgraveweg/Musgrave Road - Gillespiestraat/ Gillespie
Street - Inkomstebelasting/Income Tax
Durbanstasie/Durban
Station |
 | Durban: Weststraat/ West Street - Smithstraat/Smith Street - Marine Parade/Marine
Parade - Tronk/Slegs 'n besoek-Jail/Just visiting |
 | Bloemfontein (the
country's 4th city and legislative capital): Monumentweg/Monument Road - Elektisiteit/Electricity
- Aliwalstraat/ Aliwal
Street - Maitlandstraat/Maitland Street Bloemfonteinstasie/Bloemfontein
Station |
 | Bloemfontein: President Brandstraat/President Brand Street - Hoffmannplein/
Hoffmann Square - Voortrekkerweg/Voortrekker Road - Gratis parkeering/Free
parking |
 | Cape Town (the
country's 2nd city and administrative capital): Groote Schuurstraat/Groote Schuur Street - Stransstraat/Strand
Street
- Roelandstraat/Roeland Street
Kaapstadstasie/Cape Town Station |
 | Cape
Town: Parlementstraat/Parliament
Street - Pleinstraat/Plein Street - Waterraad/Waterboard
- Longstraat/Long Street - Tronk toe/Go to Jail |
 | Johannesburg (largest
city of the country): Mainstraat/Main Street - Joubertstraat/Joubert Street - Devilliersstraat/Devilliers
Street
Johannesburgstasie/Johannesburg
Station |
 | Johannesburg: Jan Smutslaan/Jan Smuts Avenue - Super Belasting/Super Tax
and Eloffstraat/Eloff Street. |
Since 2002 all properties have been replaced by totally
new ones. It are cities, city districts and landmarks
from all over the country. From Begin
onwards they are:
 | KwaZulu-Natal: Westville/Westville -
Amanzimtoti/ Amanzimtoti - Inkomstebelasting/Income Tax
Durban
International Airport |
 | KwaZulu-Natal: Umhlanga Rocks/ Umhlanga Rocks - Balito Baai/Balito
Bay - La Lucia/La Lucia - Tronk/Slegs 'n besoek-Jail/Just visiting |
 | South-East Cape Region: Port
Elizabeth/Port Elizabeth- Elektisiteit/Electricity - Menlyn
Park/Menlyn Park - Waterkloof/Waterkloof
Bloemfontein
Airport |
 | Garden Route Region:
Wilderness/Wilderness - Knysna/Knysna - Plettenberg Baai/Plettenberg
Bay - Gratis parkeering/Free
parking |
 | Johannesburg: Hillbrow/Hillbrow -
Soweto/Soweto
- Boksburg/Boksburg
Johannesburg International Airport |
 | Johannesburg: Randburg/Randburg - Sandton/Sandton - Waterwese/Water
Affairs
- Hyde Park/Hyde Park - Tronk toe/Go to Jail |
 | West Cape Region:
Mitchells Plein/Mitchells Plain - Tygervallei/Tygervalley - Bloubergstrand/
Bloubergstrand
Cape
Town International Airport |
 | West Cape Region: Franschhoek/Franschhoek - Kapitaal Wins
Belasting/Capital Gains Tax and Clifton/Clifton. |
Edition:
“Mini box”- red - with separate
board of London
Trade Mark - 711981 (for the board)
Trade Mark - 3173/50 (for the box)
Publisher: John Waddington Ltd./The Swan Press Limited, Johannesburg - ±1953
Dimensions of the box: 16.1 x 19.2 x 2.6 cm
of the board: 49 x 49 cm
The game:
This edition was discovered by Martin Hazelbower - Vancouver - CDN.

It is interesting to see that this early Monopoly edition on the South African
market is
composed of parts made by two manufactures instead it was imported as a
complete game:
 |
The
gameboard, with the streets
of London and the "engines illustration" in its
midst, was manufactured by
Waddington in the UK and is exactly the same board as used on the
English market, what is shown by the Trade Mark number.
N.B. The mention "Trade Mark" is applied by Waddington for
decades, from about 1950 onwards. |
 |
At
least the box and the game's Rules are "Printed by: The
Swan Press Limited, Johannesburg" and it seems reasonably to assume
the special tokens and maybe the wooden houses and hotels were only put in
the box, but delivered by Waddington. The Swan Press Trade Mark 3173/50 is
mentioned on lid as well as the Rules. |
Other
features of this edition are:
 |
The rent of
the unimproved Piccadilly is the same as of both other streets,
only £ 22.- instead
of £
24. (This error erose
already in the original, American version in 1935 and has been copied in all
countries, until the early 1980s.) |
 |
The
Chance cards are yellow
through,
the Community Chest cards are pink through.
Both cards have rounded corners. |
 |
The
7 banknotes only show the word "Monopoly"and nothing else.
They are printed in black on colored paper in
denominations of : 1
- 5 -10 - 20
- 50 - 100
and 500.
|
 |
The
tokens are flat metal figures on feet. The figures are: buldozer
- tank - car
- motor with rider - electric
engine and galleon (gold). |
 |
The
houses and hotels
are of dull wood.
|
 |
The
set has one red and one blue
die of 12 mm.
|
Edition: Monopoly
- Special Edition, ref. NWG117
Trade Mark/Handelsmerk 63/0822
Publisher: John Waddington LTD./MetroToy/Manhattan Agencies (PTY) LTD. - S.A. - ±1973
Dimensions of the box: 25.8 x 49 cm
The game:
Of course all South African sets are bilingual: English and Afrikaans.
Funny is their own word for start Begin (being the same in both languages).
The design is according to Waddington's, the features of which are:
 |
The engines are green and face to the
right. |
 |
The color of the game board's playside is yellow
green. |
 |
The Community Chest fields do not show the blue
treasure chest, but only a < in a black circle. |
 |
On the Super Tax field is no ring. |
The mahogany colored lid shows the
game board in silver in 2 from one another
shifted squares. Next to it is the word Monopoly in white characters between 2 silver
lines. In the upper right corner is a square showing, also in silver,
Uncle Pennybags in a frame between 2 engines, with there under a large R (from
Rand).
In a comparison of this box with the also mahogany
colored Deluxe editions of England and other European countries like The
Netherlands, Germany and France of 1972/73 it is striking that:
 |
This "Special Edition" is printed in silver, whereas
the "Deluxe Editions" are printed in gold. |
 |
In both cases the word Monopoly in white is prominent. |
 |
The English version of course uses the £-sign and so the South
African version an R. |
 | The South African sets have the Waddington design in
this era, so with a green engine
on the stations and without a blue
treasure chest, whereas the game board of
the other Deluxe sets are
according to Parker Brothers/Hasbro design, so with black engines, blue
treasure chest and a gold ring on the Super Tax field. |
On the solid cardboard game board
it says under the word Monopoly in open characters and parallel to the
1st side "Trade mark/Handelsmerk - 63/0822". This number is almost
certain a date, but considering the corresponding European versions, it cannot
be the date of issue but rather the date of grant of the Trademark. The back is dark
blue and both parts of the board are kept together by a 65 mm wide ribbon.
The soft inner box contains a soft insert of white plastic with 5 holes
for the attributes. Because of the fact that the title deeds are both in
English and Afrikaans they are strikingly long (60x102 mm). The text on the
back side of these white cards is printed in red.
The yellow
through Kans/Chance and purple
through Gemeenskapskas/Community Chest cards (52x82 mm) are only
one-sided printed.
The 7 Monopoly banknotes are of following denominations: R1
- R5 - R10 (white) - R20 -
R50 - R100
and R500. There are 6 silver colored
tokens of plastic, viz. hat - iron - shoe - racingcar - boat and dog.
The green houses and red
hotels are made of plastic. They both have overhanging roofs but no chimney.
There is 1 green
and 1 red die both having white dots.
The price amounted to R 21.- (US$ 9.- ) July 1989.
Edition: Small
box, bar code nr. 001144
Publisher: John Waddington LTD./Metrotoy (PTY) LTD.- Johannesburg
- S.A. - 1973?
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 25.6 cm
The game:
Of course this Bordspel vir eiendomshandel is bilingual again.
The lid of this square box is in the so typical Waddingtons colors red
- white - red. The upper red bar shows Uncle
Pennybags between 2 white locomotives (without £- or R-sign).
The
back of the double folded gameboard is white, the playside is yellowis
green. In the gameboard's centre is Monopoly in open characters, without
frame,
parallel to side one.
The innerbox contains an insert of white plastic with 5 trays for the
equipment. As well the property cards, as the Chance- and Community
Chest cards, the banknotes,
and hotels as well as the Mannetjies
are all exactly the same as those of the Special Edition.
Both dice are green with white
pips.
Edition:
Standard, long box, bar code nr. 001106
Trade
Mark/Handelsmerk 63/0822
Publisher: John Waddington LTD./Metrotoy/Manhattan - Johannesburg - 1982
Dimensions of the box: 25.8 x 49 cm
The game:
I was pointed to this edition by Rob van Linden - NL.

Early eighties Parker Brothers' influence began, world wide, strongly to
dominate that of John Waddington.
Although the licence remains that of John Waddington the design of the
picture on the lid is now according that of Parker.
For the rest everything is precisely the same as of the 1973 edition with ref.
NWG117, in which therefore is especially notable:
 | the back driving, green
engines. |
 |
the word Monopoly, in open characters, parallel to the 1st
side. |
Like in other countries a new presentation has been
introduced with this version. The colorfull, but soft, lid shows
Begin and a small part of
Musgraveweg/Musgrave Road (however without hotel), the Eloffstraat/Eloff Street
(unbuilt, but with racing car) and Jan Smutslaan/Jan Smuts Avenue (unbuilt,
while the corresponding version of other countries often show 1 house). It is
striking that the white dice with black pips show a 2 and 6,
while the European editions show red dice
with a 2 and 5.
The innerbox contains a white plastic insert with 5 holes for the
attributes. The bottom side is unprinted. As well the Property deeds, as
the Chance- and Community Chest cards, the banknotes, the
hollow houses and hotels
with overhanging roofs are all equal to those of the earlier mentioned editions.
The 6 Mannetjies are resp.: dog - shoe - racing car - iron - boat and
hat. Except for the boat they are all, as usual in the South African editions,
of silvery colored plastic. The boat will
most probably not be original.
One of the dice is blue green, the
other one red; both have white pips.
The original
Rules are of course in South African and English.
Edition: Standard,
bar code nr. 545808
Publisher: Waddington Games LTD./Tonka Corp./Hasbro - South Africa/Prima
Toys - Eppindust -S.A. - 1994
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 49 cm
The game:
The lid of this box is again in the colors red
- white - red of Waddingtons. The upper red
bar now shows the word Monopoly in open characters with Uncle Pennybags in the
middle O. In the lower red bar is now
the "collection of attributes", i.e. 2 tokens, stack of
banknotes, 2 stacks of title deed cards, 2 dice, 2 houses and 3 hotels as they
appear on the European sets manufactured in Ireland since 1992. Since the title
deed cards and the houses and hotels are obviously not of this set, it is likely
that a generally used picture of Waddingtons is used by the South African
manufacturer.
The strong board has a yellowis
green playing side and a mahogany colored back.
Monopoly is in the centre of the gameboard in open characters and in a rectangular frame
, parallel to the first side. Also here Uncle Pennybags arises from the
central O.
In fact there is no "innerbox" with this set: the
cover is over a "tray of polystyrene foam" containg a total of 6
holes. The Mannetjies, houses and hotels are exactly equal
to those of the previous sets. The long title deed cards however have a red
back with white text, whereas the yellow Chance-
and pink Community Chest cards are
more dull of color. The back side of these cards are printed.
The Monopoly banknotes have more text: under the wordt Monopoly is
written Registered Trade Mark and underneath the
figure ©1994 Tonka Corporation. All rights
reserved. The
colors of the banknotes however are the same as those of the earlier issues.
Both dice are white with black pips.
The price of this set amounted to about US$ 10.- April 1999.
Edition: Standard,
like ref.00009,
bar code nr. 545822
Publisher: Waddingtons/Hasbro Int.Inc./Prima
Toys - 2002
Dimensions of the box: 5.0 x 27.2 x 41.0 cm
The game:
This is doubtless the first and only one Monopoly game of
Waddington/Parker/Hasbro that has ever been so drastically changed. It
is known the licencer to be very reserved over meanwhile 67 years to change
anything in an original version.
This new edition was introduced in an article in the South African Sunday
Times of March 16, 2003, written by Gillian Anstey:
Pay a fortune. Do not pass go.
New Monopoly
dumps traditional SA property for more exclusive real estate, introduces a
capital gains tax and increases starting salaries.
The South African version of the property board game, Monopoly, has been
given a makeover.
Eloff and Joubert streets in Johannesburg , West and Smith streets in Durban and
Long and Strand streets in Cape Town - most of which have lost their lustre
since the game was introduced in South Africa 30 to 40 years ago - have been
replaced by the posh suburbs and towns of Sandton, Hyde Park, Plettenberg Bay
and Franschhoek. The most expensive real estate on the board is Clifton - going
for R40 000 - which is now home to the ultra-wealthy from South Africa and
around the world. In the old Monopoly, Eloff Street was the most expensive real
estate at R400.
But it is not only the mink-and-manure belts that rate a mention.
The middle-class suburb of Boksburg and the mainly working-class townships of
Soweto and Mitchells Plain also feature in the new game, in which the stations
have been replaced by airports.
And it is not just the property that has gone upmarket - the game's Chance and
Community Chest cards have also been changed to reflect today's realities.
The starting salary has been increased from R200 to R20 000, and a capital gains
tax ( on the profit or loss made on selling an asset) of R10 000 introduced. In
the old game, the Super Tax was R100.
The rising costs of medical aid and schooling have also been taken into account,
with the doctor's bill now set at R5 000, income tax levied at R20 000 and
school fees costing R15 000. There is also a speeding fine of R1 500 and a
"drunk in charge" fine of R2 000, while a bank error in your favour
will net you R20 000.
The product director of Prima Toys, Darryl le Cok - who helped develop the new
version over nine months, said that the game had been updated to reflect South
Africa today.
"Nobody wants to buy in Eloff Street - it's not desirable real estate,
" he said.
Johannesburg-based property valuer Graham Ewing agreed that Eloff Street had
lost its lustre.
"Eloff Street was a very desirable trading area, but it doesn't have the
same investor value as it did 20 to 30 years ago. In 2003 you wouldn't invest
there. The property selling prices are so low, but you cannot generate income
out of a no-demand situation."
Ewing said that 1972 - the year the Carlton Centre was completed and about the
time Sandton City shopping centre opened - marked the beginning of the move out
of the Johannesburg CBD.
One beneficiary of the changes, however, is Euan Wildeman, Mayor of Plettenberg
Bay, who was ecstatic about the honour bestowed on the town.
"It's a very good thing for Plett and we feel very excited about it. I
think Plett is a prime spot in the world, not just in South Africa.
"In the last three years, there are probably more foreigners buying
property in Plett than South Africans - especially in the new
developments," he said.
Wildeman added laughingly that the value of Plett property in the board game -
R20 000 - was way too low.
"That's cheap. Maybe you should put a couple of 'mills' behind it," he
said.
Cheap was also how Pat Sidley, spokesman for the Council for Medical Schemes,
described the doctor's bill of R5 000 and hospital costs of R10 000 levied in
the updated game.
"If all the bills one got looked like those off the Monopoly board, you'd
have no need for a medical scheme. Unfortunately, bills are much higher than
those, " said Sidley.
But the Education Department believes that Monopoly's school-fees bill of R15
000 is spot-on.
Molatwane Likhethe, spokesman for the department, said exorbitant school fees
were a problem it was addressing.
"How many people can afford that? All these high fees are a concern to the
department," he said.
Prima Toys' managing director, Joey Diamond, said that Xhosa and Zulu
versions of the game were also being considered.
When we look at this issue it immediately shows that it is very similar
to the European versions with ref. number 00009 of this period. This
appears to be rather clear because Hasbro meanwhile has worldwide standardized
all his games on the sizes 5.0 x 26.8 x 40.0 cm as well as a uniform
presentation.
De similarities of this issue with those of Hasbro with ref.nr. 00009 of
this period are:
 | The white also have mahogany colored
borders along the lid, however .... there is a white line through the
borders of this variant. |
 | The lid shows under the red-bar-with-Mr.Monopoly
(as Uncle Pennybags is called since 2000) the last part of the 4th
side of the game board. On this are the tokenscar and hat, a house, a hotel
and both dice showing 4 and 3 on top. |
 |
The board is also folded twice but not splitted. |
There are however, also striking differences, viz:
 | The dimensions slightly differ: The box is 10
mm longer and 4 mm wider. |
 | Despite the great resemblance this edition does not
have the
ref.nr. 00009. |
 | There is the clear red/white
Waddingtons logo on all sides of the lid on the spots where normally
is the Parker swirl. The Hasbro logo is entirely absent. |
 | The bottom side of the box is entirely open in
contrast to that of the versions with ref.nr.00009, which show a color
picture of the game board with all its attributes, next to some text. |
 | Both the lid and the innerbox are made of softer
cardboard. |
 | The midfield shows the red
bar with Mr.Monopoly sloping over the board again, but now turned 90º
so sloping from Begin to Free Parking. Because of that the space for the Chance
cards is next to Go to Jail now and that of Community Chest next to Jail.
This is very disturbing. |
 | The plastic insert of the innerbox is black
and has but 9 holes instead of the many slots as in the red
"banker's tray". |
 | The green houses
and red hotels are also of
plastic and have a chimney on the roof as well. |
The differences and similarities between
this totally new South African design and those of earlier years:
 | The presentation became that of Parker Brothers now,
i.a. :
 | No red-white-red
lid anymore but a white one with Monopoly-bar and a part of the last
side of the board. |
 | The yellow green Waddingtons
board has been replaced by the blue green
Parker board. |
 | The green Waddingtons
engines haven't even been replaced by the black Parker engines
but
by a black/white plane for all 4 airports. |
|
 |
The game is as "pliable" as
before and its back is black. |
 | The silver colored tokens
are of plastic again. |
 | The yellow
Chance- and pink Community Chest cards'
back sides have both English and Afrikaans question mark, resp. treasure
chest. |
 | The prices of the properties - and so your salary over
Begin - have been multiplied by 100. |
 | The banknotes are according to the new design, i.e.
the upper side of the circle has the black banner showing Mr.
Monopoly, a large figure in the centre and under that the mention
"© 2002 Hasbro International Inc. All rights reserved". The 7
notes are one-sided printed in black on colored paper. The
denominations are resp.: 100 - 500
- 1000 (on white) - 2000 - 5
000 -10 000 and 50
000. |
 | Both dice are white with black pips.
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A very special issue that positively needs to be present in everyone's
collection.
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