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Number of versions:
2
Edition: August 1, 2010
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By an agreement of 1916 France got control over Syria and Lebanon, while Iraq
and Palestine/Jordan came under
the influence of the United Kingdom.
Syria proclaimed its independence in 1941 but it wasn't until 1 January
1944 that it was recognised as an independent
republic.
Despite the French influence in this country the first unofficial Monopoly
edition found is an imitation of the London edition
and sofar Parker Brothers/Hasbro have not
penetrated this market.
Edition: Monopoly,
with LONDON board, no ref.nr.
Publisher: Unknown inland manufacturer - ±1990
Dimensions of the box: 50 x 26 cm
of the unfolded board: 45 x 45 cm
The game:
This set is from the collection of Steve Amato - N.Y.C.
It is remarkable to ascertain that all imitations of Monopoly made in Syria are
based on the "white
box with a little board on a green
square in a blue square and the red
Monopoly bar", Parker Brothers has issued in the period between1960 and
1980. But that is for the appearance only, because the game boards differ from
Waddington's design to variations of the Parker design.
In contrast to what is said afore the little board on the lid of this inland
made box is (by mistake?) in a "blue in
blue" square, while the text in its
centre is in black only.
The board is an exact copy of the UK game board, but bi-lingual, so with the green
engine on the station spaces and therefore
All
properties are
of London, viz. from Go
onwards:
Old
Kent Road - Whitechapel Road - King
Cross Station - The Angel Islington - Euston
Road - Pentonville Road - In
Jail - Pall Mall - Electric Company
- Whitehall - Northumberland
Avenue - Marylebone Station - Bow
Street - Marlborough Street - Vine
Street - Free Parking - Strand
- Fleet Street - Trafalgar
Square - Fenchurch St. Station - Leicester
Square - Coventry
Street - Water Works - Piccadilly
- Go to Jail - Regent Street - Oxford
Street - Bond Street - Liverpool
St. Station - Park Lane and Mayfair.

The
board is of thin cardboard with a grey unpainted back.
It has the word Monopoly in red and the Arab
characters in black, parallel to side 1. The fold in the board is
perpendicular to side 1.
The inner box has no facility to store the accessories decently.
All property deeds comes in perforated sheets, as the pink
Chance- and blue Community Chest
cards and even the banknotes in 7 denominations. All deeds and cards are
bi-lingual.
The 5 plastic tokens are chess pawns.
There are 32 blue houses and 12 red
hotels without chimneys, poorly made of
plastic.
Both poorly made large dice are black
with white pips.
The Rules sheet folds in half.
This edition is "Made in Syria".

Edition: Monopoly, ref.nr. R.I.12
Publisher: Inland manufacturer HMF - ±1994
Dimensions of the box: 26.0 x 50.0 cm
The game:
The year of publication has been estimated from its year of purchase in September
1995 and this is in harmony with what is said in the next sentence.
Seeing all the Monopoly editions made by HMF for inland
distribution in Syra as well as those for Saudi Arabia I have the impression the
manufacturer has chosen as their standard presentation for the "white
box with a little board on a green
square in a blue square and the red
Monopoly bar", Parker Brothers has issued in the period between1960 and
1980 in the USA and Europe.
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 yellow
hen,
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, showing a mother
and father, walking with a child.
The midfield of the solid game board is green and
shows the word Monopoly in 2 languages in the centre, parallel to the first
side, intersected by the fold of the board. On one section of the green
back-side of the board is the word Monopoly in pink
characters, on the other half the same in Arabic.
The inner box is filled up by a piece of cardboard folded in such a way
that there are 2 grooves, separated by a 6 cm broad, illustrated red
centre-piece. This is to store all attributes, like the cards, property deeds,
banknotes, tokens, houses, hotels and the dice.
The property deeds (57x85 mm) are white cards with the text in Arab only
and with blue wording. The Mortgaged side is
in red with a few words in English.
The Chance cards (55 x 85 mm) are on pink
colored white cardboard, the Community Chest
cards are in light blue. 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 L (Syrian pounds).
The 6 tokens are colored, hollow plastic aggravation pawns.
There are 32 small, hollow, red plastic houses
and 12 slightly higher, green plastic hotels!
The Rules are in Arabic only, on a large, 4 times folded sheet.
Both dice are very small (8x8x8mm). They are of white plastic and have black
pips.
At
least a few properties are from Damascus (capital of
Syria) and from Go onwards all properties are:

Mojtahed St. - Community Chest - Mazra'a
St. - Income tax (Pay
2000 L.) - M.
Al-Tawon - Adawi St. - Chance -
S. Al-Hamadyah - Khatib
St. - Jail
- Jamarik St -
Rasheed R.
- Ma'arad
St. - Nasr St. -
M. Al-Waleed - I.
Hanano St. - Community
Chest - Malik Al-Adel St. - Malab
St. - Free Parking - Istiklal
St. - Chance - Souk
Al-Sagha - Souk Al Tawil -
M. Al-Ikha'a - Shalan
St. - B.Al-Rous
St. - Sham R. - Amara
St. - Go to Jail - Beirut
St.
- Zahera St.
- Community Chest - Zablatani St.
- M. Al-Salam - Chance - Aleppo
St. - Pay Tax (1000L) and
Hamra St..
The utilities Electric Company and the Waterworks of the Parker
Brothers editions have been replaced by 2 restaurants with
a blue cutlery, while the 4
stations became poultry farms.
This edition is "Made in Syria".
Compare these editions with those from Saudi Arabia
and Lebanon