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Board game celebrates Richmond

By Don Fennell

Published 2:31 PDT, Mon April 5, 2021

Last Updated: 2:13 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021

For those who’ve ever imagined life as a real estate tycoon, here’s your chance.

Based on Monopoly, the best-selling game of all time, Richmond-Opoly gives players the opportunity to dabble in the market while celebrating many of the great and unique things about our community. 

“I think it provides a little escapism while being a great activity for families that is fun and social, something we don’t do a lot these days with people stuck on their phones or computers or watching TV,” says Jean-Paul Teskey, senior vice-president of Outset Media, the Canadian company that created the game.

Available exclusively at Richmond Walmart or online at walmart.ca, the board game is the result of a partnership between the retailer and the Victoria-based games maker.

“Walmart came to us, because they knew we had the rights to opoly-style games, and said it would be great if we could develop a line of games celebrating communities across Canada,” Teskey says. “We said sure, and so just over two years ago we started with some locations in the Atlantic region and based on the success there we rolled out (many more games celebrating Canadian communities).”

While the concept is shared, each board is unique in terms of locations as well as many of the graphics. 

In Richmond-Opoly, players will begin their cross-city exploration at Minoru Arenas, while the Richmond Night Market, Aberdeen Centre, the Richmond Olympic Oval and Bridgeport Station are just some of the other feature attractions.

“These games were created to help people appreciate some things they cherish about their community,” Teskey says, noting that selecting which locations to include in the Richmond version was relatively easy as many of the staff at the company’s Victoria headquarters were very familiar with the city—some even previously residing in the Lower Mainland.

Founded on Canadian trivia in 1996 by its president David Manga, Outset Media is a privately held wholesale supplier and manufacturer of toys, games and puzzles and remains staunchly proud of its Canadian roots. The majority of its products are made in North America.

Only 700 games are being made for each community, with Teskey explaining that there is not a big profit margin. It’s more a labour of love.


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