No playing around here: When it comes to Utah, no game company has a monopoly on the uniqueness.
In fact, currently there are two board games seriously competing for people who want to buy and sell Temple Square, the Utah Jazz, or maybe the Snowbird ski resort.Utah-In-A-Box was developed by Late for the Sky production company, which introduced its "authentic landmark version" on Father's Day 1998.
Meanwhile, the USA-opoly franchise, owned by Hasbro is launching the official and licensed-by-Parker-Brothers version of the Utah real estate trading game this month.
Both games bear striking similarities to the legendary established game of Monopoly - with deed cards, paper money and silver playing pieces.
Both have Utah landmarks in place of Boardwalk and Kentucky Avenue and Water Works.
Temple Square replaces the pricey Park Place square in both versions.
However, according to Carmen Cedola from Hasbro, only the USA-opoly version can have a Jail, "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards and the familiar houses and hotels that came in the original game. Only USA-opoly games have Luxury Tax and Free Parking.
Late for the Sky developers have compensated. Instead of Jail, there's a Traffic Jam and to get out of the square, you have to take a detour - something Utah drivers can identify with.
Instead of "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards, there are "Contingency" and "Big Fun" cards - one sends a player screaming on the rides at Lagoon for five squares. Another lets a player take somebody along to the square of choice or invites the player to sit out a turn because it's Monday.
Players in the USA-opoly version ski to go, have a skiing accident, pay an assessment for snow removal or get cast in a Western. Some dig up allosaurus fossils.
Playing pieces for the Utah-In-A-Box game include a covered wagon, a beehive, a salt shaker, a ski boot on a ski, a hiking shoe or a silver heart.
In USA-opoly, players choose between the traditional silver dragster, the shoe, the cannon, the thimble, the top hat and the wheelbarrow.
Instead of houses and hotels, developers playing Utah-In-A-Box build skylines and purchase the key to the city.
Players land on the Wasatch Mountains square to claim all the money in the center of the board. They take a hike to get $200 in payday money.
Whatever the game, it's interesting to see bits of Utah incorporated into a game.
For USA-opoly, government officials like the commissioners in Utah County had to agree to let pictures of landmarks such as the the Historic County Courthouse be reprinted. Every square sports a color photo of the state landmark "borrowed" for the game.
After extensive pre-preparation research, Utah-In-A-Box developers spent four days in Utah interviewing local residents and seeing the local sites to come up with Provo, Ogden and Park City as the most expensive properties next to Temple Square and Salt Lake City - standing in as the Boardwalk square.
"That's the best thing about this job. We get to come there and see it for ourselves. In Utah, we found people more than willing to talk to us. They're proud of it," said Bill Schulte, spokesman for Late for the Sky productions.
Schulte feels Late for the Sky has produced a game that'll be fun for Utahns to play if they don't take it too seriously. For instance, one can't worry too much about developing a skyline in Zion National Park or on Rainbow Bridge.
A lottery card may surprise some folks who know they have to drive out-of-state to gamble legally.
But then, in the USA-opoly game, players will be amused to be invited to take a recreational swim in the Utah Lake - a body of water not usually known for its cleanliness.
Whatever the game, one wonders about how the developers of "real" Monopoly are taking the move to cut into their money market.
"We've been making games for 15 years," Late for the Sky executive Schulte said. "Parker Brothers is OK with it."
But Cedola, director of new business development at Hasbro, says the USA-opoly game is the only legitimate version of specialty Monopoly for Utah. He doesn't even like to talk about the competition.
"We ARE the Monopoly game," he said. "We're it exactly. We are the real thing, not a wannabe."
In copycat versions, Cedola says you can't see the same things one has come to look for in a Monopoly game. "There's no such thing as Chance, for instance."
Utah is just the latest in a series of games Hasbro has produced for states, Cedola said.
"We have done Arizona, Alaska, Florida, Oregon and a few cities. We pick special states based on the unique lifestyle and the people."
They've produced a "Corvette" version of Monopoly for General Motors, a "Nascar" version for the 50th anniversary of the race car organization and a Star Trek, The Next Generation version for trekkies.
Hasbro prides itself on taking the time to make the games work and reflect the nuances of whatever specialty area or interest is being developed, Cedola said. "In our Utah game, we have the Provo Tabernacle, the Utah Lake, the Great Salt Lake, Bear Lake and Lake Powell. The Utah State Capitol is our Boardwalk square."
Both games will be available through gift shop outlets and department stores such as ZCMI. The games retail for about $30 each.