Hasbro factory workers take part in world record attempt


Police Chief Doug Mellis served as an official witness for Guinness World Records during the game play. His testimony will be used when determining how many people actually played Monopoly simultaneously. Reminder Publications photo by Kaitlyn Schroyer

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW Nearly 70 employees of the Hasbro Games factory attempted to earn a place in Guinness World Book history last Wednesday as they, along with participants in Atlantic City, N.J., Las Vegas, London, Tokyo, Madrid and other locations around the world, tried to set a record for the most Monopoly games played simultaneously.

The world record attempt tied into the launch of the new Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition game. This is the first-ever international edition of the classic board game, with each space represented by a different international city as decided upon by more than 5.6 million votes. Montreal took the Boardwalk spot; New York City was the only city from the United States included.

Players at the factory weren't the only local gamers to take part in the world record attempt. Residents of Reeds Landing Retirement Community in Springfield also participated. All the games were scheduled to begin at 14:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

"This is part of an ongoing effort to promote the game," George Burtch, Hasbro's vice president of Global Integration, said. "We're calling it 'Worldwide Wednesday.' We're aiming to set the bar pretty high."

This isn't the first time Monopoly has been included in a world record.

"When I was younger, I always heard about the longest Monopoly game ever played and the games played underwater," factory employee Kyle Miller said. "It's cool [being a part of this]."

Monopoly currently holds the Guinness World Record as the most played game in the world, with 500 million players noted in 1999.

Other workers were excited to be a part of the action too. "We've lived this game for a year," Lynn Wolf said.

"Knowing we helped make the game makes it more exciting," Linda Ryan added.

The unofficial results tallied 3,361 players worldwide last Wednesday, but that total has to be verified by Guinness first. East Longmeadow Police Chief Doug Mellis and Denise Jordan, Chief of Staff for the Springfield Mayor's Office served as official witnesses for the event at Hasbro factory.

"We've been producing Monopoly here for 15 years," Jeff Lombard, senior vice president of operations, said. "This is truly the first global version of the game. With more than a dozen other locations playing with us, Monopoly fever is surely going global."

Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition game is now available for all interested players.