BYU flips for new version of Monopoly

PROVO — Pink dice jumped and kicked across a pink game board on a brown folding table outside the Brigham Young University bookstore early Wednesday morning and instantly became part of a world record.

Similar dice simultaneously tumbled across game boards around the world — London, Madrid, Tokyo, more than 20 cities — and an estimated 3,361 players established the first Guinness record for most people playing Monopoly at the same time.

Exactly 48 of those players, many of them the very freshest of a new crop of BYU freshmen, sat in brown folding chairs and played from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. They played under tents along what is now being called "Wilk Way," the area between the campus library and the BYU bookstore inside the Wilkinson Student Center.

The entire scene was a publicity stunt for a new version of Monopoly, the World Edition, but the pink dice and board belonged to the hit game board of the morning, the decidedly pink and girlish Boutique Edition. Only two sets of the female-friendly edition were available, and they were coveted like the first spot in line at a big sale.

"When I saw it, I was certain it was going to be mine," 22-year-old BYU public relations major Elizabeth Jenkins said.

It was, too. She could buy malls instead of hotels, get text and instant messages, pay cell phone bills and buy a candle shop or a candy store. The game pieces are a pair of sunglasses, a flip flop, a hair dryer, a cell phone, a purse, a dog, a soccer ball and a skateboard.

At the other pink board, Russia native Kseniya Kashina quickly ran out of money. The 23-year-old chemical engineering major was pummeled by her friend and co-worker at the library, Randi Barron, 21, of Long Beach, Calif.

The pink edition clearly brought the inner girl out in each player, but the normal financial perils of Monopoly irked Kashina.

"You Americans are such capitalists," she complained when Barron asked her to pay off her debts.

Kashina's game piece was the flip flop.

"With as little money as I have, that'll be the only thing I'll have left to get around," she complained.

Then things got worse. Barron got a text message that said, "Hot boy band in town. Collect $50 from each player."

That was $50 Kashina didn't have.

"If time runs out and you still haven't paid me," Barron said, "you're going to owe me in real dollars."

When a small windfall allowed her to pay her fake debt to Barron, Kashina blew a very real sigh of relief.