Monopoly first appeared in 1935 and since that time it’s makers have produced it in a variety of themes. Some of the more intriguing include an ABBA theme, a ‘007’ theme and a Klingon theme (I kid you not).

It would seem almost inevitable then, that we’d see a gay version. And so we did – albeit very briefly – when ‘Gay Monopoly: A Celebration of Gay Life!’ appeared in 1983.

As you’d expect, a gay version would have to be very different from all the other Monopoly iterations. And so it was. starting with the layout. Liberally decorated with Tom of Finland style illustrations – as well as images of ‘our host’ “Ollie Gator” – it was circular rather than square.

Street names were gay districts around the USA, such as Castro Street in San Fran, Cedar Springs Road in Texas and South Broadway in Denver. The starting point was the Stonewall Bank, where you got $203 every time you pass, and the railway stations have been replaced with famous discos (Studio One, Trocadero Transfer, Backstreet and The Saint).

You no longer faced the risk of a policeman sending you to Jail. Instead, an evangelical ‘Immoral Moron’ instructed you from his pulpit to ‘Go straight to Straight City’ (slogan, ‘Home, Dull Home’).

As with regular Monopoly, a banker was needed to undertake the financial transactions. The guidelines suggested:

“…choose this person carefully. A good choose would be someone who watches ‘Let’s Make A Deal’ often or perhaps a person who frequents S&M slave auctions. If no one fits these descriptions, at least get someone who occasionally buys his own drinks. If you are still without a candidate, just settle for anyone who enjoys deposits and withdrawals and who looks cute wearing nothing but a banker’s visor. But with this last one, make sure she keeps her hands out of the till. She is likely to have had so many sugardaddies that she will confuse her own cash with that of the bank.”

And again, as with regular Monopoly, each player had their own token – although nothing as boring as a top hat or racing car here. Instead the choice was either a jeep, a pair of handcuffs, a stiletto heel, teddy bear, hairdryer or leather cap.

Instead of ‘Chance’ and ‘Community Chest’ cards, players were faced with three different types on Gay Monopoly. When players landed on a ‘Family Pride’ square they were required to pick up and read from a card the description of a famous gay man from history (the entire game appears to be aimed exclusively at gay men.) If they then guessed the identity of that person they could move to any space they chose. The guidelines explained the purpose of the Family Cards:

“The pink triangle as a symbol for gay people originated in Nazi Germany. While many people know that Jews were herded into concentration camps during the Third Reich and required to wear armbands with a yellow Star of David, very few people realise that countless gay people were also sent to the same camps and forced to wear armbands bearing a Pink Triangle before they too were sent to their deaths…In the hope that gay people will learn more about their illustrious gay family members, the Family Cards were created as part of this game.”

The more playful element of the game lay in the other two packs. One of these was Manipulation (“Ollie’s Hanky Code”), which consisted of 16 cards with pictures of hankies in various colours and positions in back pockets. Players had to guess the correct meaning. A correct answer earned $69. An incorrect answer meant the player had to pay $69 to the Stonewall Savings.

And the third set of cards was Ollie’s Sleaze Bag cards. 31 cards with a variety of instructions like “Go directly to Straight City. Do not pass Stonewall Savings.” And “Your Madame Butterfly Halloween costume was to die for – Collect $43 – 2nd prize.”

The game sounds like a lot of fun but, sadly, it was short-lived. Independently produced by “Parker Sisters” to raise money for AIDS research, it fell foul of Parker Brothers, who produced ‘the other’ Monopoly. Ideally, the Brothers should have struck a deal with the Sisters but it was not to be. Perhaps Parker Brothers felt it was too ‘real’ for them. Who knows, but they issued an injunction and Gay Monopoly was no more.

Copies do come up on eBay from time to time – at around US$400 apparently! But if you do happen to have that amount burning a hole in your pocket I might just mention here that my birthday is at the end of December. Just saying!