A Monopoly in the colors of Gers put on sale a few weeks before Christmas

If you are short of gift ideas a few weeks before Christmas and you want to spread the word about the Gers, the choice is there. The famous Monopoly board game now offers a new version in the colors of the department. On the box, we can also find the slogan “Happiness is in the Gers”. Developed in partnership with the BM-Services agency and the American company Hasbro, official publisher of Monopoly since the acquisition of Parker Brothers in 1991, the game was presented this Tuesday to the Departmental Council.

A one-year gestation

The adventure began at the end of 2023, as recalled by the president of the Gers Departmental Tourism Committee, Elodie Lanave. “With our Gers lifestyle, it seemed natural to us to support an initiative launched by the company BM-Services for a new edition of the game highlighting the Gers. Less than a year later, we are happy that the project saw the light of day. This Gers Monopoly is a wonderful tool for promoting local tourism which is aimed at both visiting visitors and Gers residents,” she commented.

It remained to fit all the most representative sites, events and other specialties of the department on a single platform. Not an easy task, according to the representative of BM-Services, Laurent Caplat. “It is already a game within the game to try to design a board that makes sense,” he indicated, aware that it was necessary to “understand the balances between the territories”. In total, eight versions were released before marketing.

A varied platter

On the 40 squares of the board, we find everything that makes the department famous. Twenty-two main squares are dedicated to the capitals of emblematic cantons and villages, offering a “coherent geographical route”, says Laurent Caplat, each player starting from the south-east to go towards the south, east, north and the west, before ending in the country of Auch. The four boxes usually dedicated to stations are devoted to major tourist sites: the d’Artagnan museum in Lupiac, the Flaran abbey, the Paul-Armagnac circuit in Nogaro and the Memento contemporary art space. The water and electricity companies have been replaced by key agri-food sectors: the Gascogne Armagnac vineyards and the Gers foie gras.

The Chance and Community Caisse boxes also give pride of place to emblematic events and places in the department, such as the Jazz in Marciac festival, the Graziac double lock or the Rugby Club Auch and the Bandas festival in Condom. The banknotes display the logo of Crédit Agricole, partner of the game. Although there is no longer a penitentiary establishment in Gers, the prison box is still there.

An expected success

Gers is not the first department of Occitanie to be honored in Monopoly. Ariège has in fact known this privilege for five years. More than 6,000 copies had been sold less than a year after its launch, in 2019. With 4,000 boxes produced for the Gers edition, the Departmental Council hopes to experience the same success. “The Department hopes that this Monopoly will become a fun ambassador for the Gers and that it will arouse the desire to explore our villages, our festivals and our art of living,” underlined President Philippe Dupouy.

Priced at 45 euros, the Gers edition Monopoly is available in twenty points of sale throughout the department.