WPI's own Monopoly man attends World Monopoly Championships
|
by Darren Torpey
Tech News Staff |
|---|
Matt Gissel, a senior at WPI from St. Albans, VT attended the World Monopoly Championships in Toronto, Canada, on October 22nd, 2000. There, 38 players from 37 countries were represented, with Gissel being the United States representative. The grand prize: $15,140, the amount of (phony) money included in a Monopoly set. This amount, of course, back when Monopoly was released in 1935, was enough to buy a respectable mansion. Now, it'll buy little more than a Toyota Camry and a week's worth of gas. Though he played well, he ended in respectable 10th place, with host country Canada finishing in 20th and the returning world champion Christopher Woo of Hong Kong finishing in 25th.
Matt Gissel has been playing Monopoly steadily since he was 9 years old, when his father, a US Customs Service employee, introduced him to the game. Gissel competed in his first Monopoly championship when he was in the sixth grade. Though he gave up playing Monopoly seriously when he started college to become a biochemisty major, in 1999 he learned that his high score in a 1997 competition had earned him a spot as one of 50 state champions who'd earned a free trip, courtesy of Hasbro, to Las Vegas for a tournament in which he won the gold.
Monopoly, which has celebrated its 65th birthday this year, has sold more than 200 million sets in 80 countries, and has been translated into 26 languages. Many versions of the game such as "Goffstown Monopoly" a set sold in Goffstown, NH (population: 10,000), which modifies the names of the spaces on the board to reflect Goffstown streets and businesses.
Some expert advise? "I like the railroads best, because there's always a chance to land on one" says Gissel, "I also buy every property I can the first time around in as many color groups as possible." He explains, "I know what's going to happen if I don't get a monopoly real quick. Bad things."
| 
