Action Item: Kyiv Nominated for World Edition Monopoly

January 22, 2008 -- A letter from friends in Ukraine regarding a project worthy of our support

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am writing to each of you with the hope that you will join a group of us in Ukraine in voting for Kyiv to become one of the 22 cities of the world to be included in the new Monopoly World Edition game board. After much lobbying of Hasbro in Europe (ironically led by a Swiss gentleman living in Ukraine), Kyiv was included in the 68 city shortlist for voting -- a major feat in and of itself.

Beginning today [January 22], you may log onto http://www.monopoly.com to cast your vote online. In fact, you may continue to do so each day until the cut-off of the contest on February 28, 2008. At the close of the online voting, the twenty cities that receive the most votes will become part of Monopoly history as the first cities selected to be on the World Edition game board. These cities will appear on the Monopoly board from highest rent property to lowest based upon the total number of votes received.

This is a significant development as this World Edition board game will be sold in over a hundred countries around the world and manufactured in 37 languages (including Ukrainian). This a great (albeit symbolic) way to get Ukraine on the international map!

Please forward this e-mail to anyone that you feel would be interested in supporting this initiative. Should you have any questions about this contest, feel free to send me an e-mail at

Remember: You may vote online each day from January 22 to February 28. If you peruse the leading countries as of today (the start of the contest which opened approximately 8 hours ago), Ukraine is presently in 57th position out of 68 countries. A poor showing indeed... please help to do your online part in raising the country's profile.

For you Canadians in this distribution, Canada is well represented in the list of 68 with Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal on the ballot. The good news is that you will are able to satisfy both your Ukrainian and Canadian patriotic urges -- as each day you have the possibility of voting for up to ten international cities.

Slava Ukrayini!

Larissa B. (L.)