Rich Uncle Pennybags, the man now better known as Mr. Monopoly, is coming to St. Paul. In fact, he’s already been.

The iconic Monopoly man toured the capital city on Monday for a series of publicity shots outside the Cathedral of St. Paul, the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Xcel Energy Center, among other key St. Paul sites, as a game designer began kicking the proverbial tires at restaurants and businesses.

A year from now, Monopoly fans in Minnesota’s capital city could be playing a St. Paul version of the classic Parker Brothers game, complete with St. Paul landmarks like the State Capitol and destinations like Grand Avenue in place of Park Place, Boardwalk and other game squares.

“There’s a lot of great choices,” said Tim Barney, game manager for Top Trumps USA, a Rhode Island-based game designer, in a phone call from the downtown St. Paul Union Depot transit hub on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m really spoiled for choice.”

City-specific versions of the board game

Hasbro, which acquired Parker Brothers in the early 1990s, has partnered with Winning Moves International to create dozens of city-specific versions of the popular board game featuring well-known local landmarks, businesses and nonprofit organizations. On Tuesday, the game creators put out a call for public input on how to rename aspects of the Monopoly game such as Atlantic City, Chance and Community Chest cards with customized St. Paul-oriented titles.

Game fans can make their recommendations online at US.TopTrumps.com/SaintPaul.

Barney said he’ll aim to lock down 20 to 30 St. Paul locales to add to the board game in coming weeks, though many tend to jump out in the first few days of a site visit, he said. Options range from hole-in-the-wall restaurants to iconic statues, streets and nonprofit institutions such as museums, which could be added to Chance and Community Chest cards with a bit of narrative that advertises their services and unique attributes.

“I’m here meeting with business owners, and the spectrum is pretty wide,” Barney said. “It also includes museums and institutions related to the arts. It includes schools. It includes sports teams … shops, hotels, hospitality. There’s a literal bank in the game. Really anything.”

A June 18 debut

The expectation is that Top Trumps USA, the American division of London-based Winning Moves International, will debut “Monopoly: St. Paul Edition” next summer — June 18, to be precise — under license from Rhode Island-based Hasbro. Top Trumps has rolled out about 40 city-specific Monopoly games in the U.S. since 2020, and plans to pick up the pace and produce 12-20 annually, on top of games designed around sports teams and other themes. It’s also made international editions, such as “Monopoly: Dubai.”

The history of Monopoly dates back to 1903, when anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie invented “The Landlord’s Game” as an educational tool and feminist protest of sorts to the growing monopolies of the early 20th century. The game indeed caught on, spreading on college campuses, until Richard Darrow capitalized on the idea and sold a version to the Parker brothers.

Monopoly first officially hit shelves in 1935 and has evolved to become one of the world’s most popular brand board games, enjoyed by more than 1 billion players in 114 countries, according to Top Trumps. A few things that won’t change in the St. Paul edition are the race car, thimble, boot, top hat and battleship tokens from 1935, or Scottie dog and the wheelbarrow, which were added in the early 1950s.

“We’re going to keep them the same in this case,” Barney said. “People really like their nostalgia. Everyone really loves the thimble.”

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