Everybody–well, everybody who’s a pedantic trivia maven–knows that the properties on the Monopoly board are named after streets in Atlantic City, New Jeresy. (The truly pedantic will protest that Marven Gardens–not Marvin Gardens–is a subdivision outside of Atlantic City proper, but we certainly don’t know any people like that.) Apparently the Monopolists at Hasbro have seen fit to update every capitalist’s favorite board game with locations from around the country, and to select said locations by means of another great American institution: democracy. You can vote for San Francisco’s representative, as well as those of twenty-one other cities, here.

The choices for San Francisco are the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, and Fisherman’s Wharf. I guess these are all reasonable things for them to select, although I find the prospect of building a hotel on the Golden Gate Bridge rather disturbing. I’m pulling for Lombard Street myself, on the grounds that we should prefer streets to other landmarks, but the Golden Gate Bridge has a commanding lead. (Yes, the Boardwalk isn’t strictly a street, but it ought to be sui generis anyway.)

I suppose we ought to be grateful we didn’t meet Minneapolis’s fate: of the three landmarks Hasbro selected, two aren’t even in Minneapolis. (The Mall of America is in Bloomington, and Summit Avenue is in Saint Paul; rough SF analogies would be San Mateo and Oakland respectively.) The Stone Arch Bridge is in Minneapolis, but the picture on the website shows the 10th Avenue Bridge. (An even rougher SF analogy would be mistaking the Bay Bridge for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.)

Actually, if they really wanted to add local flavor, they could add cards like “Muni behind schedule: skip a turn” and “You win second prize in a beauty contest.” Oh, hey, it looks like that second one is already in there! Hooray!

Related posts:

1. Golden Gate, the
2. Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point
3. San Francisco Queen Sized
4. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
5. Today: Festival of Sail Parade