Rochester has officially passed “go.”

The Flower City is the latest to receive a special Monopoly edition game board, set to be released in February 2025 and feature squares named after landmarks around town. Exactly which landmarks remains unknown for now.

But at a news conference Friday morning, hosted at the Strong Museum of Play’s outdoor Hasbro Game Park, mocked-up squares bore the names (and potential game values) of three local spots: The George Eastman Museum ($280), Highland Park ($400) and naturally, the Strong itself ($320).

These three may or may not end up in the final version, according to Hasbro representative John Marano. But the idea is that the entire game board will reflect beloved Rochester sites.

“Instead of the Atlantic Avenues and Baltic Avenues, Pennsylvania Avenues, it could be the Strong Museum or anything that's Rochester specific and well-loved in the community,” he said.

Marano works with Top Trumps USA, the company Hasbro partners with to make the games.



“Our job here is to capture, really, the essence of what Rochester is,” he said. “Rochester loves Rochester. The community here is deeply ingrained with all the deep culture, rich history and great art and museums and everything that represents what the city is.”

To that end, community members can send suggestions for square ideas to [email protected].

Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce’s president, Bob Duffy, said the organization will do its part in advocating for local businesses and leaders to receive their own spots on the board.

“This is an iconic honor for an iconic city,” Duffy said. “There's so much that you can take, and I think the squares will be fun. It'll give, I believe, people here a great sense of pride.”

Steve Dubnik, head of the Strong Museum, said Monopoly was a first-ballot inductee into the National Toy Hall of Fame, which launched in 1998. The museum houses “hundreds” of versions of the game, including creator Charles Darrow’s handmade prototype.

“If you haven't seen it, you really should take an opportunity because it is somewhat different — round versus square,” Dubnik said. “It really led to this entire effort.”

Rochester is the second location in New York State to receive its own Monopoly edition after the Hamptons. Top Trumps USA has partnered with Hasbro on about 40 regional variations of the game.

Marano said local pride is the motivating factor for which cities get chosen.

“There's a reason why we haven't done stuff in Miami Beach or Manhattan,” he said. “Those places are great. There's just not that local connection to the businesses and to the greater community in general. Rochester has that in spades.”

Patrick Hosken is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].