Probably my parents would not like what I am about to say.
I like Brussels. I love Brussels. I enjoy living here, I appreciate being here, and I am grateful for being able to work here. This is my home for the foreseeable future, hopefully for the next fifteen to twenty years.
So what does this have to do with Monopoly? We, my lovely woman, and I love to play games. Card games in particular but also board games. And, not asking hardcore board game enthusiasts, is there a better game than Monopoly? Probably is, but I would tend to say that there are not that many Brussels-themed.
Last Christmas we decided that it should be fun to play Monopoly. We have not played it for a while. It is fun. We should buy it. We went to a couple of stores in Brussels but were not able to find the original game, a non-themed one. I decided to look on the Internet. Maybe Amazon sells it. I must have typed something particular in Google because it showed me the Brussels-themed Monopoly. I sent a screenshot to my woman and we both decided that this is the one. We need it. We have to have it.
But it was shown as sold out on Amazon. And there was no sight of it in any of the stores we previously visited. Maybe it was not meant to be.
Then on one Friday afternoon when I decided to have a haircut after work. I figured to go and look in a shop near the hairdresser (fun story, the hairdresser did not speak any English so it was a challenge to explain to him how I want my hair cut). But note that I was not planning on buying anything there. I just wanted to take a look and see if they have the original Monopoly since the Brussels-themed was sold out everywhere.
To my huge surprise, the game was there. Not the original. But the Brussels-themed. I did not have to think long. I immediately grabbed the game and went to the counter. I paid 50.00 EUR and could not wait to get home and show it to my amazing woman.
The next day we played the first game. I lost. And now I want to play it every day. Probably until I may win a couple of times since as of this writing, I am still yet to win a game. My woman is ruthless when it comes to games.
Also, a fun fact, the original Brussels-themed Monopoly featured the Manneken-Pis completely nude as in real life. Since the American market is prude the game designers had to make a slight change, namely, put underwear. So, if you manage to find this game where the Manneken-Pis is nude, consider yourself lucky, that is a collector’s item.
If you like Brussels, get your hands on this game. Thank me later.
Kind regards,
Olaaf
