A majority of people alive today consider themselves collectors of either one thing or another, and nearly anything is possible to be collected. Board games are absolutely no exception and can actually prove to be one of the more exciting things that collectors can pursue. When a collector decides to pursue a board game collection, they are usually confronted with an interesting challenge. Many board games have been around for 50 years or more, with revised editions being released somewhat frequently. Not only does this present a challenge with tracking down each edition released, but most games release a Special Collector's Anniversary Edition, whether it be at 10 years, 25 years, or 50 years on the market. Often, more than one anniversary edition will even be released, presenting an obstacle to the collector. These Special Collector's Editions, nearly always in limited release, can be one of the hardest pieces of a collection to track down, but ultimately the most satisfying.

Monopoly, being one of the most beloved board games, has a number of Special Collector's Editions available, some of them feasible for the public and some of them not. Some of the most popular Collector's Editions come in the form of the theme of the game. Fans can purchase editions from Betty Boop, The Simpsons, and Coca Cola, to games that are themed after an area other than Atlantic City, such as New York City, New England, or National Parks. Special Editions aren't limited to solely different themes, however. Monopoly has released re-prints of the original 1935 edition of the game as well as Anniversary Editions, all the way up to their latest 70th Anniversary. These editions usually come in a tin game case, with specially embossed game cards and tokens.

There have been some very exquisite editions of Monopoly available, however, which have delighted fans. In 1978, Neiman Marcus released an edition of Monopoly through their Christmas Wish Book that was made entirely using chocolate. Every single piece of this set is edible, from the playing pieces and the dice, the cards and hotels, and even the board itself! This deluxe set was retailed for $600 and was quite popular with Monopoly fans. Additionally, in 2000, the famous toy store F.A.O. Schwartz released One-of-a-Kind Monopoly for $100,000, which could be found with 18 Karat Gold pieces, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires built into the board, and real US currency in place of play money.

Clue is another game which has featured multiple Special Collector's Editions, some from very high places. The Franklin Mint produced a version of the game on a fully three-dimensional game board that has gold plated pieces and cards as well as a complete redesign of the cards involved. A more affordable version was produced for the 50th Anniversary Edition, featuring the game in a tin game case, but with specially designed suspect tokens, weapons, and card design. This, in addition to a new version being produced around every 10 years, gives the Clue collector a large base to cover in their quest. Collecting these, or any board game, can prove to be a fun challenge. However, it may take quite a while for a serious collector to find all the pieces, meaning that they must have a dedicated love to the game to achieve their goal!

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures. You will find all these things and more if you visit collectors edition board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.