life-sized monopoly

an anonymous artist (or group of artists?) by the name of Bored took their work to the streets last month in the form of a giant monopoly board game. all around Chicago, elements of the board were installed on the streets: dice, community chest cards, even the landing spaces like Park Place and the dreaded Income Tax.

the cards are made of plywood and painted orange like the real ones! it reads “Carissa, will you marry me? If yes, advance one block south to nearest church.” apparently, a blogger named Nate actually went to the nearest church to ask if there was a wedding, but they knew nothing about it.

Bored stated “the goal of this entire project has been to present something different than a stencil painted on the ground or a poster pasted to a wall. Something 3-dimensional that can be picked up, beaten down, kicked, yanked, grabbed, and broken. And if someone ever put forth the effort to remove it, like a weed it will always grow back. And if left alone it will evolve into something different.”

it will be interesting to see how long the pieces can really last in the city, maybe that’s part of the social experiment or installation perhaps? the fact that the artist is anonymous makes it even more of a mystery. could it be a genius marketing plan by the Monopoly board game company? probably not – but it’s a genius marketing moment nonetheless!