At my local railway station I recently noticed a poster from Public Transport Victoria, stating “We’ve made it to Melbourne Monopoly”. But for me the bigger question is – did the taxpayer have to pay to get there?

At the Melbourne Monopoly launch event in November 2015, a specially wrapped City Circle tram was a prominent feature.

But soon after the launch, music website Tone Deaf revealed that a Melbourne live music venue had been told they could appear on the game board, provided they stumped up the cashola:

According to James Young, owner and booker of much-loved Melbourne venue Cherry Bar, there could be a good reason why any music venues were left off the Melbourne edition of Monopoly. Fittingly, it has to do with money. “In June this year I was approached by a guy from Winning Moves in Sydney who was super keen to include AC/DC Lane in the Melbourne edition of Monopoly,” Young told Tone Deaf. Cherry Bar is located on AC/DC Lane in Melbourne CBD. “I sent him some pics of the Lane and he was gushing with excitement to include AC/DC Lane, but then he dropped the fact that we [Cherry Bar in AC/DC Lane] could be included for $15,000, paid in three easy $5,000 instalments.”

So did Public Transport Victoria make a payment to Winning Moves to appear on the Melbourne Monopoly board, or was it just a promotional tie in with the specially painted tram?

I fired off a question via the PTV inquiry form to find out – and received a surprisingly honest response.

I have been advised that PTV entered into a commercial partnership with Winning Moves to leverage from the Monopoly game and brand. Monopoly is an iconic game the world over and the same business model is used across the world. As part of this agreement, PTV purchased 4 travel squares which included – Flinders Street, Melbourne Central, Parliament and Southern Cross Stations. The W Class tram was also included as a game token. Hence the tram wrap as a giant token, was an ideal way to help promote this and to gain some valuable media coverage – of which has provided a significant return on investment. Yarra Trams provided the tram to wrap and PTV covered the cost of materials.

However their response leaves me asking this question – if PTV didn’t purchase the four railway station squares on the Melbourne Monopoly game board, who else would Winning Moves have sold them to? It isn’t like Sydney Trains or TransPerth could have swooped in and taken their place!

Footnote

The PTV poster also features this delightful run-on sentence, which took my brain some time to parse:

Public transport will feature in the new Melbourne Monoply game proving it’s a great way to travel Melbourne.

So how does featuring on a board game prove the quality of a service?

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