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Ayr has won a Scottish ‘beauty contest’ – seeing off 19 other places – to land its very own official version of the MONOPOLY game, it was announced today.

The region is celebrating after games bosses studied 19 other Scottish places from The Shetlands to Inverness and St. Andrews to The Borders.

But it is Ayr ‘Passing GO’ with a game out this October, in time for Christmas.

George Shrimpton, from the game’s makers Winning Moves UK, said: “We are delighted that the MONOPOLY dice are rolling on Ayr. It has beaten 19 other great Scottish places in a very exciting contest.

“We studied 20 Scottish places. Very many congratulations to Ayr. We discovered it has lots of hidden treasures – absolutely essential as we need around 30 leading landmarks to fill the board.

“This edition will feature the great and the good of Ayr.”

Caroline Smith, the National Trust for Scotland’s operations manager at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, said it was entirely fitting that Ayrshire should have its own version of MONOPOLY given how much of Scotland’s story was shaped here.

She added: “Ayrshire is chock-full of important landmarks from Culzean Castle to Burns Cottage among many others. As the birthplace and home of Robert Burns, Ayrshire shapes our national culture and international image to this very day.

“Burns himself was in love with the county and wrote: ‘Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses, For honest men and bonnie lasses’.

Robert Burns’ birthplace, Ayr Racecourse, the airport, some of the very many Castles in Ayr including Culzean Castle will get to replace the famous London MONOPOLY classic property spaces like Mayfair and Park Lane.

Mr Shrimpton added: “Ayr has very many crown jewels from the racecourse to the airport to very many of its castles and, of course, absolutely everything Robert Burns.”

Now the public will be invited to vote for Ayr landmarks to feature in the game over a two-week period.

The new game will be themed in sets: from tourism to heritage, culture to shopping, hotels to sport, education to business, charity to travel – and more.

There may even be a special Robert Burns set of either two, three or four landmarks honouring him.

It would certainly be poetic justice for the literary genius familiarly and lovingly known as – variously – The National Bard, the Bard of Ayrshire… even the Ploughman Bard.

The Chance and Community Chest cards are being Ayr customised too.

One card could penalise players for getting stuck in the rough at Royal Troon, another could reward players for winning first prize in an Elvis lookalike competition.

Mr Shrimpton, custom games executive at Winning Moves UK – who are producing this game under official license from the MONOPOLY brand, owned by Hasbro – added:

“We can’t wait to see the suggestions for the MONOPOLY property spaces and cards.

“Not just specifically which Ayr landmarks should feature – but also on what coloured locations. For example, a shopping centre on the Oxford Street space? Or a newspaper on Fleet Street? Maybe a local government building on Whitehall? Or somewhere very old on Old Kent Road?

“All of the multi-coloured MONOPOLY property spaces – 22 in total – will be exclusively customised to Ayr leading landmarks and organisations. Additionally, the four train stations will take on a travel theme and most of the Chance and Community Chest cards will be Ayr themed.”

Votes for Ayr landmarks and cards to feature in the game via three ways:

By email to: ayr@winningmoves.co.uk or go to the official Ayr MONOPOLY Facebook page.

Or by good old fashioned post to: Ayr MONOPOLY, Winning Moves UK, 7 Praed Street, London W2 1NJ. Polling starts now and closes at 23.59pm on March 16.