Last year, I wrote about the hand-drawn Monopoly board that Alan Turing and friends played with at Bletchley Park. Now it's an official set. Chris from Bletchley Park sez,:
Bletchley Park is delighted to officially launch the Alan Turing
Monopoly board, developed from a unique original board in the
Bletchley Park Museum, hand-drawn by William Newman, son of Turing’s
mentor, Max, over sixty years ago.In this special edition of Monopoly, the squares around the board and
revised Chance and Community Chest cards tell the story of Alan
Turing’s life along with key elements of the original hand-drawn
board, which the great mathematician played on with a young William in
the early 1950s – and lost. The board has been developed by the
Bletchley Park Trust, William Newman and Winning Moves, which creates
new editions of Monopoly.
In addition to the new board, the set includes:
- Replica of the
original hand-drawn board, complete with William’s own rules- Never
before seen pictures of Turing, kindly given by the Turing
family- Turing’s face on all the banknotes – putting him on the
£10 not, as per the current petition!- Huts and Blocks (the
buildings which housed the Bletchley Park codebreakers and their
machines) in place of traditional houses and hotels- The story of
the board, and explanations of the squares throughout “Bringing this
board to life has been one of the most exciting and unique projects
we’ve been involved with here, and we’re thrilled to see it finally
available for others to enjoy,” said Iain Standen, CEO of the
Bletchley Park Trust. “This edition really completes the fantastic
story of the board, from it being played on by Turing (and his losing
on it!), to it going missing and then being rediscovered and donated
to the museum here. Of course, we’re also very proud that Bletchley
Park adorns the ‘Mayfair’ square!”
The original board was drawn around 1950 and was played upon by
William and his brother Edward, but went missing around 1986 when
William moved from the family house in Cambridge. It resurfaced in
2011 when the owners of the property discovered a box of William’s
belongings, and he brought the board to Bletchley Park and donated it
to the Museum. Since then, the Park and Winning Moves have been
designing and developing the edition based on this original.Peter Griffin, Development Director EMEA, Winning Moves, added, “We
hope fans of Turing across the globe will enjoy playing on this very
special edition of Monopoly. Through play, they will find out more
about Turing’s remarkable life and his crucial role shaping the
society we enjoy today. As an ex-Kings College student, where Turing
himself studied, this was an honour to help develop.”The commercial board has been kindly supported by Google, which has
bought the first 1,000 units as a donation to the Bletchley Park
Trust. The board is initially exclusively available from the Bletchley
Park website, and from the Museum Shop.
Bletchley Park Launches Special Edition Alan Turing Monopoly Board
