When Lagos broke Guinness record for Monopoly

Recently, an incredible number of 1,217 participants from 100 secondary schools in Lagos State gathered at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, with the goal of smashing the current record set in the Guinness Book for the ‘Most People Playing Monopoly in a Single Venue.’  The event, organised by Bestman Games, in partnership with the Lagos […]

Recently, an incredible number of 1,217 participants from 100 secondary schools in Lagos State gathered at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, with the goal of smashing the current record set in the Guinness Book for the ‘Most People Playing Monopoly in a Single Venue.’ 

The event, organised by Bestman Games, in partnership with the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) and FBN Holdings, was the 2016 edition of the ‘City of Lagos Under-17 Monopoly Game.’ But the sheer number of players crowded at the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium to participate in the Monopoly competition easily dwarfed the number of 605 participants who had earlier this year on March 19, 2016 converged at the Universal Studio, Singapore, to set a world record playing Monopoly.

 The Singapore record-setting team had itself broken the previous record of 585 participants achieved by High School Wycombe Abbey, United Kingdom, in December, 2015.

The Lagos Monopoly game was launched in 2012 and was the first African City edition of the Hastbro’s board game.

The hall was set up with 153 tables, each one having a banker attached to it, while stewards were positioned around the hall to facilitate the event’s flow, with a judge to take final decisions on disputes.

Each table’s winner got a N5, 000 Educational Fund Prize donated by First Bank. 

At the end of the event, Elizabeth Braimoh of Topfield College, Apapa, was declared the Grand Prize Winner of the City of Lagos U-17 Monopoly Championship after earning the highest score of N17, 614 among all the competing students to win N600, 000 worth of educational grants.

Ojo Aliu of Boys Junior Academy earned N13, 599 finishing second and receiving N500,000 worth of educational grants. 

Nwabueze Precious of Topfield College earned N13, 557 finishing third and winning N300,000, while Robert Stanley of Ajeromi Ifelodun Senior High School clinched fourth position after earning N12, 232. 

The coaches of the participating schools also got gifts from the organisers.

Braimoh told Daily Trust on Saturday that the game was a tough one, “but due to our determination and how we set our goals, we were able to emerge winner.”

She said the game taught her to be serious in anything she is engaged in. She noted that the preparation for the game was tough but their coach taught them to be persistent and not give up.

The principal of Topfield College, Apapa, Mr. Onasanya Gbadebo was beside himself wit joy that the school emerged overall winner of the championship.

He spoke of how the preparation was tasking, saying the students practised every day, except Saturday and Sunday, but including public holidays.

 He described the game as one of luck, composure, psychology, strategy, tactics and skills.

Mr. Babaseun Ojo, one of the coaches of Ajeromi Ifelodun Senior High School, said the game had exposed the students on how to do business and earn money.

“What I thought them when they were practising was that the major way they can learn how to invest is through monopoly. 

“Today, we have set another world record because over 1,000 students participated in this game, while the highest number in the Guinness Book of Records is just 605 participants,” Ojo added.

The Chief Executive Officer of Bestman Games, Mini Akinkugbe, told Daily Trust on Saturday that the number of students who participated in the competition exceeded her expectations.

“What we have here is indescribable. We have witnessed a record set in Lagos, and this will go down in the history of the sport. We exceeded our target but we did not want to deny anybody participation, so we had to accommodate everybody until there was no space to contain them,” she said.

According to Akinkugbe, the Monopoly game was much more than a board game with many practical lessons embedded in it, and it promotes entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.

“Among other things, the Monopoly board game offers immense educational value and is an excellent vehicle for teaching important real life lessons and skills. It fosters communication and social interaction, and enhances numeracy skill, negotiation, cooperation, mind stimulation and critical thinking,” Akinkugbe noted.

“We want our youths to learn lessons on investments at their early stages. We want to leverage on the game to teach young people how to handle money responsibly,” she added.

 The Special Adviser on Sports to the Governor of Lagos State, Deji Tinubu, expressed the State’s pride and joy at being part of the event. 

“These sports give room for critical thinking. The students are happy to participate in the championship, because it has given them the opportunity to test their skills among their peers, which is a good step for them,” Tinubu stated.

One of the sponsors, FBN Holdings, said it agreed to sponsor the competition due to its commitment to promotion of financial literacy and entrepreneurship for youth empowerment.

Global Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney “Monopoly is a game that uniquely provides a near real life scenario or experience to the players in the areas of developing good judgment, sound financial planning through investment, growing portfolio and learning sometimes from bad investment or judgment.

“The sponsorship of the game is no doubt very apt as a platform for exposure, and as teaching aids for children and ultimately to equip them for the real deal now and in the future,” she said.

Monopoly is a board game that originated in the United States of America in 1903 as a way of demonstrating that an economy which rewards wealth creation is better than one in which monopolists work under few constraints.

The game is named after the economic concept of monopoly, which is the domination of a market by a single entity, and is owned and produced by the American game and toy company, Hastbro.

Players move around the game board buying or trading properties, developing their properties with houses and hotels, and collecting rent from their opponents, with the aim of driving them into bankruptcy, leaving one monopolist in control of the entire economy.

The board game has been licensed in more than 103 countries and printed in more than 37 languages, with different countries and cities domiciling the landmarks to suit their individual structures, cultures and geographies.