Please, pass Go, and collect your $200 dollars because the city of Kingsville has been transformed into a board game with a classic take on Monopoly.
In early August, the local Kingsville Walmart started advertising the new board game, KINGSVILLE-OPOLY. It was available for $19.98 for a limited time only. Quickly the College of Business Administration got their hands on a few board games.
Most ACCT 2301 classes use KINGSVILLE-OPOLY as a way to practice basic accounting skills, learn how to differentiate assets, liabilities and how to journalize transactions. But the classes also use other games like Jeopardy and Family Feud along with activities like Candy Store depending on the material they are reviewing.
“The students seem to enjoy using the games while reviewing the lessons from class. In a survey we conducted last year about using the games, 76 percent of students thought they made learning accounting more fun than they thought it would be. I think using games in general and KINGSVILLE-OPOLY in particular is a useful classroom learning tool. Anything that helps students learn accounting is great in my opinion,” Genevieve Scalan, associate professor of accounting, said.
Nearly all of the accounting students enjoy using the game in their labs because it helps them obtain the information in an interesting environment.
“I feel it is a really good idea to transform Kingsville into a board game. In a sense it makes the game more realistic and enjoyable. I thought it was very cool to have Kingsville elements on such a popular board game. I’d consider this game to be one of my favorites,” Lupita Leon, an animal science major, said.
The Accounting Society is also currently planning for fun events like movie night, bowling and game night, and KINGSVILLE-OPOLY will probably make an appearance at one of those events soon.
The board game was created by Late for the Sky Production Company that began making specialty board games in 1984. Their first game was MIAMIOPOLY, based on Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The KINGSVILLE-OPOLY board game is very accurate with street names, restaurants, apartment complexes, but there are some discrepancies. On the board there is a Pinto Bean Cook Off as an event, but unfortunately Kingsville no longer hosts this event.
It would be impossible to include everything into the board game but, Late for the Sky jammed all the Kingsville they could into the box. KINGSVILLE OPOLY is full of outdoor adventures, family attractions, rich traditions and of course…a legendary ranch, but there is a little something for every Kingsvillian.
“I think it represents Kingsville in a sort of light with all the unique places,” Elleanna Longoria, an architectural engineering major, said.
