I completed the entire Monopoly Leeds Takeover map - and it took longer than expected
Armed with a map, a pencil and the lofty ambitions of an aspiring property magnate, I challenged myself to complete the Monopoly Leeds Takeover in just one day – but had perhaps underestimated the scale of the task.
The huge immersive experience, which landed in the city centre last week, sees players race to find inflated versions of the famous game pieces, solving puzzles along the way. The aim? To buy back the city from Mr Monopoly by collecting stamps and property prices at each location.
The giant tokens – a boot, a top hat, a rubber duck – have been scattered at popular destinations and are unmissable by virtue of their sheer size. There are eight to find, but that number should not be played down.
Life-size Monopoly is the latest innovation from LeedsBID, which aims to get more people into the city centre. They have succeeded on that front, as I saw countless families enjoying the fun on a sunny afternoon this week.
I began my journey at the Victoria Quarter, where a monumental Scottish Terrier appeared like an opulent gemstone from the window of a neighbouring jewellers, glimmering as though cast in stainless steel under the light of the parade’s glass roof.
The game was already worth it for the sculptural quality of this token alone, an oversized work of art.
A cast member, clad in a top hat and bow tie, stood nearby attending to a swelling queue of players. Their job is to reward correct answers with stamps at each of the game locations.
I was off to an easy start. The fairly straightforward task here involved finding Mr Monopoly inside the shopping centre. And although a handful of doppelgangers pasted on store windows almost tripped me up, it was not long before I had rooted out the eponymous property tycoon, earning myself a stamp at the checkpoint.
That first challenge lulled me into a false sense of security: there were trickier puzzles on the way. A fiddly maths problem at the St John’s Centre, for example, had me staring at an oversized, metallic wheelbarrow in bafflement.
It was also a regular occurrence that I’d forget to note down the property values – at each token, there are a handful of house prices that must be remembered – so found myself having to return more than once.
But this was not done begrudgingly. There are little details that would be easy to miss the first time around, like fun ‘mini-games’ and selfie spots. There are also opportunities to win prizes at locations across the city with the game’s classic Community Chest and Chance cards.
It did, however, slow down my progress, and by the time I’d ticked the fourth token off my map, I started to wonder whether completing the entire map in a single day might have been a little ambitious.
Undeterred, I pressed on to the Corn Exchange, where I collected another stamp and posed for a photo in a makeshift jail, crafted beautifully in true Monopoly fashion. It was here that I had a chance to talk to some of the other players getting stuck into the game, sharing tips about where to head next and what strategies to use for solving puzzles.
By the afternoon, my legs were aching and I was ready for a large wine, but the uniqueness of those larger-than-life tokens, and a pervading desire to seek them out, kept me going. I won my final stamp at the Royal Armouries on Leeds Dock, which was home to my favourite counter in the classic game, the battleship. I’d finished after around four hours.
The satisfaction I felt came not only from having a fully completed map, but from knowing that I’d explored my city in way that I’d never normally have been able to. It was a chance to admire the great cultural destinations we already have in Leeds – and hunting for a massive metallic dog was certainly a memorable afternoon activity.