Taking a Chance on Neil, the Monopoly Collector

Taking a Chance on Neil, the Monopoly Collector

Neil's Guinness World Record Attempt 


One thing we have found with all of the collectors that we’ve met to date, whether it was Taxidermy, Slot Cars or Radios, is that they’re all incredibly excited about their collections and love to share them.  This wasn’t any different when we met Neil Scallan who approached us with his huge collection of Monopoly boards.  In fact, he was so excited to share his collection with us he was waiting on the door step when we arrived to interview him!  His enthusiasm was infectious.
 

Where it all began

We first came across Neil via one of our stores where he popped in to enquire about storage space for his vast collection of Monopoly Games.
 
Speaking to him during our interview the questions began with ‘why Monopoly’?  The average family might own one or two boards, so it certainly made us curious when he revealed that his collection is in the region of over 3,000! 
 
Neil’s obsession with collecting Monopoly boards only started 10 years ago when he was on holiday.  He wanted to buy a souvenir that reminded him of his holiday but a keyring or a fridge magnet was too predictable.  So instead, he opted for a Monopoly board and that’s where it all began.

  " My girlfriend does her nut "

His passion for collecting has grown over the years and he now scours the internet every day for a board to add to his collection.  He is also open to travelling overseas in search of rare boards and whilst most of us would get frustrated at the thought of a plane delay at the end of a trip, Neil sees it as a further opportunity to do some more Monopoly shopping.  On one trip to the United States he was thrilled when he was delayed in Minneapolis on his way back from Vegas and got to shop in one of Americas biggest shopping malls!
 

How many versions are there?

Prior to meeting Neil we had no idea that there were so many different versions of Monopoly.  Currently the classic board is manufactured in 47 different languages and sold in over a 100 countries.   However there are also custom editions for countries, regions, cities, corporations and clubs and on top of that there are also themed editions.  To put it this way, you’d struggle to think of a topic and not find a Monopoly Version. 
 
We’ve also learned that Safestore commissioned their very own version years ago.  We hope to track it down one day so if you’re reading this and have one, please do get in touch!

Buzzfeed posted about 13 of The Weirdest Monopoly Editions Ever Created a few years back including a Bass Fishing Edition, Horse Lovers and Swindon.  This should give you a pretty good idea of the variety available.
 

Fun facts about Neil’s collection

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  • Neil normally only collects one of each set and they remain sealed. 
  • He currently has every set from New Zealand. 
  • His two favourites are The Hong Kong Limited Edition and Kinder Eggs. 
  • His most sought after board is the 1,000,000 Edition board, a limited edition board designed to commemorate the publication of Monopoly’s millionth copy – they only made 100.
  • When asked if he played monopoly himself, the answer was a surprising no!
 
In June this year, he’ll be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the most Monopoly Board Games.  He is fairly confident he’ll break it as the current record is 500 sets and, as previously mentioned he estimates his collection at roughly 3,000 (although he’s not entirely sure because he’s never curated them).

  " My parents have no idea how many I actually have..."

At the moment the collection is spread across two locations; some are in his parents’ loft but the vast majority are in his bedroom.  They’re stacked from floor to ceiling and take up a lot of the living space – hardly surprising as the games are about 6 rows deep!

IMG_4053-(1).JPG
 

  " I'm looking forward to see the sets I haven't seen for a long time! "

We’re lucky enough to be able to get involved with Neil’s World Record attempt.  The games are currently being relocated to DHL, 400 at a time, and from there they’ll be transported to one of our stores where we’ve given him a large self storage unit for a week (and free parking, wink wink!).  The unit will come complete with racking so he can catalogue and photograph them all prior to submitting his application to Guinness World Records and hopefully give the public and the press an opportunity to view this impressive collection.  We will keep you posted but let’s keep our fingers crossed that Neil can monopolize the record attempt!
 
(We apologise sincerely for the terrible puns throughout this post)
 

Win one of two Inflatable Games (Monopoly or Scrabble)

inflatablemonopoly-(1).jpg
Neil has generously given us two games to give-away.  To enter simply use the rafflecopter form below. Competition ends on the 30th of June.  Full terms and conditions can be viewed at the bottom of the form, in short UK residents only 18+ years of age.  Winners and prizes will be chosen at random.

Good luck!

  ​a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

This competition is listed on Loquax and Prize Finder.
 

*****

Discover more collector articles on Safestore’s blog where you’ll find a range of topics; from world record attempts to quirky collection facts and more.  Or, if you require storage for a collection of your own we have a range of self storage options in over 100 locations – find your nearest store for a quote today.

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