A student organization at Grand Valley State University's Seidman College of Business has created a Grand Rapids-themed version of the board game Monopoly. Soon players will be able to buy companies like Alticor, Meijer and Steelcase while moving pieces shaped like local landmarks like Calder's La Grande Vitesse.
The project was spearheaded by the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO) at Grand Valley. Business sponsorships and sales of the game will raise funds to establish a CEO student scholarship at Grand Valley.
The game board is patterned after the familiar Monopoly board, but it features prominent local businesses in the place of the original names. Boardwalk is Alticor, Park Place is Meijer, and Steelcase is Pacific Avenue (the three highest valued properties in the game). Other featured businesses are Behler-Young, Louis Padnos Iron and Metal Company, The Gilmore Collection, 1913 Room, Rockford Construction, Old Orchard, WZZM, Grand Valley State, Calvin College, and Aquinas College. The hotels will be shaped as the Amway Grand, and houses will represent the conservatory at the Frederick Meijer Gardens. Tokens will also be shaped as local attractions, such as the La Grande Vitesse, Leonardo Da Vinci Horse, John Ball statue, and other area landmarks.
The game will be manufactured in an initial run of 8,000 by USAopoly, the only Hasbro-licensed custom Monopoly game producers. The games will be available for purchase directly from the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization and Grand Rapids-area Meijer stores starting in mid-August. The retail price is $29.95.
The project began when graduate advisor Daniel Mulka was working on a presentation for professor Tom Schwarz for his BUS380 Entrepreneurial Journey class. The presentation was about buying and selling businesses, and Mulka decided to use a Monopoly theme. Inspired by the NHL edition of Monopoly, Mulka brought up the idea with Schwarz about a possible customized Monopoly project for the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization.
Starting in October, three members of the club--Daryn Kuipers, John Dykhouse, and Jeff Webb--along with Mulka, met once a week to work on a business plan. The group finished the business plan, and had several faculty members review the project. This included presentations and review sessions with faculty advisors Tom Schwarz and Robert Frey, then-Interim Seidman College of Business Dean John Reifel, Vice President of Finance Tim Schad, Provost Gayle Davis, and President Mark Murray.
The group has made presentations to several local businesses in the past two months. Members taken part in presentations include Kuipers, Dykhouse, Webb, Mulka, Trevor Pawl, Rebecca Denman, Callie Gizicki, Sarah Whitney, and incoming CEO President Andy Teichman.
The Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization at Grand Valley is part of a nationwide organization which develops start-up business fundamentals and builds student interest in entrepreneurship by hosting speakers, providing instruction in business plan writing, and through starting up smaller businesses. The scholarship funded by the Monopoly sales would be awarded to a student interested in entrepreneurship, is outgoing in the CEO organization, and deemed to have a successful chance in starting their business. For more information, contact the GVSU Center for Entrepreneurship at (616) 331-7582. The Grand Valley CEO website is located at http://www2.gvsu.edu/~ceo.
