They progress around the board by peddling crack cocaine, raiding banks or visiting sex shows. Instead of buying houses and hotels, participants buy crack houses and brothels. The traditional pieces of the dog, the hat and the iron have been replaced by the marijuana leaf, the pimp and the sub-machine gun. Ghettopoly, currently sold in Virgin Megastores to children as young as 13, uses a Monopoly-style board to portray in graphic form the extremes of urban ganglife. Outlets in Dallas, Miami, Portland, New York City and Philadelphia, among others, stopped selling Ghettopoly this week.Philadelphia - A children's board game that glorifies drug-dealing, prostitution and armed robbery is at the centre of legal action because the makers of Monopoly claim that it is too similar to their game. Customers in the San Francisco outlet on Powell Street were asking clerks where they could buy it, as were costumers, most of them college students, in the downtown Berkeley outlet. As of Sunday, the outlet on North Clark Street in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, had more than 250 people on its waiting list. The game was a hot seller for Urban Outfitters. In interviews in the past week, Chang said Ghettopoly targeted every race of both genders for example, a "playa" is sent to "Ling Ling's Massage Parlour" for sex. In the works are "Hiphopopoly," "Hoodopoly" and "Thugopoly." She asked, 'What's next? A game about Latinos in gangs?"Ĭhang, in the press release, said a second game, "Redneckpoly," will be available this fall. "It's not something to joke about, not something to make a game out of." "There are people who live in the ghetto, people who sell dope and live in projects to survive," said the 19-year-old, who works at Wet Seal in the San Francisco Centre. Not to Karina Ek, who is Mexican American. It's 'stupid- funny,' you know? Like how the movie, 'Dude, Where's My Car?' is both funny and stupid. Ly, an 18-year-old Chinese American, chimed in: "It's funny. 'The people who'll play the game will get that it's a joke." I mean, come on," said Brooks, 20, who is African American. The two spent nearly four hours on the corner of Powell and Market streets Thursday afternoon, "street dancing" to hip hop remixes booming from the stereo. Jetski Brooks and Tommy Ly, boyhood friends from East Oakland, see nothing wrong with the game. Pay $100 for a new set." A "Ghetto Stash" card reads: "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. In Ghettopoly, a "Hustle" card reads: "Hernando had one of this boyz jack yo wheels. If we can't laugh at ourselves and how we each utilize the various stereotypes, then we'll continue to live in blame and bitterness."Ī graduate of the University of Rochester, Chang conducted "market research by watching MTV and studying the lyrics of rap and hip hop music," said the press release, adding that video games provided Chang "insight into the culture of the ghetto." It draws on stereotypes not as a means to degrade. In a press release promoting the game, he wrote: "Ghettopoly is controversial because it's both fun and real life. Marys, Pa., could not be reached for comment. According to where the board game is still on sale for $29.95, Ghettopoly is sold out and is currently on back order.Ĭhang, who emigrated from Taiwan at age 8 and lives in St. "If anything, we just get more calls asking where they could get it," said the clerk, a college student who asked not to be named.ĭavid Chang, the 28-year-old Taiwanese American creator of the game, will continue selling the game on the Internet. But a memo from the Philadelphia headquarters of the store, read on the phone by a store clerk from a Chicago outlet, stated: "Due to customer concerns, we've decided to recall and no longer sell the product." Urban Outfitters, a seller of urban street wear clothing, has not issued a public statement. "It is important that as our communities find out about this offensive issue, and we address it, that we come together and engage in intelligent dialogue," Honda said. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, condemned the store for selling what he called "a racist board game." Other stores yanked the game earlier this week.īlack leaders in Philadelphia, Chicago and Seattle were incensed at the board game, calling on the 52 outlets of Urban Outfitters to stop carrying them. Thursday, the game, which has no affiliation to the Monopoly board game or its maker, Hasbro, was pulled from the shelves of the Bay Area's two stores in Berkeley and San Francisco. Urban Outfitters outlets across the country began selling the game a month ago. "Playa" (player) pieces include a 40-ouncer of malt, a marijuana leaf, a basketball and a "hoe," while "Smitty's XXX Peep Show," "Hernando's Chop Shop" and "Busta Rap Recording" are some of the properties.
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