HomeTown Monopoly - Coon Rapids, MN - 1986 Edition

This happy blue family is settling in for a game of Hometown Monopoly. The blue wood panelling does not offer any clues as to which hometown this is, but I suspect it's not Coon Rapids, MN. Also looks like there's plenty of room for the happy blue family to sit a little more spread out. Four people squished that close together just bothers me. In picture form yes, but especially in real life.

But I'm not going to let that affect my judgement of:

Hometown Monopoly: 1986 Coon Rapids, MN edition!

I acquired this game from a friend of mine last winter. As soon as I knew he had it, I was going to give it to Laura for X-Mess. We would then play it, and I could write this story about our game!

After bringing the game home, I took inventory and checked out all the pieces, then improved the storage method of those pieces and cards. From what I could tell on the Googles, the only thing this game was missing was a 4 color promotional card. From the looks of it, I'm thinking this card would have been placed loose, on top of the box. Which would then be shrink-wrapped and shipped out for retail sales.

Once everything was repackaged, it was giftwrapped, and placed under the X-Mess tree with care. 

The X-Mess tree itself was taped carefully to the Mario Bros. video game in our living room. I cannot be accused of not going all out for the holidays!

Laura was definitely down with my plan for 1986 Crapids-opoly, but we didn't get around to playing it until April 24th, 2022. Because life gets all lifey sometimes...

Before setting up the game, let's take a quick look at the board!

Pretty good selection of Coon Rapids 1986 era businesses and landmarks, in the game. Almost as interesting as to where many of them are placed. Which ones got a key space on the board, and which ones received a lesser valued property. 

I'll be honest. I didn't read Coon Rapids Monopoly rules overly close while setting up the game. My assumption being that it's basically Monopoly. We all know how Monopoly is played. Any variation on the game -or house rules- can be looked up later, or be done without compromising the integrity of the game. Unless that's the point?

But it's not today. We are going to play as straightforward of a game as possible!

So let's get the board set up and get all the Coon Rapids-opoly underway!

I'm assuming the role of banker for the game. I’ve noticed Laura's habit of sometimes shoddy record keeping in other past games we’ve played. Not hinting at cheating, just missing some things when distracted. 

And this is Crapids-opoly.

This is SERIOUS!

She rolled a 9, clearly beating my 7, to win the first move of the game.

A first turn that would land her on Fast Glass, collecting an easy $3,000, to add to her starting cash.

Nice bump to start off the game.

My first roll was a whopping 4. Landing me on Elaine's women's fashions, which I immediately bought for $1,800. Elaine's was located in the Northdale Shopping Center. I don't know when it closed, but it was a store my mom shopped at in the mid 1980's. Distinctly remember their plastic drawstring shopping bags. Light blue in color, with a darker blue Elaine's logo across them. The store had fake wood paneling on the walls, that wasn't blue. That's the only other thing I remember about the store, other than the shopping bags. And that they sold women's clothes.

Standard Monopoly has Chance and Community Chest as card drawing options. Coon Rapids-opoly has Doubles Cards, with the HomeTown Productions Hobo Logo on them.

HomeTown Productions, out of LA Crescent, MN. marketed Hometown Monopoly to over 500 cities and towns during their run. Eventually the trademarks were sold to Parker Brothers, then licensed back to produce the local games. Buncha business stuff that I don't understand is involved in all of that, so I’m not going to bother summarizing. HomeTown Productions stopped making board games in 1996. 

Laura was the first to draw one, landing on Pedro Luggage, then taking a “Doubles” card. The St. Paul Winter Carnival is asking her to donate $500 to the event. 1986 was the year they built the giant ice castle in downtown St. Paul. You couldn't avoid stories of the 1986 St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Castle, in the winter of 1986. Now you can retroactively thank her for helping construct the thing!

My second property purchase was HomeCraft Interiors, for $3,400.

Because that's so my thing...

This is what the Crapids-opoly property cards look like. You get the company logo, with rental and mortgage information at the bottom, below their address. Regular Monopoly has you buy 4 houses, before upgrading to a hotel. HomeTown Monopoly doesn't have houses and hotels, but "branches". And you only need one of those. The card backs feature a small bio/advertisement for each business.

Which are fascinating, since very few of them are still around today!

Laura hadn't bought any property yet, but collected another $3,000. This time for landing on Marsh Optical. Very early in the game, but two trends are setting up how it’s going to progress. She is adding a pretty good chunk of cash to add to her opening bank. Obviously this will come in handy down the road, when the chance to purchase better properties comes up.

On the other hand, I'm burning through my Crapids-opoly cash, snapping up every property I land on. Typically, this isn't the best strategy for Monopoly. If you spent a decent amount of money on a space that no one lands on, you're not collecting rent, just wasting money.

Case in point would be LaPanta's Hallmark. I landed here and immediately bought it for $4,800.

Laura landed on LaPanta's on the very next roll. I hadn't even left yet. But I cleared $1,200 in rent, of my initial purchase price, just moments after I bought my own Hallmark franchise.

If this trend continued, LaPanta's Hallmark could be a lucrative asset for my Coon Rapids portfolio. Potentially bringing in thousands over the rest of the game. 

Laura didn't land there again, even once.

This photo of the very sad main corridor of the Coon Rapids Family Center Mall, was taken just a few weeks ago. According to the Crapids-opoly card, LaPanta's Hallmark opened in 1977, and would have been in the storefront on the left side. Not sure when LaPanta's closed though. They were still open in 1995, but I don't think they lasted 20 years total in business.

Directly across the hall was Kent's Jewelry, if this picture went further lefter, you'd see it. Both Laura and I took turns ignoring this business, when we landed on it multiple times. The diamond industry is pretty disgusting if you look into it, and I didn't even want a fictional ownership of a business long gone. 

But here's a Coon Rapids institution that has lasted the test of time, and is still going strong today...

Represented here, from a 1975 Coon Rapids city map (I can't recognize the building behind the sign, must be that truck stop at CR Blvd. and Mississippi, I’ve heard about?), Anoka Ramsey Community College was an absolute steal for Laura. Her initial $6,200 investment more than paid for itself with as often as I ended up landing there. Almost made me want to make another set of Silly Putty letters, spelling out "AR can Suck It", attached to the main hallway windows.  

To counter Laura's purchase of an entire community college (for less than a year's tuition), I went with Coon Rapids Chrysler Plymouth. At a cost of $7,200, I owned a car dealership that was demolished almost exactly 20 years after this game came out.

Laura's community college is still open and thriving today, so guess who made the better investment...

She had so much money to spare, a $700 charitable contribution to the St. Paul Rehabilitation Center, didn't faze her account one bit. Even finding enough in the couch cushions to build a house on the Anoka Ramsey Community College. I guess that would a branch, not a house.

So that would be Cambridge?

While this game does a decent job of capturing the essence of Coon Rapids (circa 1986), there are a few notable omissions. I'll cover some of them as the game goes on.

What about the Clay Hole?

In a game based on on mid-1980's Coon Rapids, MN, how can you not include the Clay Hole? The only worse omission would be the Coon Rapids dam itself. Even that is reduced to just a picture in the middle of the board. This brief write up on the Clay Hole was found in a 1987 "Moving to Coon Rapids" handbook. The Clay Hole was still open for swimming in 1986.

Just watch out for sunken train cars...

I've always liked the game of Monopoly, and keep one on hand for the times you want to break it out and play. Which doesn't happen very often these days.

This Monopoly Deluxe edition from 1995, is the one I have in the Archives now.

The houses and hotels are made of wood instead of plastic, and the pieces are made of GOLD (colored metal). There's also a provided sorting tray for cash and other game pieces, plus a carousel for the property cards. Which seemed rather pointless. You waste a lot of time sticking each card into it's own individual slat. A simple stack of property cards is much more practical.

Back in the late 1980's, Mr. Rux and I played a completely ridiculous game of Monopoly, that lasted over two days, before we finally gave up on it. We'd run through all of the houses and hotels early on, so we were now upgrading hotels to other things we found in the room. For example, I owned St. James Place with a Stapler on it. Mr. Rux had Boardwalk with a large pincushion that we called the Metrodome. We gave up on keeping track of money, making hand-written cash on demand. Kind of like how credit works! As the game went on, we made up even more new rules, like going around the board in reverse, when a certain number is rolled.

It was a lot like how Honkass Scrabble is played, only this would have been Honkass Monopoly.

I guess...

After we both made our first revolution around the board, I owned four lower level properties. Laura had only one, but it was Anoka Ramsey. Already with a branch.

After passing Go -I mean First Bank- I landed on Elaine's again. Figuring that was a sign, I put a house on it. I mean, I opened a second branch of Elaine's. I named it Elias's, and we only sell men's clothes. 

And Ice.

Because Laura then bought Ron's Ice, and I wanted to compete with her.

By 1995, The Seasons Restaurant had splintered off into the more upscale Seasons, and a bar and grill called Bunkers. Coincidentally named after the golf course they are in the middle of. The whole package set me back $6,800, but it seems like a good investment.

Clearly not phased by my purchase of The Seasons, Laura instead went to the dog track and won $250. I don't know where Coon Rapids has/had a dog track, so I'm thinking it was something more underground. Probably somewhere mixed in the seedy junkyards and bath houses of Bunker Lake Blvd., in Andover. 

Those were all still around in 1986!

Wonder why they chose not to advertise?

That dog doesn't look in any condition to race.

I could picture him wandering around a junkyard though...

Passed on buying Shortstop. It looked way too footbally (in May, 2010) for my tastes. 

I'll probably regret not forking out the cash later...

Laura was secretly jealous of my LaPanta's Hallmark purchase, and picked up Heart to Heart Cards & Gifts, to compete with me from across town. Family Center Mall vs Oak Park Plaza, and she going to undercut me on Hummels!

So I'll just land on Elaine's again...

Laura used her next turn to buy Home Planning Associates, Inc. for $6,000. I'm calling it Home Planning Ass., as I passed on buying Jerry's Plumbing.

She raised an important question that I had overlooked during the setup of the game. "Does anything happen if you roll doubles?" Associating doubles with classic Monopoly, where you get an extra turn. I had skimmed over the rule about drawing a "Doubles" card, because the name "Doubles" card, printed on the actual card, didn't ring a bell to me. So for the duration of this game, neither Laura, nor I, drew a "Doubles" card after rolling doubles. We didn't go to jail for three of them either.

Instead, she took her normal roll and landed on Kathy's Dairy House and got to draw a "Doubles" card anyway...

Coast to Coast Total Hardware just wanted to give Laura $500.

Coast to Coast Total Hardware was still around in 1995, when their logo/advertisement appeared on an illustrated city map. 

They used to have a storefront in the old Coon Rapids Shopping Center, but it became an Ace Hardware not long before moving down the road to Foley, when the entire shopping center was demolished in 2004. Coast to Coast Hardware is now someone's living room.

Well, I need a gas station to hang out in, late at night. So I'm buying the Super Stop Store Gas -N- Goods To Go. That's quite the lengthy name for a pretty crappy gas station. Which isn't even in Coon Rapids! But it's only $4,200, and Northdale 66 isn't available in this game.

Laura went with buying Anoka VoTech, for $3,800. Then I landed on Anoka Ramsey Community College and had to give her $9,300. That hurt. Almost like it was 1995 and I had to attend classes there again...

They got several of my personal $50 bills back then. I received nothing in exchange beyond minor frustration. 

Although I spent a fair amount of time ditching class hiding out at another business conspicuous by it's absence in the game:

Why isn't Northtown represented? Or any of their (then) 120 stores? I would've spent several thousand Crapids-opoly bucks to own The Great Hot Dog Experience! Doubtful that Northtown has anywhere near 120 stores anymore, with all of the remodeling over the past 30 years. If they have 75 store today, I'd be surprised. I'd be even more surprised if 70 of them weren't cell phone kiosks.

Hometown Monpoly also uses a lot of generic clip art in the game. I wish they would have included this...

(From the Coon Rapids Challenger, issue #1, September 1968.)

Even in the 1980's, a lot of area businesses were still using the official Coon Rapids raccoon symbol. You'd see it attached to cash registers and on decals stuck to windows and doors. Pretty sure I saw it displayed at many of the Northdale Shopping Center's and the Family Center Mall's store windows. 

I doubt any of them are left in town today...

A different attempt at a city logo, used on a 1975 Coon Rapids City Map. 

That's all sorts of not good...

They just get dumber...

An even worse city logo from 1977. This version appeared in a 1977 "Welcome to Coon Rapids” booklet. Trying to incorporate the outline of the city limits and Mississippi River just didn't look right.

And give him his bowtie back!

Fresh off taking nearly $10,000 from my third grade reading level, Laura gets another $3,000 from Marsh Optical. Guess it makes sense for them to reward her, since I'm the one that wears glasses.

Since it was cheap, I was still able to buy North Suburban Agencies for $1,400. 

Suddenly being flush with cash, Laura one upped me and bought The Pleasantries for $5,800.

Well, at least it was done politely.

In order to write this story, I had to take notes on the game as we played it. It was probably annoying for her having to wait for me to scribble specifics after each turn, but the outcome of the game itself wasn't as important to me as the process of playing it. Besides, even though it was still early in, she was clearly winning.

So here's another $600. Because I just landed on Ron's Ice.

Which didn't make me slip and fall, so I can't bring a lawsuit.

She added Crest Cleaners to her portfolio for $6,600. 

And I went with the Hy-Way House, for less than half the price, at $3,000.

Nearly four years earlier, we stopped at Kathy's Kwik Shop for Orange Juice, but all of the bottles were expired. They were out of the lottery tickets Laura wanted and didn't have my preferred brand of cigarettes in stock either. 

But in the game, Kathy's gave Laura another $500!

Congrats to the Equinox (or if I'm driving it, the Honkquinox) for netting her a lot more than the lottery tickets she was going to buy likely would have.

Speed round!

I bought Northdale Dairy Queen, for $4,400, despite her objections, since she really wanted that property. She then paid me $1,700 in rent, for a very expensive brunch at The Seasons. Some of that money was used to buy Coon Rapids Lanes. Which I immediately built a house on top of, rather unlike 2021 era Coon Rapids, which took over 15 years to do the same. 

Laura's equalizing move was to buy the Shortstop, because I didn't. She put a house, or opened a Shortstop branch, in the same move. While I needed to gather funds back up after my big purchase, so I ignored Kent's Jewelry again. Still not a fan of the diamond business...

But had it been in the game, I probably would have dropped some cash on...

Who wouldn't want to own a Go-Cart track, video arcade, bumper tubes and mini-golf? I find the exclusion of Lilli Putt puzzling. You'd think this sort of business would be a no-brainer to put in the game. Obviously that is up to each individual business to decide, not HomeTown Productions, but an attraction based around games, absolutely should want to be included in a game.

Even more surprising is that Lilli Putt is still open today, looking almost exactly as it did in 1986.

In 1991, Monopoly came to the classic Nintendo Entertainment System. It was a pretty good translation, and the game itself had decent replay value as a fun time-waster. Sometimes, Name Redacted Star would partake in competitive video game Monopoly, while hanging out in Basement World. 

Fun fact: I usually went with the screen name of "Ny Butto", because of how it lined up with the text on the screen reading: "Press Any Button..." 

It looked like poorly duplicated words, see!

Okay, that was really stupid...

Laura continued her focus on buying as much of Oak Park Plaza as possible, adding Framer's Workshop to Heart to Heart and Crest Cleaners. Unfortunately, Extra Innings and the Way To Play Arcade wasn't available, or I would've brought real competition for ownership. All I could muster was paying $1,450 in rent on The Pleasantries.

About half of which was returned in rent on the Hy-Way House Motel, in Spring Lake Park. While I was busy having brunch at The Seasons. But I skipped all 18 holes. I really don't like golf.

Kind of disappointing that Kmart wasn't available to purchase in the game. I really wanted to buy the old Kmart in Village 10 Center. Maybe prevent it from becoming Life Time Fitness in 1995. However, it's represented on the board as a space you can land on. Doing so will give you an instant $500. And you don't even have to use layaway. 

But if you used the Kmart Photo Department, you may have noticed their mascot, Dusty Lenscap. I'd forgotten all about the creepy looking doll serving as Kmart's "Goodwill Photo Ambassador", until I found some of the old photo envelopes amongst the pictures salvaged from the folks house, after the fire. I scanned them a couple years ago, and finally found a use for one! Too bad the Target envelopes have zero character...

And then I landed on the Shortstop. With one branch, the rent would be $11,400. Pretty early in the game to take a hit like that. In order to pay this debt, I scraped up the cash I had on hand, mortgaged both HouseCraft Interiors and The Seasons, then offered her the deed to Northdale Dairy Queen, since I knew she wanted it earlier.

Goodbye Northdale Dairy Queen... I'd rather have the one on the Boulevard instead. 

Because it looks like this today! 

Also long since abandoned would be the previously mentioned Kent's Jewelry. Kent used to run his jewelry store from this tiny shop in the Family Center Mall. I remember as a kid seeing him working on rings through the front windows, from the sidewalk outside. This may be fuzzy memories, but I think there was later a small coffee shop operating out of this shop, with table and chairs out on the sidewalk. 

But I could be wrong.

Immediately after cleaning me out for over ten grand, Laura still opted to ignore Kent's Jewelry. Just like I had twice before. Showing that I could also pay no attention to available properties, I ignored Bob's Repair, after landing on it. Though my decline was more attributed to the fact that I just gave her over ten grand of my assets. On my next turn, I ignored Koenig Bros. as well.

To rub it in, Laura then landed on Shortstop. She just wanted a Best Hamburger in the Twin Cities.

And didn't have to pay ten grand for it. 

As for myself, I've only been to Shortstop once in my life, and I didn't even have a Best Hamburger in the Twin Cities. It was late on the night of my 30th birfday. I was hanging out with Mr. Plow, and we ended up here. We had a couple of beers, and the woman tending bar gave us a bunch of bacon that had been cooked earlier in the night. Mr. Plow went home a little after midnight, but I finished that night at the Riverdale IHOP. Drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes and scribbling tiny words in my notebook. Earlier in the day, I had Wasted Quarter issue #57 printed. 

That was a pretty cool birfday!

Today, the Riverdale IHOP has closed permanently, and I didn't have enough extra in the current budget to buy Jerry's Plumbing. Even if I wanted it this time. 

Although, my real estate portfolio was still strong enough to compete, my cash on hand was running pretty low.

Laura had ample cash, and enough properties to take me down. Difference being, her real estate portfolio had more branches than mine. So pretty much any time I started to build my cash reserves back up, I'd have to cough up 8-9 grand for landing on one of her businesses. I could still win this game, but I was falling behind quickly.

Earlier, I mentioned the former Kmart located in the Village 10 Center. Which consisted of that discount department store, several buildings of in-line retail and a four screen movie theater. Which really feels like it should have been a part of this game. After all, in 1986, it had only shown 3 of the eventual 7 Police Academy movies!

Missing from the game: Village 4 Theater.

The theater closed permanently in 1997, and was demolished in 2002. My friend went inside as the theater was being torn down, to snap a few pictures for me. He said the floor was still sticky, even after all the years of being closed to the public. 

Laura used her next turn to buy a local business that is still open today, even at the same address!

Forever Floral only set her back $2,200. Soon after, my next visit to Kmart gave me an extra $500, and she continued the trend and ignored Koenig Bros. 

Something I chose not to ignore was Rapid Photo, for $5,600. There was still enough capital available to buy into another dying industry. It's kind of sad that traditional photography is all but gone in this day and age. But I guess it's been over 15 years since I last had a roll of 35mm film developed, so I’m not helping. Target no longer develops film and Dusty Lenscap is long out of a job. Walgreens will still develop a roll of film, but they do not return the negatives with your pictures. And that just seems strange to me...

Rapid Photo once resided next to it's neighbors, some of which: Little Caesars Pizza, Bump n Score, Whatever the name of that video store was, a JCPenney catalog outlet and Sandy's Sweet Shop. (Whose sign stayed up until the building was demolished in September 2011.) All under the watchful eye of Rainbow Foods (later Big Lots) and Target, across the parking lot.

Which today is a grassy field, next to the newer Coon Rapids Ice Arena.

Several years after NES Monopoly, an updated version was released for the SuperNoFriendo!  

Obviously, not much would change between the games, so everything was simply upgraded. Better sound and animation, and it was even more fun to play. Name Redacted Star was no longer around to play the SNES game against me, which was picked up not long before I moved to Colorado. It killed many hours at Kenyon.

Laura finally broke down and bought Jerry's Plumbing, after we've both turned it down multiple times. On her next turn, she stopped by to visit (and pay $1,050 in rent to) me on the graveyard shift at the Super Stop Store Gas -N- Goods To Go. One of my first orders of business should have been to shorten that ridiculous name.

Seemingly, I was too busy at The Seasons, where it was suddenly 1975 again.

But I have the funds available to un-mortgage the golf course restaurant and lounge!

In the underhanded spirit of competition, Laura decided that she could take down my purchase of Rapid Photo, with Bruce Lee Photography. Only $5,200 and a Judo kick to the groin. 

Kind of like getting to collect $800 in rent on Jerry's Plumbing, just minutes after buying it. After we both turned it down on multiple landings.

I'm starting to think I'm just unlucky. And cash-strapped...

Because I couldn't afford to buy the 1971 edition of Mercy Hospital... Guess I'll let them build on more additions to upgrade the place, and see if the price is more worth it later!

Which reminds me of another long time Coon Rapids institution that is nowhere to be found in Crapid-opoly...

Epiphany Catholic Church. Shown here in 1980, before the massive additions on the north end. Perhaps they were feeling poor in 1986, after paying for the new auditorium and planned developments on adjacent lots?

Well, here's $100 Epiphany!

Because I know full well how much you churches love money!

Speaking of loving money... 

Laura landed on the "GO" position of the board. Now known as First Bank in Crapids-opoly. First Bank Coon Rapids was sold to Carl Pohlad, and became Marquette Bank Coon Rapids, in the early 1990’s. Then a slew of mergers and acquisitions took place and it became Wells Fargo in 2002. Just doing the minimum of research into the history of First Bank Coon Rapids, was a dizzying display of cutthroat business.

Felt like I needed a shower after reading it.

But first, I have to fork out $1,300 in rent, to Bruce Lee Photography.

Good thing it didn't have a franchise attached.

Speaking of photography, Dusty Lenscap has something to say...

That's right, Dusty!

Bucky "Spanky" Gustafson was a character on a February 1994 episode of 201 Proof Television. 

Which was taped at a Public Access studio in Blaine (off Hwy 65 and 101st), and broadcast to Coon Rapids and surrounding communities. The studio is long gone. As NCTV was slurped up by the evil Comcast monster, decades ago.

Bucky "Spanky" Gustafson was the name of one of the combatants in the very lame NCTV Pro Wrasslin sketch, that we improvised between music videos by James and the Crash Test Dummies. Unfortunately -or fortunately- I have no video copy of this episode. 

We later got in trouble for using the NCWA (North Central Wrestling Alliance) sign, that we found in the studio.

For this sketch, it was our "Plinko" board!

Angering Slick Mick himself...

Yeah, well you misspelled Review. 

Slick...

Point being... The guy who supplied this game to us, was Bucky "Spanky" Gustafson, in the flesh. I'm hiding his true identity in case someone wants to take any emotional damage reading this may have caused, out on him for starting it all.

Oh that's right, we were playing Crapids-opoly!

Making her way down Foley, Laura stopped to hang out at Forever Floral again. Like she owns the place or something... It is pretty cool that a local business that advertised in this game, back in 1986, is still going today. Even lasting through the nightmare that was the 2017 Foley Blvd. construction.

Not too far away, I was paying $1,650 in rent to Crest Cleaners.

Laura ignored Koenig Bros. again, and I got to land on...

First Bank! North Suburban Agencies used to operate out of this building as well. So it's almost like I own it.

Well, at least partially...

Laura then bought Rapids Video Movies, for $3,600, on her next turn. I have no memory of a video store at that address. Looking at the Googles, it would have sat next door to Coon Rapids Chrysler Plymouth, where Alloy Brewing is today.

But hey! I won $400 from a stock car race! Must have been the old Ford Escort!

And my lucky streak rolls on, Laura next landed at Super Stop Store Gas -N- Goods To Go, meaning another $1,050 to me! And I wasn't even out cleaning the car wash at the time, because they didn't have one!

By September, 2006, the Super Stop Store Gas -N- Goods To Go had been bought and sold numerous times. It was now going by a much simpler name: Texaco and/or Food Mart. A good friend of mine lives a few blocks from here, and would update me on it's decline, since I was out living in Denver. It's already looking a little ragged in this 2006 photo. One of the doors is covered by plywood, after all the glass was broken out. It was either 2009 or 2010, the last time I was inside. They had virtually no inventory. Most of the coolers were empty, as were the cigarettes. I had to go somewhere else since they had nothing even close to what I went there to buy. As bad as it was, it got even worse towards the end. Even less merchandise, the store being robbed hourly and I think I heard there was even a fire at the gas station before it closed permanently.

Texaco presents Super Stop Store Gas -N- Goods To Go Food Mart was finally demolished at some point before 2012. The lot is still vacant today. That part surprises me.

Before playing Crapids-opoly, I'd never heard of Ron's Ice in Fridley. But since it had a house on it (an igloo?), Ron's Ice House set me back another $3,600.

There was another local business that got more than $3,600 of real money from me, and isn't represented in the world of Crapids-opoly...

Represented by a 1984 ad in the Coon Rapids Herald, Art Goebel Ford spent many years at their location on the Boulevard. The, like nearly every other business in town, they fled the Boulevard for greener pastures along Highway 10. 

The name Art Goebel was also out in favor of “North Country.” A trade of something distinctive and semi-historic, for something bland and generic. 

Yeah, that fits...

Finally, It’s Laura’s turn to give me a significant chunk of money! $7,500 in rent for Coon Rapids Lanes, with a branch!

Of course I had to give $800 of it right back, thank’s to Jerry's Plumbing. At least that had no branches.

But speaking of Coon Rapids Lanes, here’s a photo of my sister bowling there in June of 1990.

In order to protect her identity, I’ve covered her up with the old America Online “Running Man” logo!

Wouldn’t want to get sued!

With a seemingly endless supply of money on hand, Laura then purchased Ace Solid Waste, for $6,400. Jokes were made about six thousand dollar pieces of solid waste. I think that’s what happens if you eat too many of those desserts where they cover it in flaked edible gold leaf. Something actually more despicable than the diamond industry!

Yay! KMart! 

One of the few safe spaces for me to land where I don’t have to give a months salary to her! And I even get a nice crisp $500 bill for my troubles! As I’d mentioned before, I was disappointed that Kmart wasn’t available to buy in this game. Even though it was closed by 1995, I have good memories of that store.

Even dating back to it’s days as Zayre Shoppers City, before it closed in 1979 or 1980. I'm not sure who took this picture of the old Coon Rapids Zayre store. I found it online, and it's pretty high res. So thanks to whomever own the rights to this picture. It's a good one. I don’t even think I was five years old when Zayre closed, and became Kmart less than a year later.

Over the Summer of 1995, I watched as the building was transformed into Life Time Fitness, from my graveyard shift perch at Northdale 66. 

Despite not being able to own it, KMart has a pretty hefty presence in Crapids-opoly. Not only will landing on it’s space give you $500, but you can even draw a Kmart “Doubles Card”, that will also give you $500!

No.

Well, ask Laura. She seems to have an infinite money supply...

Now she's dropping a big buncha money on Tequilaberry’s Sundowner Saloon and Fun Place. Another longtime Coon Rapids business that is gone today. Tequilaberry’s closed (along with it’s brother, The Vineyard, in Anoka) at some point in the mid-2000’s.

We’ve all heard about Tequilaberry’s Prime Rib and the really disgusting sounding Tequilaberry’s salad, which has quite the collection of recipes online. Personally, I would never eat it because I abhor mayonnaise, but it’s borderline legendary around these parts. I’ve even heard of the Sundowner Saloon. But I’ve never heard of the Fun Place. Makes me picture an inflatable bouncy house out back, where you can eat your Prime Rib while jumping up and down! Sure it’s messy, but wouldn’t that be fun?

Not fun like paying $1,300 in rent at Bruce Lee Photography... 

More like the fun of collecting $350 at the North Suburban Agency.

Just wish it was more because on the next die roll, I had to fork over $1,650 for rent at Crest Cleaners.

At least I landed safely on First Bank, for $5000 after the cleaners. Avoiding the 1-2 punch of Tequilaberry’s and the Shortstop. For now…

Missing - Hardees

No real significance, this is just personal preference for me. I miss the Hardees at Northdale and Hanson. Also kind of fun to see the old stoplights at the entrance ramps to highway 10. Nowhere near as overwhelmed as they would become.

At this point in the game, we unanimously voted on taking a Crapids-oploy break.

When we came back to the table, we were pleasantly surprised the cats hadn’t kicked all of the pieces and cards onto the floor. That’s their version of game night.

I carried around a 2003 edition of the McDonald's Monopoly game board folder in my wallet for several years. Typically, once something is placed inside my wallet, I don't tend to clean it out very often. Even less so, as life has evolved from cash purchases to debit cards.

There are even a few actual McDonald's Monopoly game pieces floating around the Archives.

These examples are from 2011.

After our break, Laura took another $3,000 from Marsh Optical. I don’t know what they’re doing over there that they can continue handing out cash every few minutes. I don’t want to say money laundering, but something strange is going on besides transition lenses…

On top of that $3,000, she gets another $550 because I landed on Forever Floral, with their very soft looking logo. Laura spent that time collecting funds while sitting on her Home Planning Ass. (ociates)

My next turn brought me to Pedro Luggage, a local business I’d never heard of. She knew of the place though. Neither of us could buy Pedro Luggage, but we had the opportunity to draw a “Doubles” card. 

JCPenney, who only had a catalog outlet in Coon Rapids at the time, gave me a $500 shopping spree. I’m guessing I probably had to go to Brookdale or Rosedale to redeem it. Wait a minute, the JCPenney at Apache Plaza would have still been going strong in 1986, so I’ll go there instead!

JCPenney eventually opened a store at Riverdale in 2002, but closed it less than 20 years later. 

While I was trying to find $500 worth of stuff to buy at JCPenney, Laura landed on and immediately bought Rapid Sport Center, for $7,000.

I never once went to Rapid Sport Center, but the property card provides a nice biography of the place. I didn’t know it opened in 1971, but I like how it references the old Target store that used to sit behind it on the Boulevard. 

Rapid Sport Center did advertise in the 1995 Coon Rapids Illustrated Map. I remember seeing the property filled with all sorts of boats, snowmobiles and ATV’s in the parking lot. With a large shelving system set up behind the retail area, with boats shoved inside the shelves like toys. Really big toys.

The former local watersports superstore was no longer in business when I took a bad picture of it, in September, 2006. The building is still standing today. It’s had quite a few different identities since its days as Rapid Sport Center. I can’t even begin to remember them all.

Today it sells Vapes!

Because of course it does...

And of course after I surrender the Northdale Dairy Queen to partially pay off a debt, I now owe $6,600 for coming here again. I realize Blizzards have gone up in price, but this is ridiculous.

Yes... Sort those hefty stacks of money... And here's another $1150, for trinkets at Heart to Heart. This was 1986, so it couldn't have gone for Beanie Babies. 

Tired from counting all of that cash, Laura needed some rest. So she packed a few (or ten) overnight bags and booked a room at the Hy-Way House Motel in beautiful Spring Lake Park, MN. 

Shockingly, the Hy-Way House Motel is still operating today. Much more subdued décor today, than in the 1980's, when it was painted bright pink. Inclusion of the Hy-Way House Motel was probably my favorite unexpected property to appear in the game. That's a really deep cut for a business not even in Coon Rapids.

From there, we go directly to my least favorite inclusion in Crapids-opoly... 

Landing on Washburn Builders instructed me to draw a "Doubles" card.

Which revealed Jelly Belly. 

Not a local property, but a national product. This is simply advertising with no ties to the point of the game. Sure, Mr. Bulky's sold Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, and they were located inside the Northtown Mall. But the card doesn't make that connection. And I'm not even sure that Mr. Bulky's was open in 1986.

Not in the spirit of the Anoka VoTech, where Laura was hanging out between classes, waiting for me to send along $1600 in Ace Solid Waste.

Plopped it right on the desk, I did...

You know who should have advertised with a space in Crapids-opoly? 

Bonanza opened their Northdale Blvd. location in the fall of 1985, making it a brand new business that could've used the HomeTown Publishers rub. Even though their run ended in the mid-1990's, Bonanza was a pretty hot property for nearly 10 years. I know my family ate there at least once a month, and it seemed to employ at least 50% of the student body of Coon Rapids High School.

Bonanza's quality and popularity waned in the 1990's. By the late 1990's, it was replaced by North Woods Steak Buffet. They offered a similar menu, but had the gimmick of "all you can eat" steak. And that's just a wonderful thing... I only ate there once, since I was living in Colorado during their brief run. After North Woods closed, the restaurant reopened as Khan's Mongolian BBQ. 

I only ate there once, and remember it being pretty good.

Khan's closed in early 2019, and the building has been sitting virtually untouched ever since.

After eating our Mongolian BBQ, Laura invested $5,200 in Bruce Lee Photography.

And not just because the namesake fits.

Bruce Lee Photography used to operate a small studio at the end on this segment of the Village 10 Shopping Center. They were long gone from this vacant and doomed retail complex, in March of 2002. Which would be demolished three months later. Their neighbor U B Tan wasn't spared either.

Village 4 Theater is on the far left of this picture. They've been closed since 1997. But in the 1980's, both the theater and Bruce Lee were at their peak. While waiting for post-movie rides home, Mr. Rux and I used to look at the senior photos of the high school girls that were taped to the windows. 

Well, we were teenagers. And the video arcade next door to the theater had closed. (But you can still see it in this picture!)

After Laura bought Bruce Lee, I stopped on Coon Rapids Chrysler Plymouth. But it wasn't making enough money for me, so I tore the building down (by MYSELF) and planted townhouse seeds. Guaranteed to grow overpriced yet undersized homes, packed too close together, in just under six months!

She chose to spend some time at Anoka Ramsey Community College. In real life, we both did. She used it for a pre-college stepping stone to a bachelor's degree. My semester of non-attendance was spent refining skills of skipping classes and shirking responsibility. 

But Jerry's Cycle still wanted to give me $500!

Laura used her turn set up the Avenue of Monopoly Death. She had established properties all along the most expensive side of the board. Of the 8 available properties, she owned 6 of them. To make matters worse (for me), she built branches on five of her six: Anoka Ramsey Community College, ACE Solid Waste (the only branchless one), Crest Cleaners, Rapid Sport Center, Tequilaberry's and Shortstop.

My only chance to pass through this area unscathed was to land on The Seasons or Coon Rapids Chrysler Plymouth. Well, there's always jail... Sponsored by Bert's Janitorial...

Something I just noticed about Tequilaberry's...

At some point between 1986 and 1995, Tequilaberry's lost it's smile.

Sure, it still had the Sundowner Saloon, but it was no longer "A Fun Place".  

But Fast Glass was!

They gave me a much needed $3000!

Laura landed on Jerry's Cycle, netting her a "Doubles" card. I do really like that Life Insurance certificate sketch. Would have liked it if she had to pay more than $150. Looking at her cash reserves, a premium of $150,000 wouldn't have phased her all that much...

I'll be hanging out at Home Craft Interiors. I own it, so I wont be charging myself anything to loiter.

After talking the place up, Laura finally landed on Pedro Luggage, and got to draw another "Doubles" card.

That's almost as cool a sketch as the Life Insurance certificate! But only $100? Come on, we're too deep into the game for this kind of nickel and dimey damage. Luckily I found myself getting a pair of future bifocals at Marsh Optical. They even rewarded me with $3,000 for the privilege of looking deep into my eyes! 

More importantly, I've now picked up $6,500 since I last had to spend any money!

It’s my big comeback! But not really…

You know what else should make a second comeback? 

Because their first comeback didn't exactly work out...

I realize that Shinder's didn't open their Blaine location (in Northcourt Commons) until early 1989. But the local chain was around, and had been since 1919. Shinder's would have made for a nice space on the board. Who wouldn't have wanted to own Shinder's? I know I certainly could have done a better job running it, and definitely wouldn't have pissed away the franchise on guns and meth.

Come on! Pogs are on sale!

Sure would've loved a $500 shopping spree at Shinder's, back in 1986!

23 years later, this may have been something you could have bought there…

Monopoly produced a Major League Baseball edition in 1999.

Instead of properties, you'd buy the teams that replaced them on the board. Something that bothered me was the 4 railroads were changed to "series". Which included two teams instead of one. The Montreal Expos were partnered with the Milwaukee Brewers (who were owned by Bud Selig). Not allowing me to own the Expos outright, without Bed Selig's interference, hit a little too close to home for me. The game itself was still pretty cool.

After many spins around the board, another key Coon Rapids property was finally taken off the sale block.

Laura bought an entire (Mercy) Hospital for only $4000. I would’ve thought it would be more expensive, especially since it was featured in the middle of the game board.

Only $1000 in rent seems downright cheap, until you stay overnight there in real life. For this card, they should have called houses “additions” instead of branches. 

My next turn plopped me at Rapid Photo. But there wasn’t anything particularly interesting about that.

Now something that really brought a smile to me face...

After buying a hospital, Laura landed on Coon Rapids Lanes! That’s a nice $7500 for me! Not going to call it a comeback yet, but all of my properties are now un-mortgaged, and I’ve built up a decent cash reserve. Despite things looking bleak, I’m not out of the game yet!

Bowling isn’t fun anywhere else?

Rounding the corner, I left her another piece of Ace Solid Waste. This one worth $1,600!

Laura wanted to take advantage of the "Inflation Fighters Specials". Back in 1984, a Tenderloin Steak dinner was almost cheaper than a gallon of gas today. That’s definitely fighting inflation.

Except the rent she had to pay was $1,700. Now if I’d built that damn Seasons branch, I could’ve collected SIX TIMES that amount. Now that’s definitely inflation! The Seasons was a very important property for me. I needed to have a safe place to land on this side of the board.

Laura was soooooo proud of her work in setting up the Avenue of Monopoly Death. Whomever controls this path of the board, leading up to the "Go" space, has an excellent chance of winning the game. Stacking up a series of properties (many with branches) gives the opponent few safe places to land.

Making it inevitable that I would again find myself at Tequilaberry’s. With that branch, $11,000 is immediately gone from my account. Now I know why they no longer claim it to be a “fun place”. 

Tell you what, if you go to Elaine's, and pay me $2,700, I’ll come and hang out with you.

Looks like Elaine’s opened in 1977, according to their bio. The write-ups on the backs of the property cards are my favorite part of this game. I doubt this type of information exists anywhere else for some of these businesses.

Since it’s 1986, we can walk down the interior hallway of Northdale Shopping Center! We can look at the giant console TV’s at Curtis Mathis, pick up some cheap candy at Ben Franklin’s and a prescription at Hanson Drug. Of course, I’ll probably be standing at the window of the aerobics studio, watching the women bend over in their leotards. I kind of remember it being called Dancing Feet then, it may not have been, I could be completely wrong. I do know this space was called Fancy Dancin’ in 2011, when I took this picture.

But the women doing aerobics is probably the thing I remember the most from 1980’s era Northdale Shopping Center...

Hey Nancy, NO!

And I’ve never heard of “I Care Candies”. 

I did not care about Koenig Bros. for probably the fifth time in the game, while Laura went back to the Anoka VoTech.

Well Nancy, because I didn’t say NO, now I have the munchies and Northdale Dairy Queen is going to overcharge me by $6,600. But those Dairy Queen cheeseburgers were really good for cheap fast food, about 25 years ago. I haven’t had one in about 25 years, so I don’t know if they’re still good. 

I doubt they’re $6,600 good...

Speaking of good food in Coon Rapids, here’s another local favorite that should have been represented...

Pizza Flame is damn tasty. Plus, they have a Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong 3 tabletop arcade games in the dining area. That’s just awesome no matter how you slice it. Even if you slice it in squares! May be a tad blasphemous, but I slightly prefer Mansetti’s Pizza in Andover. While they are very similar, Mansetti’s has sauce that is just slightly spicier. 

Of course, I’d never turn down either...

Not like Laura continuing our unspoken agreement to turn down buying Kent's Jewelry, no matter how many time we land on it. Kent didn’t even bother to write a bio for his card. So why should we care now?

Not like it’s Mr. T’s Dry Cleaners...

Mr. T’s Dry Cleaners was located directly across the hall from Kent’s, and now looks like this. There are several decomposing dead birds, rotting on the floor inside Mr. T’s. Of course I’m a big fan of how the mall chose to block off the back room of the former dry cleaners. Just prop up whatever we can find! That’ll be good enough!

“I pity the fool who leaves dead birds in my abandoned dry cleaners!”

Laura chose to visit a competing dry cleaners (Crest), while I accidentally was caught looking at high school girls senior pictures too long at Bruce Lee Photography, again. That set me back another $1,300.

So I left her more Ace Solid Waste!

Laura rounded the First Bank corner, collecting another $5,000. 

Using some of that money to finally buy Bob's Repair, for $1600.

Never knew anything about Bob’s Repair. Now I do!

For the next few turns, we landed on our own properties. Sigh of relief as I avoided her high dollar properties to camp out at Coon Rapids Chrysler Plymouth, while she was picking up ice at Ron’s. So I dropped by Elaine's to buy nothing, then Laura went to Anoka Vo Tech to learn a new trade.

Surprised that Bates Video survived this deep into the game before being landed on. At a price of only $2,600, it was one of my goals to acquire when the game started. My memory is hazy when it comes to Coon Rapids video rental shops of the mid 1980’s. There were a lot of individual and family owned locations around town, before the chains invaded in the 1990’s, and put most of them out of business. 

Bates Video also operated a rental outlet out of this building, at the intersection of Hanson Blvd and Northdale (north side of highway 10). Back in those days, Valu Plus Liquors was a Food n' Fuel gas station. Now mostly filled with service and office type businesses, 35-40 years ago, more retail stores operated from this building.

While I remember Bates video as having a space on top of the hill at Coon Rapids Blvd. and Avocet, I’m not certain about that. By 1995, that place was known as Planet Video. Or maybe it wasn’t the same store. I honestly don’t remember. Then you have multiple Bates locations, Bigalow Video, Main Street Video, Mr. Movies, Hollywood Video, Video Update and seemingly hundreds of others I can’t remember any specific details for.

In 1991, Video Game Network was selling used Atari and NES games from that address. 

In 2004, the entire area was demolished, for houses that wouldn’t get built for another 15 years.

But what I want to know is, why isn’t Arnold’s one of the spaces on this board?

Mr. Steak’s replacement, a 1950's themed restaurant opened in 1985, and lasted about five years before going under. Their burgers were fantastic, and the “toppings bar” was a great idea. Part of the fun when you were a kid was adding whatever you wanted to your burger by yourself. Not telling someone what you wanted. They came with hefty potato wedge fries and the malts were some of the best I’d had. 

2007 saw the release of Monopoly's Transformers board game.

Sure, why not. Appeal to another part of my dorky collections...

I don't think I've ever played a game of Transformers Monopoly. I do find it kind of funny that a sci-fi theme, in 2007, was still using the same 1930's art for Jail and Free Parking.

Longtime friend and contributor, TJ Prady, took this picture of the doomed Coon Rapids Lanes, in April, 2004. Just weeks before the entire Coon Rapids Shopping Center was demolished. There's so much going on here. So awesome. I love this picture... 

And I just gained $7500 when Laura landed here! I was busy hanging out at the Super Stop Store Gas -N- Goods To Go, while she went bowling.

On her next turn, Laura was horrified to discover the last time I was at Crest Cleaners, I completely trashed the place!

Well, that's what I bought for $9,900!

Washburn Builders card... Curb and Gutter Replacement... $850 hit to the wallet… Karma... 

While Laura gains $1,000 in dividends from the United Way? That doesn't make a lot of sense. If you made a charitable contribution, and that earned dividends, wouldn't that money belong to the charity, not going back to you? But I'm not sure how all that stuff works. Same place, different time.

Perhaps you'd rather look into Hometown Monopoly Fundraising projects? 

Breathed a sigh of relief on my next turn, landing on KANO 1470 am, out of Anoka. There's not a whole lot of information about KANO available online. I couldn't even find a definitive date for the end of the station. It started broadcasting in 1956, and as best I could find, ceased broadcasting in 1991. Again, I could be wrong, just a guess based on the bits and pieces the Googles spit back. 

Maybe they shouldn't have given me $3000?

However, Laura should absolutely give me $350 in rent at North Suburban Agency. 

It's not much compared to...

$11,000 to Tequilaberry's!

Fun Place my ass...

Sorry Dusty, it's Harley's couch. And he's not about to share.

Laura celebrated her windfall at Forever Floral, just looking at the flowers.

Then I make the mistake of joining her and it costs me $550!

We should have just gone a few blocks to the southwest, and met up at Jensen's foods.

Donuts are better than flowers any day. A lot cheaper too...

Jensen's Foods should have absolutely been in this game. 

Hanson Drug, that I mentioned earlier, should have been included as well. Back in 1986, they were on the south end of Northdale Shopping Center, next door to Elaine's. By 2010, they'd moved up next door to Jensen's. They are gone today. I don't know when they closed.

I know that I saw this game on sale at Hanson Drug, yet they didn't participate?

Fast Glass coughs up another $3000, to Laura this time.

I continued to ignore Koenig Bros.

But then I paused. Maybe I should take a look at the card first...

That last sentence doesn't quite make sense. "You pay for insulation -whether you have it or not." 

So if you don't have insulation, you have to pay for it. And if you have insulation, you still have to pay for it? 

All of the mental gymnastics involved in thinking that through put me in the hospital. 

Mercy Hospital (The 2006 edition)

The bill came to $1,000, where Laura was already waiting to accept payment..

On her next roll, KMart gave her another $500.

Maybe KMart would still be around today if they stopped throwing their money around...

Getting late in the game at this stage. Sure, I have a decent slate of properties, none of which are currently mortgaged. Problem is, I only have two branches. Coon Rapids Lanes gives me a decent amount, but Elaine's doesn't even put a dent in her account. 

On the other corner of the board, she only has a few more properties than I own. However at least half of her properties have branches. Meaning I can't accumulate cash as fast as she can. 

My victory prospects are looking bleak.

I'm to the point where a relative pittance like $800 helps greatly. 

I'd never join a Football Pool, but I'll gladly take this money! 

More of these would be even better...

But how come you can't rollerskate in this game?

Cheap Skate absolutely should have been included. Everyone went there as kids. Now their kids and their kids's kids go there. Enough people have over the last 40+ years that it's still open today. 

An underage sex trafficking scandal, covered in Rolling Stone magazine, couldn't even kill that place!

Laura and I both alternated landing on our own properties before she landed herself in jail.

Not for sex trafficking.

Crapids-opoly Jail, brought to you by the fine folks at Bert's Janitorial. That makes sense...

If I was in charge of putting together Crapids-opoly, Jail would have been sponsored by Coon Rapids High School. 

But she's only going to lose one turn. Not four years.

And Anoka Ramsey Community College nails me again... Another $9,300 I have to find, with less than $3,000 in cash on hand, I'll have to start mortgaging things to raise funds.

While Laura sits in jail, collecting money at no personal risk. Well, besides the risk of just being in jail. Since this is the turn she lost, I get to roll again. With a whole slate of dangerous properties standing between me and a $5000 pay day from First Bank Coon Rapids.

So I roll a 9. Couldn't roll a 10 or a 7? Nope, I have to land on the most expensive property on the board, Shortstop...

But I didn't know they opened in 1963.

Rent is only $11,400... Problem being, I have zero cash after blowing it all on a Community College education that only provided enough common knowledge to find out that Community College is absolutely not for me. If I want to dig through the small stack of properties that haven't been mortgaged, I might be able to come up with that amount. 

That would just be postponing the inevitable.

Well, I'm tapping out. 

I have lost at Crapids-opoly.

Here's Laura's final collection of properties.

And her winning cash stash.

When you are able to control 6 of the 8 most expensive properties, you'll most likely win. It took a while to get here, but the seeds for her victory sprouted early in the game. My mistake was blowing a bunch of money on underperforming properties early. She was lucky enough to bank up a large amount of early money, and had plenty available for better properties as they came up.

Her strategy was simply better than mine.

One more missing piece from the game, before I start putting all of the pieces back in the box, and the box in the closet.

Sand Creek Park was featured in the middle of the game board, but there was no mention of Sand Creek Park's yearly tradition.

Years before it was moved to the lands surrounding the new Coon Rapids Ice Arena, Sand Creek Park hosted the annual city carnival. Nearly a week long celebration of Coon Rapids, culminating in the July 4th fireworks display. This particular ad is from the 1984 event.

You'd think something of this significance would at least be worth a "Doubles card", but no...

Jelly Belly Jelly Beans is...

Oh well...

Any last words Dusty?

Absolutely!

Here's $5000 to show my appreciation, for your time. 

It's not real.

So there you have it, 1986 Crapids-opoly.

It was a nice twist on classic Monopoly, and did a reasonable job of capturing the flavor of 1986 Coon Rapids. Of course I was only 11 years old in 1986, so I can't say how accurate any or all of this was. Still, it brought back a flood of memories I may have forgotten about, if I hadn't spent so much time and energy over the years, writing all of this pointless trivia down.

Coon Rapids Monopoly is all packed up and back in it's box. 

Including all $333,000 in real "Play Money."

Well, I guess we could have just played Pictionary...

Hooray!