Kezia Dugdale: What if real life was like Monopoly?

Collecting Â£200 for walking around Edinburgh would be brilliant

It can’t be an easy task to persuade a teenager to stop shooting zombies in 4K or driving around the online city of San Andreas, and come sit around a board with the family and roll some dice.

But one game does seem to remain perennially popular: Monopoly.

The classic version will always be the best, but owners Hasbro have somewhat moved with the times and there is now an incredible array of versions available: Monopoly Empire; Monopoly Millionaire; even Monopoly Game of Thrones.

Sean Connery to feature as token in Edinburgh Monopoly?

And of course the local editions, including Monopoly Edinburgh featuring the capital’s famous landmarks. Twenty years since it was first released, this version is now getting an overhaul.

Greyfriars Bobby will surely replace the non-descript Scottie dog, and don’t be surprised if you can choose to play with a giant panda. As for the locations that can be snapped up, here’s hoping the Edinburgh Evening News office is on the board, to mark the paper’s contribution to Edinburgh life over decades.

The makers claim they are struggling to find an option to replace the original Old Kent Road because the city is ‘too posh’. Old Kent Road is the cheapest property on the board where nobody can really be bothered investing.

What an accolade for our great city that it’s so hard to think of a location that could earn this unwanted title? The flip side, of course, is that Edinburgh is just too expensive for those looking to make their way in the world.

I wonder how different it would be if we owned the utilities, the railways, and could collect £200 every time we walked around the city. A few chance cards and community chests wouldn’t go amiss either ...