Walton Street, the home of Oxford University Press, has been misspelt in the city’s latest version of the board game Monopoly.
Although the original Oxford version, produced in 2001, has no such spelling mistakes it appears that Walton street, a yellow card along with Banbury Road and High Street, has been spelt ‘Wolton Street’ in some games recently sold on Amazon.
Many students were quick to notice the irony that the misspelt street is home to OUP, the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary. “It’s good that Oxford has its own monopoly board, especially considering how iconic the game is, but it seems pretty strange that the manufacturers managed to spell all the street names right the first time round and have errors now,” said Sarah Kroloff, an English student at Exeter college.
However, some Jericho residents were not amused. Jericho Community Association chairman Jenny Mann told the Oxford Mail, “I think this is outrageous and I take this as a personal insult.” Adding that she wants ‘the manufacturers to look into this as soon as possible because Walton Street is a famous ancient street. People in Jericho will want the game to be reprinted.”
The game’s manufacturers Winning Moves, are now trying to establish how many sets have been affected and have promised to amend the error on the next print run, when that will be however, has not been confirmed.
Monopoly can trace its history back to 1903 and arrived in the Britain in the 1930s, becoming a staple family board game. Oxford is one of many recent variations on the London board with which many are familiar, with The Randolph Hotel and the Ashmolean replacing Mayfair and Park Lane, while other places such as the Covered Market and the Pear Tree Park & Ride are also mentioned.
