Do you love playing the board game MONOPOLY? From collecting $200 after passing GO to buying as much property on the board as you can and buying houses and hotels so you can charge your co-players rent when they land on your property, it is always a fun and competitive time for all.
What if you could play the game, but instead of buying up properties like Boardwalk and Park Place, everything on the board was all about the Choctaw Nation? Well, now you can with CHOCTOPOLY.
Like MONOPOLY, you must choose your game piece before playing the game. Each of the six game pieces is significant to the Choctaw story. Here are some brief descriptions of the game pieces used in CHOCTOPOLY.
- Buffalo (Yvnvsh): A white buffalo is considered sacred to Native Americans, representing hope, abundance and the renewal of life.
- Corn (Tanchi): Corn was the most important of all the crops that the Choctaw grew, contributing an estimated 2/3 of the Choctaw subsistence diet.
- Snake (Sinti): The Choctaws appreciated the snake because it ate insects and small animals that could destroy food crops.
- C-Feather: A more modern symbol, the C-Feather is the primary branding element of Choctaw economic ventures.
- Raccoon (Shaui): The raccoon appears in many Choctaw legends and folk stories, Opossum and Raccoon being one of the most popular.
- Slot Machine: Today, the Choctaw tribe thrives and utilizes casino profits for health care, infrastructure, and the general welfare of its members.
The game’s timeline follows Hina Hanta (The Bright Path), a sacred way of life God has given to the Choctaw people, with events along that path—from thousands of years ago to the current generation.
While making your way around the CHOCTOPOLY board, you will encounter names of places and landmarks that are significant to the Choctaw Nation, including Wheelock Academy, Jones Academy, the Choctaw Cultural Center, Talimena Drive, the Choctaw Code Talkers Monument, the Judicial Center, Choctaw Landing and Tvshka Homma.
Resort properties (Durant, Grant, Pocola and Choctaw Landing) replaced the railroads that were in the original MONOPOLY game.
Other significant places highlighted in CHOCTOPOLY include the Choctaw Travel Plazas, cultural aspects, the Wellness Center, and memorials such as Code Talkers and Sacred Heart, Council House, Chapel at Tvshka Homma, and old and new headquarters.
When you pass GO in CHOCTOPOLY, you still get $200, but it is paid with money with familiar faces in Choctaw present day and history.
How did CHOCTOPOLY come about? So glad you asked!
The Choctaw Retail Operations Merchandising Department, with the help of internal Marketing and Creative Services, began the process after Janie Dillard, the previous Senior Executive Officer of Commerce, saw a similar version and thought it might be good for the Choctaw Nation to have its own game.
There are now many versions of the original MONOPOLY game specific to various places, people, and subjects.
After several meetings, emails back and forth, and phone calls with the production company, Late in the Sky, CHOCTOPOLY was created using the company’s customizable templates with Choctaw Nation-specific information.
The Choctaw Nation team that worked on the game creation sent the company ideas for game pieces, Community Chest and Chance cards, spaces on the game board, even down to what to put on the money.
The Choctaw Language and Cultural Services departments were also pulled in to verify historical information.
“The whole game is custom specifically for Choctaw Nation,” said Jill Euper, Director of Choctaw Merchandising and Retail.
Euper continued, “This was about two years in the making with different hands helping and different departments helping, and we were truly able to customize every part of the game and get the historic timelines and cultural details accurate and correct.”
Playing CHOCTOPOLY is sure to be great fun for the entire family, and the game can also serve as an opportunity to teach Choctaw history and culture to the entire family.
Purchase your new CHOCTOPOLY game and begin the fun today! At $34.95, it’s affordable and will surely be a favorite gift item for everyone. It is never too early to purchase CHOCTOPOLY to put back for family Christmas and birthday gifts.
CHOCTOPOLY is available for purchase at your the following locations:
- Choctaw Travel Plazas (17 locations in southeastern Oklahoma)
- Country Markets (Clayton, Boswell and Coalgate, Oklahoma)
- Choctaw Landing
- Choctaw Cultural Center
- Choctaw Store – Durant Headquarters