Birmingham-in-a-Box

Birmingham-in-a-Box was a novelty board game produced by Late for the Sky Productions in 1998. It is based on the classic board game "Monopoly" with local attractions substituted for Monopoly's Atlantic City streets.

The player tokens, made of die cast metal, include Vulcan, a sail boat, a saxophone, a heart, a pretzel, and a hard hat. The "GO" space has been replaced by "Kudzu", "Jail" by "Traffic Jam", and "Free Parking" by "Cahaba River". The stacks of cards are labeled "Contingencies" and "Big Fun" instead of "Chance" and "Community Chest".

Instead of houses and hotels, players can purchase "skyline segments" and "keys to the city". The rules of the game are otherwise identical to Monopoly, except that the unofficial rule of putting non-rent payments in the center of the board to be collected by the player landing on the "Cahaba River" (Free Parking) space has been made official. Special cards include "Zoobilee" (All players advance to Birmingham Zoo.), "Alabama vs. Auburn" (All players advance to Legion Field.) and "Your secret Birmingham Barbecue sauce takes First Place! Collect $100". The board game features a prominent photo of Vulcan in the center.

Properties

The properties traded in the game include the following (in increasing value):

• Whistle Stop Cafe, Dreamland Bar-B-Que
• Birmingham Zoo, Visionland, McWane Center
• Heaviest Corner on Earth, Five Points South, The Birmingham News
• Hoover Stadium, Legion Field, Rickwood Field
• Botanical Gardens, Kelly Ingram Park, Sloss Furnaces
• BJCC, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama Theatre
• 4th Avenue Business District, Alabama Power, UAB
• Civil Rights Institute, Vulcan

Occupying the "railroad" locations are Hoover, Homewood, Vestavia, and Mountain Brook. And in lieu of "utilities" are "Fried Green Tomatoes" and Jazz Hall of Fame.

External links

• Late for the Sky Production Co website
• Birmingham in a Box at BoardGameGeek