Island man parting with most of his prized Monopoly collection

An Island collector is hoping to trade in his Monopoly money for some real money.

Shawn Arsenault from York, P.E.I., has amassed about 45 copies of the famous Hasbro board game since he started collecting them as a teenager. Now he's decided it's time to part with all but a precious handful.

"I used to play Monopoly quite frequently, maybe one or two games a week," he told Island Morning. "But in the last five or six years, I haven't played any. I figured … maybe it's time to sell them and allow someone else to have the enjoyment."

Diverse collection

This is Arsenault's second attempt at selling off his collection. He originally tried to sell to an American business that buys board games in bulk, but when the deal fell through he took to Facebook groups to pawn of his games.

Among the dozens of Monopoly games in his collection are Scooby Doo, Star Wars and Coca Cola themed boards.

One of the more unique titles in Arsenault's collection is a rare board from China.

"I have a collector's edition from Beijing. It's a limited edition, so it's actually numbered and they only made so many of them," he said.

While he said he feels ready to part with most of his games, Arsenault wants to hang onto a few for sentimental purposes, including his Montreal Canadiens edition, which he purchased at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

'I'll never be able to collect them all'

Arsenault said new versions of Monopoly are constantly being released.

"It's thousands and thousands of them," he said. "I'd never be able to collect them all."

So far, he has received numerous emails from people who've seen his ad on Facebook. He's in the process of itemizing each game.

A little piece of Canadian history

Arsenault is also proud to be able claim he has a copy of the original Canadian release from 1936. He received it as a Christmas gift from someone who had purchased it at a yard sale.

"All the pieces are there. All wooden tokens, all wooden dice," Arsenault said. "I will not be getting rid of that one."

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