‘Riverheadopoly’ spotlights businesses, community groups

Riverhead is ready to roll the dice with “Riverheadopoly,” a new edition of locally-themed Monopoly style boardgames that arrived in stores last weekend, a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Westhampton Beach-based graphic designer Matt Senie sells ads to local businesses and later sells the custom-made board games to municipalities and regions in the tri-state area.

“We got [The Suffolk] theater involved,” he said. “The Riverhead Moose Lodge in on the game. The [Riverhead] Rotary is on the game. The civic groups were all in. The Riverhead BID was all about it.”

He said the Long Island Aquarium bought up all four railroads on the board.

“People gravitate towards the railroads,” Mr. Senie said. “They like to own them. They usually hold on to them as long as they can before they become bankrupt.”

Mr. Senie made his final “Riverheadopoly” sale at a recent local art show where he met new East End Arts executive director Wendy Weiss. “She was the last sale,” he said.

Businesses like Riverhead’s Richmond Realty Corps “were really excited about giving them out as gifts,” Mr. Senie said. “East End Catering is on the board.”

Revco Lighting & Electric Supply bought — you guessed it — The Electric Company space. Mr. Senie said that the new Peconic Hockey Rink at Veterans Memorial Park snagged the iconic “Boardwalk” slot on the game board.

“They were one of the first [businesses] to sign up,” he said.

The new game is the first new edition of “Riverheadopoly” in two decades, and the third since 1989. 

The first game Mr. Senie created was for East Hampton in the late 1980s. From there, he made games for towns all over the tristate area, including Huntington, Northport, Sayville and numerous Connecticut towns, along with the Hamptons and Long Island as a whole. “There are four Montauk games since 1989,” he said.

In 1932, Charles Darrow created Monopoly based on an earlier, very similar board game called The Landlord Game, created by anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie, who patented the concept in 1904. In 1935, Parker Brothers bought the copyright to Monopoly and Mr. Darrow became the nation’s first millionaire game designer. When the company learned his game was based on The Landlord Game, they snapped up the patent for that game, too.

Since its 1935 debut, Parker Brothers has sold more than 275 million games — nearly twice what the nearest competitors, Scrabble and Clue, have sold.

“We’re very pleased to have the quality of businesses we have,” Mr. Senie said of the new edition of “Riverheadopoly.”

Fans of Riverhead can purchase a copy of the game in local stores or on Mr. Senie’s website.