Atlantic City loses space on new Monopoly board

The classic table game Monopoly celebrates its 80th anniversary today, and it is commemorating the event by excluding Atlantic City — the birthplace of the game — from its board altogether. Instead, Pierre, South Dakota will take its place.

Game maker Hasbro held a public vote for its upcoming anniversary edition of Monopoly, offering voters 20 Americans cities to be included on "Monopoly Here & Now." And, unfortunately, it looks like Atlantic City just couldn't make the cut.

Cities that did, though, include Cleveland, Denver, and New York. Voting wrapped up earlier this month, with the results coming out today in honor of World Monopoly Day.

Monopoly, of course, is based on Atlantic City's layout, with elements like Park Place and Boardwalk playing heavily into its design. Like many Atlantic City games, Monopoly is a greed-based game that encourages players to hoard as much cash and property as possible — an element with which Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian seems to agree.

"The concepts of capitalism -- money, buying properties, raising the rent, buying out your competition -- kind of remain today, too," he said in a recent AP interview. "I couldn't think of a game that's more relevant for Atlantic City than Monopoly."

Unfortunately, though, it doesn't look like Monopoly fans agree. Either that, or they just enjoy kicking a city when it's down. This is Monopoly we're talking about, after all.