Algonquin College raises $65,000 in Collegopoly tournament

College takes big step towards new campus

Posted By SEAN CHASE

Updated 4 months ago

Algonquin College took a major step towards their quest to build a new downtown campus raising $65,000 Saturday night in a giant Monopoly tournament.

It was a festive atmosphere at the Pembroke Armouries as eight teams competed to not only win College-Opoly, billed the largest Monopoly tournament ever played in the Ottawa Valley, but to earn a spot at the championship table facing Will Lusby, the best Monopoly player in Canada.

The college's special guest for the evening, Mr. Lusby, of Ottawa, became the Canadian Monopoly King last year when he defeated 47 of the best Monopoly players in the country. While he will hold the title for the next four years, Mr. Lusby remarked he might have some competition coming out of College-Opoly.

"There's been some really fine playing here," Mr. Lusby said sitting down to count his money before the final game. "Things started happening quickly. People were building houses and hotels a lot sooner than I had expected. They were trading and making good deals."

The games began with a marquee match at 5 p.m. where players were invited to learn the rules and strategies of tournament Monopoly under Mr. Lusby. He advised them to take risks and trade properties whenever they could reminding participants that competition Monopoly is far different from the game they would normally play with a family or at the cottage. For instance, players roll three dice instead of two. There are also property auctions for houses and hotels and no player collects money when they land on "free parking."

The registration fee for the tournament was $5,000 for a team of four. That alone brought in $40,000. However, the college received an unanticipated boost from the Rotary Club of Pembroke who announced they were pledging $25,000 to the project over the next five years. Renaissance Square would not only be a welcome addition to the area but ensures a trades school that will translate into professionals trained for the manufacturing sector, said Rotary Club president John Escott.

"We absolutely need Algonquin College here," said Mr. Escott noting manufacturing trades have been neglected in today's economy. "This is a step in the direction we should be going in."

Construction on the new campus, to be situated along Pembroke's downtown waterfront, is scheduled for the spring of 2011 with the facility opening by the fall of 2012. The estimated cost of the project is $36 million, with the college's community capital campaign seeking to raise $2.5 million. Karen Davies, dean of Algonquin College in the Ottawa Valley, said she was overwhelmed with the response of the community and local businesses to this Monopoly fundraiser, something that she believes no college or university has ever attempted.

"This was another major risk that we took," said Ms. Davies. "It was something different and it has exceeded our expectations. This will be a huge bump up for us towards our $2.5 million goal. We are thrilled with the amount of money we were able to raise through College-Opoly and we want to thank everyone who embraced the project, particularly our teams, sponsors and Will Lusby who agreed to be the cornerstore of the event"

At the end of the 75-minute tournament, points were calculated for each player using the standard Monopoly point system. The top three teams with the highest number of points then choose a representative to participate in the 90-minute championship game with Mr. Lusby already owning a seat at the table. In that final match, the reigning Canadian champ was defeated by Marianne Pritchard-Taylor, of the Rotary Club. The other finalists were Doug Sitland and Peggy Williams.

The top teams were Scotia Bank, consisting of Peggy Williams, Chantelle Leslie-Leach, Suzanne Thuemen and Stacey Kelly, the Rotary Club of Pembroke, with Marcel Mantha, John Escott, Colonel A. Towriss and Marianne Pritchard-Taylor, and the Engineers, consisting of Fred Blackstein, Doug Sitland, Doug Fee and Base Petawawa commander Lt.-Col. Keith Rudderham.

For the championship game, Lt.-Col. Rudderham, a member of the College Capital Campaign Committee, presented a milk bottle game piece that he recovered from a 50-year-old Monopoly game that he purchased years ago at a yard sale.

The other competing teams were from KI Pembroke, Johnston and Mackie Insurance, Tony Donnelly Realty, BMO-Bank of Montreal and Runge Stationers. Among the prizes available, the winning team could have collected their registration fee back if one player from their team beat the Monopoly Champion and two other players at the final table during the championship game. Other prizes included a private gourmet meal for ten people at the campus and served by the college's Cook Apprenticeship program.

Sean Chase is a Daily Observer reporter