BOARD GAMES – Simpsons Studio Artists Worked on the Simpsons Monopoly Game

Simpsons Quote:

Monopoly Guy: There was a bank error in my favor and I’m spending it all on Oriental Avenue prostitutes.

I play a lot of board games…well, I used to.  I like playing them but either I don’t have the time to play them or no one wants to play them with me.

So what?

Well, I happened to have worked on a The Simpsons Monopoly game and today I’m going to be talking about it.

You can either watch the video below or read the text under it.  It’s the same information so it doesn’t really matter which you choose:

I Happen to be a Gamer

I’m really into board games, I’m a big gamer. I used to be obsessed with video games. I’m not so obsessed with them anymore. I prefer something more tactile. I prefer siting around in a group, playing a game.

Board games fit the bill. I’m not talking about mainstream games, like LIFE, Monopoly, Risk. I’m talking more about what are often called Euro games, hobby games, or designer games.  They’re different kinds of board games that are becoming more and more popular.

Game like Quarriors:

A big dice game. It’s difficult to explain the game in  sentence. Just follow the link and you can learn about it.

Or games like DreamBlade, which I wrote about a few years ago on this blog. Here’s the link:

A Board Game I Worked On

Although I don’t play mainstream board games all that much I did work on one and it’s Simpsons related.   That game is, of course  Simpsons Monopoly:

Now I’m not a huge Monopoly fan, in fact, I don’t like playing it at all. I think it’s flawed, but most people when they think of board games they think of Monopoly.

So what did I work on? What did I do in this games?

I worked on the board. BUT only a tiny bit of the board.

There’s these tiny little vignettes of people on the board.  That’s what I drew. Things like this:

I really didn’t do anything else.  The background of the board was drawn by Emmy Award winning Chuck Ragins.  He does background designs on the show and he drew the background on that Monopoly board.  He’s gone on to win an Emmy on one of the shows he designed backgrounds for on the Simpsons.

I’m not sure who drew the rest of the board.

The Chance and Community Chest cards, I believe where drawn by Shawn Cashman.  Shawn is Simpons alumnus who has gone on to become a director in many other shows. Including King of the Hill.

It’s neat looking game. It has lot’s a very cool bits.  The game pieces are Simpsons character. It’s even got Kodos as a playable piece:

The Story Behind the Game

Okay so, how did I end up working on the games?

Well, Bill Morrison from Bongo Comics called me up because he had been given the assignment to do the art on the game. He simply didn’t have the time to do it.  He didn’t have the time to do the entire board.

So he decided to farm out the art to people he thought was going to be able to handle it while he managed it all.  So he paid off the artist to do the bit of the work.

Unfortunately for him, I was one of the last people he asked to do the worked on the characters.  It was  a last minute job.  Then he asked me how much I wanted for the work. When I told him, it turned out that, because of what I asked, he didn’t get paid.

He coordinated the whole thing and then at the end, there was no money left for him. I didn’t realize that, I wasn’t thinking.  It was really screwed up.

He had the job, he farmed it out, he did he difficult job of coordinating the whole thing, and then paid all the artist which left no money for him.

That totally sucked.  I’m sorry Bill, I didn’t know. I wasn’t thinking.

Do you have it?

That’s my little board game story.  Maybe you can still find this game I’m not sure.

Do you have this version of Monopoly? Do you play it? What do you think of the art?  What do you think of this version of the game?

Let me know, I’m curious. Leave a comment below.

BOOKS – My “Art of Book,” Angel Cowgirl.

Behind the scenes for some time now, I’ve been working on putting together a collection of my art and sketches.

I finally managed to finish doing this.

To celebrate, I’m giving way the digital version of the book for FREE.  All you have to do is opt in to my e-mail list and you’ll be sent a link to download the book.

That’s it! It’s so simple.

Here’s a sample of the art you can expect to see:

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I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.