Blog 32_Norwegian won World Monopoly Championships in Las Vegas

Bjorn Halvard Knappskog, a 19-year-old Norwegian, beat rivals from 41 countries and took home $20 580, the total bank reserves in the game.

It took Knappskog only 40 minutes to win the last game, beating Oleg Korostelev from Russia, Rich Marinaccio from the US and Geoff Christopher of New Zealand consecutively. The players were using the Atlantic City version of the game and were all champions in their home countries.

Knappskog said that it was "the most surprised you could ever be" after his victory. He also told the Associated Press that it was the best game he played in the whole tournament. Mr Knappskog said that he would spend the prize money, which is equivalent to the total bank reserve in the game of Monopoly, on a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon before returning to Oslo.

Monopoly was first launched in 1935, with the championship running periodically since 1973. You can find more information about the World Monopoly Championships on the Monopoly website .

Do you know?

1. The longest Monopoly game ever recorded lasted for 70 straight days; and the longest Monopoly game in a bathtub lasted 99 hours!
2. In 1978, the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalogue offered a chocolate version of the game priced at $600.
   

For more fun facts about Monopoly, check out their official website.

You can read the whole story on the BBC website.Photo credited to monique72 from stock.xchng.