Las Vegasopoly By Art Nadler You may never have the collateral to open a mega resort in Las Vegas, purchase an upscale restaurant or launch a million-dollar business, but that doesn't mean you can't experience the same exhilaration of wheeling and dealing like a millionaire. Las Vegasopoly, a spin-off of the popular Monopoly game, gives you the opportunity to acquire famous Las Vegas landmark hotels such as the Sahara, Riviera, Circus Circus and Harrah's. And if you'd rather own a bank, professional baseball team or a television station, that can be arranged, too.

Michael Hardy, president of Executive Resources Inc., 4550 W. Oakey Blvd., Suite 104, Las Vegas, NV, came up with the concept for the popular board game Las Vegasopoly in 1994. He wanted to show tourists visiting Las Vegas that there was more to the city than casinos and flashy showgirls. With $160,000 in cash to begin play, plus another $20,000 every time you pass "Start," chances are better than average that you could become the next hotel or real estate mogul in Las Vegas - at least in the make-believe world of game-board players. "We wanted to make this a community thing," Hardy says of his successful game. "It's a clean family game. We have travel agencies on the board, dentists' offices and the airport. We wanted the game to be Las Vegas and not just the Strip." The object of Las Vegasopoly is to acquire businesses of the same color and build high-rises and eventually skyscrapers. When a player lands on your property, he or she pays you the lease amount listed on the deed. Of the 5,000 games originally produced, Hardy says he only has 800 left. He says he's heard stories of families playing Las Vegasopoly for days on end. The Las Vegas entrepreneur, who has a marketing and communications degree from Brigham Young University in Utah, has lived in Las Vegas since 1973. Besides marketing and selling Las Vegasopoly, his company specializes in imprinting logos and company names on such promotional items as pens, umbrellas, watches, water bottles, etc. He says he has a standard products line of a half-million items, but is capable of expanding it, depending on what specialty item a customer wants. Las Vegasopoly sells for around $29.95, Hardy says. Five manufacturers were hired to produce the game's board, play money and property deeds, plastic game tokens and dice. Games have been sold both nationally and internationally, including as far away as Norway, Hardy says. "Las Vegas is such an attraction, and that's why everyone enjoys playing the game," Hardy says. "We want this to be used as an ambassador for Las Vegas." And as an added goodwill gesture, Hardy arranged for a percentage of the Las Vegasopoly profits to go to the Help Them Walk Again Foundation, a spinal-injury treatment center in Las Vegas. Executive Resource Inc. is a marketing company first and a product-producing company second, Hardy says. His full-time staff consists of himself and three outside sales people. "We do everything from cut crystal to T-Shirts," Hardy says. "We're constantly adding new items to our catalog all the time." For more information, call Executive Resources Inc. at: Phone (702) 878-2399. Fax (702) 878-7185