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Photo courtesy of 3 Chicks & a Board

South Tampaopoly is a board game based on the traditional Monopoly game with local photos, businesses and locations incorporated into the game, including Malio’s Prime Steakhouse and the Hyde Park Kit's Well-Heeled & Well-Dressed.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 17, 2008

SOUTH TAMPA - Instead of owning Boardwalk or Park Place, Monopoly fans could soon buy Malio's Prime Steakhouse.

Kit's Well-Heeled & Well-Dressed in Hyde Park Village will be up for sale, too, and maybe even the University of Tampa.

It's still in the development stages, but South Tampaopoly, which gives a local flair to the classic board game, hopes to land a February debut.

"It's fun," said Cathy Wilson, one of three South Tampa women creating the game. "There is a lot of humor and thought that went into it."

Wilson, her daughter Sara Quintero and friend Veronica Swiatek - aka 3 Chicks & a Board - have been meeting since March but kept their plans secret from friends and family until a month or so ago.

Wilson saw a newspaper ad for Loveopoly and started researching ways to produce a South Tampa version. The women began working with Late for the Sky Production Co., which also produced Palm Beachopoly.

Wilson, 54, was born at Tampa General Hospital, lives in Palma Ceia with her husband, Dale, and is a secretary at LifePath Hospice.

"We never leave the area," she said, half-jokingly. "We get north of Kennedy Boulevard and get lost."

Quintero, 30, is a Plant High graduate and lives in Hyde Park with her husband, Domingo, and daughter, Olivia, a kindergartner at Mitchell Elementary.

"Everyone in South Tampa loves this community as much as we do," said Quintero, manager of Kit's Well-Heeled.

The trio started selling sponsorships this month (everything including spaces on the board, the money and game pieces can be sponsored) and have started a contest to help decorate the board with photographs representing how the community sees South Tampa.

The game will sell for $24.95, with 5 percent of proceeds benefiting LifePath Hospice's Circle of Love Center for Grieving Children. It will be available on the company's Web site, www.southtampaopoly .com, or at the sponsors' locations.

Swiatek, 34, of Sun Bay South, owns Massage Studio in Palma Ceia and is chairwoman of the Ybor City Development Corp. She was at the closing party of Whiskey Park South in SoHo, when Quintero approached her with the board game pitch.

"I thought it was a fabulous idea and a fun idea for a great cause," Swiatek said. "People are so passionate about South Tampa and the community. I thought everyone would want to participate and be involved.

"There are so many stories that will come out of this game," she said.

GET ON BOARD

WHAT: Photo contest for new board game South Tampa-

opoly

HOW: Submit photographs that depict the essence of South Tampa, past and present, along with contact information to cathy@south

tampaopoly.com by Oct. 15. Winning photos will be featured on the South Tampa-

opoly game board.

CONTACT: For sponsorship information, call 3 Chicks & a Board at (813) 837-2112 or go to www.southtampaopoly

.com

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com.

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