Covid, the board game edition, created by Wilton resident

Want to trade in your top hat for disinfectant wipes? Your thimble for toilet paper? You can if you pick up the board game Covidopoly 19, created by Wilton resident Shahan Islam.

Islam and his family  passed plenty of time during the pandemic playing games at home. That”™s when the idea came to him to create something thematic that would capture the historical moment we”™re living in while also offering a fun source of amusement. The result was Covidopoly 19, and the formation of its parent company, CategoryTen, also based in Wilton.

While the game embodies some aspects of the well-known Monopoly, there are plenty of Covid-19 themed differences. Spaces on the board represent key locations of the current pandemic, like mobile testing units and telemedicine call centers. Instead of four railroads, there are four leading hospitals of the world.

Rather than Chance or Community Chest cards, there are “Ventilator” and “Mask” cards, designed to provide facts about the novel coronavirus and pandemic. One mask card reads: “You wash your hands well, as soap degrades the virus”™ fatty protective layer, deactivating it. Get $150.” Not without humor, another card reads: “During the pandemic you ask yourself – who are these people in your house and do you really need to feed them all? Pay $100.”

Game pieces include a mask, a sanitizer bottle and an aerosol spray; others feature key players like Joe Biden or Dr. Anthony Fauci.

CategoryTen is encouraging Covidopoly 19 players to submit comments via their website for improving the game.

“Our goal is to release subsequent editions of Covidopoly19 with updated game pieces and other interesting surprises,” says Kari Eisenberg, the company”™s chief operating officer. “We also hope it will be educational, elicit constructive discussion about difficult issues relating to the pandemic and persuade people to act in a safer manner.”