You may have seen them before: Monopoly type games that are modeled after different communities to fill a local niche. Such games began appearing years in such Valley towns as Modesto, Turlock, Los Banos, Atwater and Bakersfield. Now Ceres has its own version with Ceres-Opoly issued by Late for the Sky Productions in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The game retails for $19.98 and is available at Walmart.

The company stresses that its game is not affiliated with Hasbro, the makers of Monopoly, and uses none of its trademarks. But the game is an unmistakable mimic of the popular game that conjures up images of well-dressed mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags.  

Instead of Marvin Gardens, St. Charles Place and Park Place, the local board features such properties as the Ceres Courier, Christmas Tree Lane, Smyrna Park, Ceres Foster Freeze and the Daniel Whitmore Home. 

Draw cards on the game board include this one featured on the advertising box: “You ate too many super burritos from Little Mexico City! Lose 1 turn to recover.” Other cards include traffic jams, property tax and parking fines. Instead of metal game pieces of the battleship, wheelbarrow, boot, car, racecar, thimble, top hat and Scottie dog, the Ceres-Opoly game comes with a high-five hand, a big smile pair of lips, a heart, a Bulldog, pretzel and gym shoe. 

“We research several cities and communities around California to make a very localized game about a specific area,” said Bill Schulte, one of the production company owners. “We always make sure that the locals love their town before we take on a project. We make the content as authentic as possible.”

The company launches sales exclusively at the local Walmart store.

“Naturally Walmart likes to connect to their local customers, and everyone appreciates the fact that the games are made in the USA.”