Whenever I play Monopoly, I always make sure to hit the Boardwalk as soon as I can — usually in a pewter race car. (Hey, I’m like a large 10-year-old, what can I tell you.) It turns out Mr. Monopoly thinks along the same lines I do. The popular board game celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and yesterday Monopoly hit Atlantic City (which inspired many of the game’s integral properties) in full force. More than 750,000 spectators were on hand to see Mr. Monopoly parachute out of a plane during the eighth annual “Thunder over the Boardwalk” air show — landing on a big “GO” space, naturally — to deliver the dice and money for an anniversary game lead by Charles Darrow, grandson of the original Charles Darrow who found fame with his game during the Great Depression. And there’s only more to come this year for Monopoly lovers: the game-changing (pun intended) Monopoly Revolution has hit stores and is a contemporary twist on the old classic; the Monopoly Streets video game hits consoles this fall; and Monopoly is coming to Facebook later this year as a game application for friends to play against one another.

Photo courtesy of HASBRO/Ray Stubblebine