People in Colchester's Castle Park had an opportunity to buy the castle and its surroundings at the launch of Essex Monopoly today.

The eagerly-awaited county edition of the game was launched at the castle, which replaces the prestigious Park Lane square as the second most expensive square on the Essex board.

The game squares feature landmarks and organisations from around the county.

You can hop from the castle to Southend Pier, then on to County Hall in Chelmsford and end up on the Evening Gazette's Community Chest square.

But the "go to jail" corner is in traditional style and does not feature Chelmsford Prison.

On board - Nell Cozens, from Abbey National, one of the game's sponsors, throws the dice outside Colchester Castle

Picture: STEVE ARGENT

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.