It was a scam .
Not a scam -- advertising. Metropoly was made for a whole slew of cities and counties. Businesses could buy a space in their local gameboard, and the games would be marketed to locals or tourists as a nostalgia/local pride thing. It was essentially Monopoly, with the boards changed slightly to avoid the wrath of Parker Brothers and its lawyers, and everything in it was branded with paying advertisers' logos. You can still find copies of the games on ebay once in awhile, though I haven't seen the Cowlitz County one, myself.
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