Categories: People

Guy Owns 3,000 Sets Of Monopoly But He Doesn’t Even Like Playing The Game

"Collecting is very addictive," he said. "I can't even put a number on how many times a day I look on eBay."

Neil Scallan, 51, is a Monopoly collector from UK.
As of this writing, he has 3,029 sets in his collection.
He keeps his sets sealed and doesn’t play with them to retain their value.

51-year-old Neil Scallan loves collecting Monopoly sets. The export manager from Crawley, West Sussex shared that his first encounter with the popular property trading board game was in 2005 when he purchased a local edition as a souvenir during a New Zealand trip.

That was how his obsession started. Fast forward to the present, he is now the proud owner of more than 3,000 different Monopoly sets.

Neil Scallan, 51, currently owns a total of 3,029 different sets of Monopoly. He has spent £150,000 on his massive collection.

He reflected:

“In previous years, I’d bring a fridge magnet home to remember the holiday.
“But in New Zealand, I came across a Monopoly board which has all the towns on so I thought that was a great gift for myself. Then every trip I went on, I’d bring a set back and family members did the same for me.
“But now – almost two decades later – strangers from all over the world sell me limited editions that I don’t have.’

In September 2018, he was recognized by the Guinness for having the world’s largest collection of Monopoly.

Back then, Neil had 2,249 items. He has since retained the record as he continued to expand his collection.

Besides, it has become his habit to check eBay in the morning – and throughout the day – to look for Monopoly sets he doesn’t own yet.

“Collecting is very addictive,” he said. “I can’t even put a number on how many times a day I look on eBay. I have previously managed to get a limited edition at midnight which would have been sold out by the morning.”

Monopoly sets have a price range of £30 to £75. So far, the collector’s most expensive purchase was the Monopoly millionth edition which he got for £400. And with over 10,000 unique Monopoly sets out there, he admits collecting everything is “impossible” so he just does his best to buy at least one set a day.

The catch? He’s just loves collecting but doesn’t really like playing the game. He keeps his sets sealed.

“I can’t even remember the last time I played Monopoly,” confessed Neil. “I have never opened any of my sets as they then lose 80 percent of their value.”