It might well have been a record for the largest and longest Monopoly game in town: 10 hours and 15 minutes of continuous playing with life-size pieces, caught on time-lapse video at the Cupertino Good Samaritan United Methodist Church.  

Eight teams of around half a dozen kids from a variety of high schools started playing at 9 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving to raise money for a Habitat for Humanity project in Cupertino. They got local businesses to sponsor them, ultimately raising slightly over $6,200 for the four new homes.

Milpitas High School student and president of the new Habitat for Humanity club there, Eric Tao, was glad to help out.

“When you’re helping to raise money for things like this, it’s always worth the cause,” he said. Initially, he didn’t think the game would last as long as it did.

“I thought it was going to die at first,” he said, noting that only one or two teams had most of the assets. But as the game went on, the playing field leveled, and the game finally ended at 7:15 p.m.  

WINNERS:

Team number eight, named "Twister," won the game. The team was comprised of Bill Wagner, Jessica Kung, Jenna Cady from Wilcox High School, Charles from Stocklmeir Elementary, Tyler Baggett from Peterson Middle, and Brandon Aitken from Murdock-Portal Elementary.

Team number six came in second place, represented by Nicky Forney, Jonny Soloranzo, Gaku Watanabe from Wilcox High School and Mei Murphy from Cupertino Middle School.