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FREMONT, Calif. — A love-struck California man was thrilled to "pass go" once his girlfriend accepted his elaborate handcrafted Monopoly proposal.
For Justin Lebon, what started as an idea for a Christmas gift for his girlfriend, Michal Ott, turned into a surprise engagement plan revolving around the pair's favorite board game, according to Mashable. The couple had been using a Monopoly board that Lebon built in high school, so he decided to build a new board designed to reap the ultimate prize: a "yes."
Lebon turned to his woodworker friend, Mark Becker, for help designing a special board with a trap door just big enough to conceal a diamond ring.
"The first thing I knew was that I could do something with the engagement ring and the luxury tax spot,' Lebon told Buzzfeed Life.
At the end, we were just sitting there laughing. She was still in shock and couldn't believe all the ups and downs.
–Justin Lebon
While Becker worked on the board, Lebon spent hours crafting personalized cards on Excel. The real estate squares included places they'd lived together, as well as some of their favorite vacation spots like the Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Buzzfeed reports.
Becker delivered the one-of-a-kind game just in time for Christmas Eve, and Lebon set the stage using his homemade cards and vintage monopoly pieces he'd thrifted.
On Christmas morning, the couple sat down to play the game. Unbeknownst to Ott, Lebon had rigged the dice so she'd have to roll a seven — landing her on the fateful "Chance" square. She drew the card Lebon had placed on top that read: "Will you marry me? If yes, advance to Luxury Tax."
Spoiler alert: The ring was hidden in the trap door under the Luxury Tax square.
"She was super confused," Lebon told the Huffington Post. "I asked if she could help me with something really cool and she said yes. And that's when I popped open the trap door."
Lebon said his new fianc couldn't stop crying, in awe of his trick.
"At the end, we were just sitting there laughing," he said. "She was still in shock and couldn't believe all the ups and downs."
From start to finish, the board game took five weeks to build, Huffington Post reports. Lebon posted pictures from the proposal on Reddit, which quickly went viral.
The couple plans to wed in Maui in 2017, but told Buzzfeed there will be no Monopoly games at the ceremony. Jessica Ivins is a content manager for KSL.com and contributor to the Motherhood Matters section.
