Opinions About Knoxville Needed!! (Oak Ridge, Kingston: lofts, home, buy)

[jclingner]

Hello. I work for a board game manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio. We are making games about several U.S. cities and Knoxville will be of the cities! The game will be called Knoxville-Opoly. I am researching the cities for the game spaces & here is what I have come up with so far to represent Knoxville. The following places may be placed around the game board on a similar layout as a Monopoly game board.

Here are the possible spaces:

Tennessee River Company
Three Rivers Rambler
War Dog Memorial
Knoxville Zoological Gardens
The Valarium
Fountain City
Rossini Festival
Litton's Market & Restaurant
Museum of Appalachia
Knoxville Opera Company
Neyland Stadium
University of Tennessee
House Mountain
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
The Old City
Tennessee Theatre
Ijams Nature Center
Dogwood Arts Festival
James White Fort
Knoxville Museum of Art
Volunteer Landing
Blount Mansion
Alex Haley Square
World's Fair Park

I have a list of substitute places which could replace any of the above:

Civic Coliseum
Thompson-Boling Arena
Bijou Theatre
The Carpet Bag Theatre
Emporium Center For Arts & Culture
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Museum of East Tennessee History
Krutch Park
Market Square
Bleak House
Ramsey House

Would you replace/add/edit any from the first list at the top of the page?

The game will make reference to 4 famous streets. The streets chosen so far are:

Church Avenue
Kingston Pike
Dandridge Avenue
Gay Street

Any of the above you would change/add?

The game will also make reference to 2 famous festivals. The festivals chosen so far are:

Rossini Festival
Dogwoods Arts Festival

Would you change/add the chosen festivals?

Thank you in advance for your time & opinions. Your opinions help us to provide accurate game content about Knoxville.

[JMT]

All of that sounds fine.

However, for the four Knoxville streets I would pick:

Kingston Pike
Neyland Drive
Cherokee Blvd
Broadway

For the two festivals, I would pick:

Dogwood Arts Festival
Boomsday

[Barking Spider]

List looks pretty good.
I agree with Boomsday and Dogwood Arts festival.

Streets I would use:
Kingston Pike
Gay Street
Neyland Drive
Broadway

I might also add:
Turkey Creek
K.U.B.
The Sun Sphere (I know, it's in WFP)
Regas

If you are thinking of Museum of Appalachia, then how about Oak Ridge/Secret City?

[Beretta]

Throwing some random stuff out there....

Calhoun's
OCI - Old College Inn
The Orangery


Cumberland Avenue

The Hill

Sequoyah Hills
4th and Gill

ok, and last but I could not resist: The Orange Barrel

[hiknapster]

Like the streets:

Broadway
Gay Street
Kingston Pike
Cherokee Blvd.

I love the Rossini and Dogwood Festivals!

Don't forget the Baker Peters Jazz Club (it has a ghost!).

And I won't buy it unless it has Fountain City!

[knoxgarden]

Thompson-Boling needs to go in the "must" list, home of the Pat Summit and 7 NCAA championships.
The SunSphere is a must, too, as is Old Gray Cemetery.
I'd also put Chilhowee Park in the must list. It's an important part of Knoxville history and where Hank Williams gave his last concert.
For streets, I'd add Payton Manning Pass and/or James Agee Blvd.
I'd also add:
Knoxville Jazz Orchestra
Sterchi Lofts (started the downtown boom)
Fort Kid
UT Gardens
Fort Sanders (which is the site of an imporant Civil War fort in addition to being the area arount UT)

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by knoxgarden

Thompson-Boling needs to go in the "must" list, home of the Pat Summit and 7 NCAA championships.

Make that 8 NCAA titles.

[Barking Spider]

Reading these I keep thinking "Oh yeah, I forgot that one".

[knoxgarden]

Originally Posted by weisgarber1

Make that 8 NCAA titles.

Oops.

[goodbyehollywood]

For the streets, I would use:

Kingston Pike
Cumberland Avenue
Broadway
Gay Street

(Dandridge Avenue is a definite no-go!) That gives you West, North, downtown and campus. There is no way you can downplay the significance of UT to Knoxville, since this is a huge college town.

For the festivals, Dogwood Arts Festival and Boomsday are the big two.

As far as the spaces, I would load it up with places that are meaningful to locals-- maybe a few with catchy names and historical significance, like:

The Candy Factory
Market Square
Turkey Creek
Bearden Hill
The Sunsphere
Sequoyah Hills
Fountain City Duck Pond

Also, Knoxville has a lot of hometown slang, like "The Pike," "The Strip," "The Hill," etc., that would make it authentically Knoxville. (And don't forget the orange and white checkerboard that has come to symbolize "Football Time in Tennessee!")

Sounds like you have a cool job! I've worked on Hollywood and London versions of these myself and they're always a lot of fun.