As Victoria vies to be one of 22 cities on an anniversary Canadian edition of the board game Monopoly, the capital city could be dealt a Go to Jail card.

Since the contest kicked off, Victoria had ranked among the top 10 on Hasbro Canada's contest leaderboard.

But by Jan. 28, the garden city had slipped to No. 18. Now, with only days left in the contest, the question is whether Victoria will slip off the board completely.

"We are a most appropriate city to be on this board," said Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin. "But we know being the best you have to do the work to stay there."

The special edition, the first to use Canadian city names in place of streets, is being created in honour of the 75th anniversary of the world's most popular board game.

Victoria was selected to be among 65 cities vying for one of 22 spots on the board.

The first 20 winners will be determined by a vote at monopolyvote.ca that ends Sunday. Two more cities will be picked from among wild-card selections by voters Feb. 8 to Feb. 21.

Mayors of major Canadian cities are encouraging residents to keep their cities on the board.

Fortin confessed to voting for Victoria every day.

"A mayor has to be the No. 1 fan of the city," said Fortin, urging residents of the capital region to vote for Victoria every day for the next four days.

Hasbro spiked the excitement last week by fading its leaderboard to black -- leaving cities in the dark as to where they rank in the contest.

Marisa Pedatella, manager of marketing for Hasbro Canada, said the winners will be announced when the board game is launched around Canada Day.

Pedatella said it's not likely a city could jump into the top 20 from a ranking of 40th or 50th, but consistent voting over the next few days for one city could shake up the rankings by a few spaces.

"Watching the leaderboard, people in the top 20 have been in the top 20 for a number of weeks now," Pedatella said.

However, Victoria's No. 18 spot is precariously close to being squeezed out if other eager cities launch a major challenge.

On Jan. 28, before the leaderboard faded to black, the top 10 were: Chatham-Kent, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Calgary, Sarnia, Quebec, Edmonton, Trois-Rivières, Windsor, Gatineau, and Medicine Hat.