THE Royal Pavilion has pipped Brighton Palace Pier and the i360 to the top spot in Brighton Monopoly.

In the second edition of the hugely popular game, Brighton’s most iconic building will sit in place of Mayfair as the most coveted and valuable property on the board, The Argus can exclusively reveal.

Developers said it was an “extremely close” battle for the Mayfair space.

The game launches in shops this Friday.

Emma Lodwick, custom games executive at Winning Moves UK, developer of Brighton Monopoly, said: “We have been spoilt for choice with this game.

“Each are world landmarks.

“We very nearly had to roll the Monopoly dice to decide this one.

“We are delighted to announced that the great and the good of Brighton and Hove will feature in this edition.”

The Grade I-listed Pavilion, a former royal residence, joins The Argus on Brighton Monopoly’s board, with our Manchester Street office adopting the traditional Fleet Street.

The Pavilion also earned the Mayfair spot in the 2003 edition of Brighton Monopoly.

These are the only two to be named so far and we will reveal the other landmarks to feature in the build-up to Friday’s launch.

It leaves Brightonians to ponder where the Palace Pier and i360 will be placed in this version of Brighton Monopoly.

In August, we revealed that Albion will have a place on the board after a hugely successful 2016/17 campaign which culminated in promotion to the Premier League.

The playing pieces in the new game will also get a shake-up – the conventional dog and old boot will be getting the boot in this version. A seagull is one of the new pieces players will get to travel around the board with.

The new board pieces were selected through a public vote earlier in the year, with votes coming from as far afield as China and New Zealand.

Graham Barnes, a promoter for the game, said in August the reason for recreating Brighton Monopoly was because it is the “most popular city in the country” at the moment and told us the Pavilion and pier would be “high up”.

He said: “Brighton is incredibly popular, and it seems to be on the rise.

“That was the reason we did it back in 2003 and the city has grown even more since then.”

Argus editor Arron Hendy said: “It is fantastic that Mr Monopoly is renewing the Brighton version. This city is such an interesting place.

“There are so many parts of it which can feature on the board.”