A gaming author returned from a holiday in Spain to find the country had gone berserk over an article he wrote – eight years ago.

Jonny Nexus, 43, got a text from a friend while away with his family to tell him his tongue-in-cheek article The Campaign for Real Monopoly had gone viral.

The article explains the real rules of the board game, in which an auction is to be held for any property should the player landing on it not wish to purchase.

Mr Nexus, who lives in Queensbury Mews with his wife Jules and daughter Violet, said: “It’s all been a bit manic – people have taken the article literally and, to be honest, if I actually were to campaign for a real monopoly I’d have to be a bit of a nutter.

“There’s been a lot of confusion about the article, but I wrote it as a fun addition to my gaming magazine.

“I suppose the scary thing is that anything you write on the internet never dies, it merely sleeps and has the potential to wake like Lazarus as this has.”

While the world is going mad for Monopoly, with everyone from the New Zealand Herald to the Huffington Post reporting on the archaic rule, Mr Nexus told The Argus he’s ‘not really that bothered’ about it.

He added: “If I was to campaign for something, which I’m not, I’d be campaigning for people to go out and buy better board games.

“Monopoly is 40 years old and it goes on for too long. It’s anti social because when someone is knocked out they are left doing nothing and it’s pretty obvious from the start who’s going to win.

“In this country, adults playing board games is seen as a bit weird and I think that’s really sad.

“There are great games out there, but unless it’s done with a pack of cards, people assume it’s a game for children.”

The writer is now a published gaming author having released a string of books and is coming towards the end of finishing another book.

He said: “It’s crazy that you can work for hours and hours on a book and get nowhere and something that took me a matter of minutes to write on a train has been read by people all over the world.”

To read the original article, visit jonnynexus.com.