Posted on 07/26/2006 9:14:30 AM PDT by paulat
New Monopoly game uses debit card, no cash By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 26, 7:14 AM ET
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A British version of the classic Monopoly board game released this week substitutes a Visa-imprinted debit card for the stacks of yellow, blue and purple play money long hoarded by children worldwide.
"We started looking at what Monopoly would look like if we designed it today," said Chris Weatherhead, a Britain.-based spokesman for Hasbro Inc., which makes the best-selling board game. "We noticed consumers are using debit cards, carrying around cash a lot less."
British players might not be the only ones switching to plastic. Officials at Pawtucket-based Hasbro say they're considering a similar change for American versions.
First offered in 1935, Monopoly offered players a form of financial escapism during the country's worst financial depression. Players become pretend real estate magnates who compete for fictitious property named after real places in Atlantic City, N.J. A British version released that same year featured London neighborhoods.
In the new British version of Monopoly Here & Now, players type amounts into a palm-sized scanner and swipe their debit cards to seal the deal.
While the change may startle some Monopoly fans, the game has been revised several times before. Consumers can now buy Monopoly editions inspired by the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies, or even a version featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, an animated TV character.
An earlier version of Monopoly Here & Now was released last year in England and still included paper money, Weatherhead said.
But the game had been modernized in many other ways. Some addresses have changed — and the game now includes Kensington Palace Gardens, near Buckingham Palace, and Notting Hill Gate, the setting of a 1999 movie starring Julia Roberts.
Cards that once rewarded players for winning a beauty contest now compensate them for winning a reality TV show. Completing a full circuit around the board is worth two million English pounds, not 200.
"Quite a nice bonus," Weatherhead said.
Hasbro no longer sells English retailers the paper-money versions of Monopoly Here & Now, but fans can still purchase the classic edition, which includes fake cash.
At least one Monopoly devotee seemed ambivalent about the potential changes.
Krisi Lee of Antioch, Calif., owns 19 versions of the game, including the electronic one on her cell phone. She sometimes competes in a Monopoly tournament run by her mother, which usually attracts about 50 players.
She wants her young daughter to learn how to count Monopoly paper money before touching the real stuff, she said. But Lee, 28, isn't a purist.
"That is the here and now," she said. "That's what we do. For a $3 purchase, I use my debit card."
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On the Net:
http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/
http://www.hasbro.com
Can you use your houses as collateral at a Casino?
They've always been that way!..........
I need to make "Socialist: the Board Game" where players try to buy up/sieze through legislation all the private property on the board. Run out of money? Raise taxes and buy more. Once all the property is gone the game is over and everyone loses.
Coming for that Politically Incorrect winter holiday that everyone celebrates....
I remember the game stores always sold packages of Monopoly money.
The New Kelo Monopoly!
You are building up properties, building houses and you get a card that says your property is being confiscated and will be used for a shopping mall.
I have neighbors who are playing this game for real. They probably won't be my neighbors for much longer.
LOL! Very true! I write one check a month --my rent check. All my other bills are debited automatically out of my bank account. I use my Visa debit card for most purchases and I always try to keep at least $80-$100 cash in my wallet just to be on the safe side.
Yes, now, tell me where you are going to obtain monopoly money at 7pm on a Sunday, when you decide you wish to play the game...
Debit cards have nothing to do with debt. They are just like writing a check. Debit cards are not credit cards.
I totally disagree!
Physically handling money will be almost obsolete. Not a big loss; money is dirty and can more easily get lost and stolen.
Folks must understand that debit cards ARE money and know how to use them wisely. It is easier to track what you spend and see where it is going. Just requires different skills, more like balancing a check book.
Also requires restraint, as ALL your money may be accessible though you aren't carrying it around. However, its not as easy to get into debt as with credit cards, when you run out of money, the card will be declined.
See #9
That's why it needs to be laundered, silly.
That's funny! How did you catch her?
You all are so jaded, lol
What I remember about Monopoly...
Between the money, 4 players, and the property it was a freaking nightmare trying to A) find a table big enough, or B)Keep it all straight, and prevent your neighboring player from "oops, was that your 500?".
This is great news!!
:p
BTW I have the Playstation version and my wife and I were just whooped by the AI player this weekend.. ><;
Not for doing Trig in the 10th grade. I would have been toast without it.
Ouch! Walked right into that one, didn't I?
It's just a board game...if parents only rely on Monopoly to teach money management, there's already a larger problem.
Mine did, or at least that was the closest to any money management teaching I got, I paid for it in my 20's. But the hardest lessons are the easiest to remember.
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