Monopoly May Replace Iconic Pieces With Emoji Faces and Hashtags (cnet.com)

Hasbro, the toymaker behind Monopoly, is letting the public decide whether or not they should replace the game's iconic game pieces with new pieces inspired by pop culture and social media. CNNMoney reports: Gamers can visit the Vote Monopoly site and choose from more than 50 new options. The old tokens, including the thimble, top hat and Scottie dog, are also on the table. The voting takes place inside a digital house with shelves and furniture stocked with both classic and newfangled token options. Jazzy music plays in the background as you explore and take a closer look at the figurines. Some aren't too surprising. There's a horse, a sailboat, an airplane, a bike and a helicopter. Two of the stranger options are sliced bread and a fuzzy bunny slipper. Hasbro is offering up a number of tokens that may appeal to tech consumers. There's a cell phone that looks like it came out of the '80s, a television that looks very '50s, and a computer with keyboard that vaguely resembles the first flat-screen iMac. Internet denizens can also vote for a hashtag and emoji options, including a winking smiley-face, thumbs-up symbol, crying-laughing face and a Rich Uncle Pennybags version of an emoji face. Voting is open to internet users worldwide until January 31. The chosen tokens will be part of a fresh Monopoly game due to hit stores this summer, so think long and hard about whether you want to stare at a kissy-face emoji for the next decade or so. A special edition called Token Madness will offer the original tokens as well as the new winners.

Comments

Re:A reminder that Monopoly is a terrible game

[TheRaven64]

You might want to read up on the actual history a bit more. Monopoly is based on a came called The Landlord's Game, which has two modes of play. In one, you won by constructing a monopoly, in the other you won by increasing the total size of the economy. The point was to illustrate how unconstrained capitalism would lead to monopolies and negative outcomes for most participants.

The modern version is a set of incremental changes to the 1933 game by Parker (later bought by Hasbro). This was a simplified version of The Landlord's Game, which eliminated the cooperative mode and left outright competition as the only objective.