Hasbro, the makers of property trading board game Monopoly, has announced the results of an online poll used to decide which tokens will be passing go in future editions of the game.
The thimble, boot and wheelbarrow have all been voted-out in a poll involving over 4.3 million votes, received from more than 100 countries.
They will be replaced with three new playing pieces : a T-Rex, a rubber duck and a penguin.
This is not the first time Monopoly players have been consulted on choosing new or rejecting old playing pieces, in 2013 a cat token was introduced replacing the iron. In 1998, the public voted-in a highly appropriate bag of money as a playing piece, however, (even more appropriately) this token did not seem to last beyond 2007.
Also, there have been many editions of the remarkably popular, yet antagonistic, board game that has provided numerous different tokens for players to push around the board. The Electronic Banking Edition included a Segway, Space Shuttle and flat screen TV. There have been many licensed versions based on intellectual properties, such as, Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Muppets, The Simpsons, Shrek and more.
During the Second World War, manufacturers had to find alternatives to die-cast pieces because metal was required for the war effort. This led to pieces from 64 Milestones (the contemporary name for The Game of Life in Britain), cardboard tokens and pieces made from a composite of compressed paper and sawdust being used.
It may take some time for the current Monopoly sets on store shelves to sell through but by late-summer or autumn retailers will begin receiving stock of board games with the following eight tokens :-
- Scottie Dog
- Top Hat
- Car
- Cat
- Battleship
- T-Rex (new)
- Rubber Ducky (new)
- Penguin (new)
There is no change to the official rules to Monopoly and no doubt, of course, your house rules will still be steadfastly applied. So, if you feel that playing with the wheelbarrow brings you good luck because it represents the potential to cart a heap of money collected in the the form of rent, then feel free to take to your own token to your next game night.
I for one shall miss the worn-out boot, a poignant reminder that Monopoly’s origins come from a game designed to provoke a suspicion of the inherent unfairness of dealings between landlords and their tenants under the current wage economy.
If you can’t wait to start playing with a penguin or rubber duck as your token, then Monopoly Token Madness Edition is in the shops now. It includes some of the other proposed new playing pieces that formed a field of 64 candidates and also has the previous eight tokens.