Okay, so I saw an advertisement on television for a Monopoly game by Parker Brothers (an imprint of Hasbro). Let me just say from the start that it’s not a game that will I ever play, nor would I want my son to play it. Let me tell you why.
It’s the Electronic Banking edition apparently. Feel free to go to their website at and see it for http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=19783 yourself. You can click on the game and get a virtual sample of what it will be like to play the game. Now I absolutely love Monopoly, and always have since I first played as a child. It is a game that I have played with my son many times. I would just never buy the electronic banking version. Apparently, each player starts the game with a debit card that is loaded with $15 million! Yes, I wrote 15 million, there is no error. There are so many things that I think are wrong with the messages that the game is putting out, that I don’t know if I can list them all here. How realistic is it to start with $15 million dollars? And who in their right mind would want it to be loaded and spend freely on a debit card? Is that all of the money that you have, or do you have a savings or investment account somewhere? OK, let me move on from the issue of the money… the tokens that you select from at the start. Your choices are a plasma tv, a box of Altoids, a space shuttle, a Segway, a purse with a dog in it (would my little girl be getting encouraged to be Paris Hilton for the duration of the game?), and thank goodness for those of us that were happy being the shoe or thimble in the old version… there is a baseball cap in this version.
Moving right along with the actual game: I can take my plasma tv, roll the dice and move down the lane… landing on Gateway Arch, St. Louis which will cost me $1 million dollars should I choose to buy it. OK, no problem, because I’ve got 14 more where that came from, and I’m feeling lucky. My opponent moves, and then it’s my turn again. A roll of the dice lands me on Community Chest where I am told that I am the runner-up on a reality tv show (and have therefore won $100,000). On my next turn, I land on Disney World Orlando, and have to pay rent of $200,000. 200K for what? Would that be for my resort timeshare there, and if so, how long does that get me? As the adult, I would assume it’s the rent for the entire place, but I’m not sure my child would know. A roll of the dice brings me to a Chance space, where I am ordered to donate $150,000 for disaster relief. Not bad I suppose since I have $14 million left… I suppose the message of being philanthropic is not lost here. I have a problem with cards that say “Win big at the casinos in Atlantic city… win $1 M”. I have no idea how much it will cost to get out of jail, can only image how much money could sit in “free parking” waiting to be won, and hate to guess how much those blue properties at the end of the board will cost that were always expensive (you know, Park Place and Boardwalk). What I do know is that each time the player passes “go”, they collect a whopping $2 million for successfully dodging all of the financial whoppers that are on the player’s path.
The game is said to be for ages 8 and up. Hmmm. It’s just a game though, right?
It’s the Electronic Banking edition apparently. Feel free to go to their website at and see it for http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=19783 yourself. You can click on the game and get a virtual sample of what it will be like to play the game. Now I absolutely love Monopoly, and always have since I first played as a child. It is a game that I have played with my son many times. I would just never buy the electronic banking version. Apparently, each player starts the game with a debit card that is loaded with $15 million! Yes, I wrote 15 million, there is no error. There are so many things that I think are wrong with the messages that the game is putting out, that I don’t know if I can list them all here. How realistic is it to start with $15 million dollars? And who in their right mind would want it to be loaded and spend freely on a debit card? Is that all of the money that you have, or do you have a savings or investment account somewhere? OK, let me move on from the issue of the money… the tokens that you select from at the start. Your choices are a plasma tv, a box of Altoids, a space shuttle, a Segway, a purse with a dog in it (would my little girl be getting encouraged to be Paris Hilton for the duration of the game?), and thank goodness for those of us that were happy being the shoe or thimble in the old version… there is a baseball cap in this version.
Moving right along with the actual game: I can take my plasma tv, roll the dice and move down the lane… landing on Gateway Arch, St. Louis which will cost me $1 million dollars should I choose to buy it. OK, no problem, because I’ve got 14 more where that came from, and I’m feeling lucky. My opponent moves, and then it’s my turn again. A roll of the dice lands me on Community Chest where I am told that I am the runner-up on a reality tv show (and have therefore won $100,000). On my next turn, I land on Disney World Orlando, and have to pay rent of $200,000. 200K for what? Would that be for my resort timeshare there, and if so, how long does that get me? As the adult, I would assume it’s the rent for the entire place, but I’m not sure my child would know. A roll of the dice brings me to a Chance space, where I am ordered to donate $150,000 for disaster relief. Not bad I suppose since I have $14 million left… I suppose the message of being philanthropic is not lost here. I have a problem with cards that say “Win big at the casinos in Atlantic city… win $1 M”. I have no idea how much it will cost to get out of jail, can only image how much money could sit in “free parking” waiting to be won, and hate to guess how much those blue properties at the end of the board will cost that were always expensive (you know, Park Place and Boardwalk). What I do know is that each time the player passes “go”, they collect a whopping $2 million for successfully dodging all of the financial whoppers that are on the player’s path.
The game is said to be for ages 8 and up. Hmmm. It’s just a game though, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment