Monday, November 19, 2007

Ok, who's with me?!

I was watching tv the other night and noticed a commercial for Monopoly and I was pissed off awestruck by it. Click on that link and do the demo, you'll see why I'm ranting about it...

I remember playing the game with my brother when we were growing up. We would sit around and count our money...you know, using our brain...shh, we can't let kids these days do that. I'm sure you all remember playing that game with your friends on a rainy afternoon. Well, Parker Brothers have now done away with all that pesky thinking! Instead of doling out money, everyone gets a debit card to start...yes, a debit card.

I think, and I might be wrong about it, everyone started with around $1,500 or so...now everyone starts off with $1,500,000. Yes, $1.5 million. Mmmkay. Not only that, but all the pieces have changed too! Offhand, I don't recall what the pieces were, but they certainly weren't a big screen tv, a box of Altoids (I wonder how much the people at Altoids paid and/or are making off of this), a designer purse with a puppy inside, or a Segway scooter.

Another thing they did away with was one of the most popular phrases..."Do not pass GO, do not collect $200". It's now been updated to "Do not pass GO, do not collect $2,000,000". Ugh. Seriously, was that really necessary?!

Anyways, I tried the demo and yes, I know there are other versions of the game (ie., Torontopoly, Dogopoly, Catopoly, etc), but did they need to change all the old place names and still call it Monopoly? What was wrong with Park Place? Boardwalk? Now you can buy Fenway Park and Times Square instead. Oh yeah, you can also buy the White House. Umm, excuse me?! There are no more railroads, they're all major airports.

I remember when you'd pull a Chance card and get "You are runner up in a beauty contest, win $100"...now it's "You are runner up in a reality tv show, win $100,000". Sad.

I know that they're just trying to 'get with the times' but really, did Monopoly have to change THAT much? Personally I hope this version tanks, but sadly it probably won't.

12 comments:

Johnny said...

But the beauty of this is that they will still sell "Monopoly Classic". And it's a win-win. A few people, griping that the old game was staid and boring might like the new game. And others will be reminded how good the old game was.

Marketing, all marketing.

4D said...

It is neat but the classics are still good.

I like the print money feature the site has. if only it were so simple in real life.

Keep smilin!

Catherine said...

I like the old version but understand why they would want this up and coming type for today's kids. Electronic banking is in their blood. When we were kids we opened savings accounts. Today those savings accounts come with debit cards. Glad that wasn't an option in my day or I'd have had a bunch of $0.27 debits for chocolate bars.

I like both options of the game that are available. Sorry.

Kristine said...

I just played the "classic" game last month with my friend's kids and can't imagine not counting the money. There is something about having it in front of you in piles!!! I can see updating the board etc but taking the money aspect away REALLY bothers me too!!! Oh well, we will be playing the "classic" here for years to come!! I can't imagine what they will do next but they had better not mess with Rumoli, our favorite game!!

kerri said...

I like the "old" classics. *wink*

Middle-Aged Moi said...

THey're taking all the FUN out of it! Blah. besides, when we were little part of the fun was messing around with the money. We would "steal" some, or we'd lend some, or some would just "go missing."

Las Mariposas said...

I never liked Monopoly. I always lost, I guess that's why I didn't get it.

D & S said...

That was Dolores and Shawn on the last comment, now it's my Mac acting up.

Robin said...

the sad thing is.. what is this teaching the kids today. That plastic is the way to go and that they should expect to "have" not "make" lots of money. :0(

I'm with you Rhonda. I can understand perhaps changing the names of things to "update" the game a little but I think you should still have to count money, save money, and not get so much money!!

redmaryjanes said...

My kids are definitely a part of the high-tech generation. But they love to play Monopoly just the way it is. I think those changes are sad.

Nancy said...

I hope it tanks too.
There are some things that just should not me messed with.
When are they going to stop dumbing things down for our kids?

Mrs Pushy said...

I am totally with you on this, and had the same reaction when I saw the commercial. I also saw a commercial for the game Operation the other day; they now have something about 'text messaging wrist' or something like that, and you take the phone out of the arm. Please.