Monopoly has reinvented itself countless of times, with the classic board game releasing versions of itself based on Fortnite, the NFL, Super Mario, and more. However, the latest version of Monopoly is one of the biggest deviations from the standard game to date. Called Ms. Monopoly, it goes on sale later this month for $19.99, and it looks to tackle issues like the gender pay gap with a theme of female empowerment.
Ms. Monopoly features some unique rules that are interesting, but are sure to be controversial. Female players will start a game of Ms. Monopoly with $1,900, whereas male players will start with just $1,500. Additionally, male players will still only get $200 when they pass "GO" on the game board, but female players will get $240. In this way, Ms. Monopoly flips the gender pay gap on its head by giving female players an advantage over male players.
Besides giving female players an advantage over their male counterparts, Ms. Monopoly makes some other big changes to the classic board game. Instead of purchasing real estate like they do in the original version of Monopoly, Ms. Monopoly instead has players making investments in inventions made by women. Examples given so far include chocolate chip cookies, bulletproof vests, solar heating, and ladies' modern shapewear, according to a report by USA Today.
The classic Monopoly tokens are being shaken up for Ms. Monopoly as well. The new tokens in Ms. Monopoly include a white hat, a watch, a barbell, a glass, and a jet plane. According to Senior director of global brand strategy and marketing for Hasbro Gaming Jen Boswinkel, these tokens represent Mr. Monopoly "passing the top hat" to his niece, the new character on the cover of the Ms. Monopoly board game.
As was likely expected, reaction to Ms. Monopoly has so far been pretty mixed. There are those who think it's a clever idea to update the classic board game while simultaneously teaching people about the gender pay gap, whereas others feel like it's pandering and sending the wrong message. Hasbro had to know that Ms. Monopoly would be a controversial game, though, and that actually may be part of its strategy with selling it.
Hasbro has made some controversial decisions with Monopoly in the past, like when it replaced some of Monopoly's iconic tokens. However, that controversy didn't last long. It remains to be seen how people will feel about Ms. Monopoly in the long-term.
Ms. Monopoly is available at retailers now for $19.99.
Source: USA Today