One of the most beloved board games in history is making a change. The makers of Monopoly announced this week that they’re chopping one of the classic starting pieces and replacing it with a more updated choice. Executives have done this a few times throughout the game’s almost eighty year history, but this time around the board, fans will get to decide which item they’d like to save and which new option they’d like to add. Whichever piece gets the lowest number of votes out of the existing game pieces will be sent to jail, and whichever new choice gets the most support will head to the nearest railroad (and pay the owner twice the value).
The voting is being done over at the Save Your Token Facebook application, and as of press time, the dog is throttling every other choice with a whopping thirty-four percent of total support. As for the rest of the pieces (the car, the thimble, the shoe, the battleship, the top hat, the iron and the wheelbarrow), they could desperately use your help. If you’re a regular Monopoly player, you don’t need to be asked twice either.
People are irrationally tied to certain Monopoly pieces in ways creator Charles Darrow likely never imagined. In theory, it doesn’t matter whether someone is the battleship or the top hat, but in practicality, having the right piece can really put a player in a positive and winning frame of mind.
The five pieces voters can select to replace the loser are the helicopter, the cat, the robot, the diamond ring and the guitar. The results will be announced on February 5. Provided the shoe doesn’t get eliminated, I’ll support whatever direction Monopoly goes in. If the shoe gets the axe, however, my future opponents can expect a far angrier negotiator when it comes to trading.
