Monopoly Gets A Makeover!

Hasbro is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and in honor of the occasion they are coming out with a whole new Monopoly board game. The loved childhood classic is getting a makeover... 2010 style!

The company debuted the updated edition in New York City at this year's toy fair. The new version is coming out later this year, but they promise to keep the original game still on the shelf.

What makes the 2010 version so different than the original? Well, to start, the board will be circular as opposed to square. The pastel-colored paper cash will now be replaced with credit cards, and engraved plastic slabs will be used instead of the nostalgic metal pieces.

Although inventive, I have to say I do prefer a thimble or a top hat over a slab.

Yesterday's Earth Day News!

To commemorate Earth Day yesterday the world's most popular board game announced the addition of renewable energy utilities on the Monoploy Here & Now: The World Edition Game Board!

Recognizing the increasing importance of renewable energy sources around the world, MONOPOLY announces that it will feature “Wind Energy” and “Solar Energy” as the utilities in the upcoming MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game. The new utilities will replace the “Water Works” and “Electric Company” spaces that traditionally appear on the MONOPOLY game board.

“When creating this first-ever worldwide MONOPOLY game board, we reviewed all elements of the game to ensure that it reflects today's global perspective. This included the utility property spaces,” said Phil Jackson, Group Executive, Hasbro Games. “In a nod to the efforts of countries worldwide to increase the effectiveness and availability of renewable energy sources, we decided to feature Solar Energy and Wind Energy on the game board.”

Globally, wind energy and solar energy are among the fastest growing renewable energy sources. According to the World Wind Energy Association, wind energy generates more than 1 percent of global electricity and is used in more than 70 countries. Solar power continues to grow in popularity as an energy source, with Germany, Japan and the United States leading the world in solar energy capacity. Additionally, rooftop solar heat collectors provide hot water to more than 50 million households worldwide.

In early 2008, MONOPOLY fans from around the world voted for the global cities that they would like to see represented on the first-ever World edition game board. More than 5 million votes were cast during the voting period to determine the 22 cities that will be featured on the game board. The results of the worldwide vote will be announced in August 2008. The new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition will be available in stores around the world in Autumn 2008.

The official MONOPOLY board has long represented elite locations in individual cities. However, recently Parker Brothers invited fans of the game to help update the board in their respective countries to reflect what the game board would look like if it were created today instead of in 1935. The votes resulted in the “Here & Now” versions of the game in each country. Previous “Here & Now” editions have featured “Cell Phone Service” and “Internet Service” instead of the Water Works and Electric Company utility spaces.

Can San Francisco Make Monopoly History?

SAN FRANCISCO HAS A CHANCE TO MAKE MONOPOLY HISTORY!
“The City by the Bay” is One of Twenty Cities - and the Only US Candidate -
Nominated for a “Wild Card” Space on the First-Ever Global MONOPOLY Game Board


EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. - February 29, 2008 - The people have spoken! With more than 4.5 million votes cast, San Francisco is one of 20 wild card cities that will compete for the opportunity to become a property space on the first-ever global MONOPOLY game board.
For the past six weeks, MONOPOLY fans voted to select which of the world's greatest cities will become properties on the new Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition game board. The online ballot included cities such as New York, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney. Those votes determined 20 of the 22 property spaces on the game board. While the fate of the top 20 property spaces has been sealed, two property spaces are still up for grabs.


Two property spaces on the game board -- the spaces traditionally home to Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue -- were reserved for "wild card candidates" (write-in votes), so every city on the planet was eligible to be nominated to be on the game board. Starting today, the 20 cities that received the most nominations for the wild card properties will compete in a face-off vote. In addition to San Francisco, the top nominated cities include Gdynia, Cancun, Bern, Johannesburg and Quebec City. To view the full list of cities, visit http://www.monopoly.com/


In order for San Francisco to be victorious and land a spot on the new game board, fans are encouraged to vote for the city daily at http://www.monopoly.com during “wild card week,” which runs until March 9. The final list of cities to be included on the MONOPOLY Here & Now The World Edition game board will be unveiled in August 2008 and the game will go on sale in September 2008 in 45 countries.

Attention Monopoly Fans! Get Ready to Vote for a new Global edition game

East Longmeadow, Mass. ­– Jan. 21, 2008 – With the roll of the dice, will aspiring capitalists soon be able to own and unify Washington, D.C., Moscow and Beijing? Will Boston and Bogotá become next-door neighbors? And will Lady Luck smile more on Las Vegas than on London?

Beginning today, MONOPOLY fans around the globe will have the chance to vote to determine which great global cities will be on the game board of the first-ever worldwide MONOPOLY edition. Fans visiting Monopoly.com will have the opportunity to select from more than 68 ‘candidate cities’ from six continents that run the alphabetical gamut from Amsterdam to Zurich. The United States has six candidates on the ballot: Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.

The 20 cities earning the most votes will automatically win a spot on the new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board and will be placed on the game board in rank order from highest rent property to lowest rent property. So as the election begins, pundits may ponder whether Oslo, Tokyo, or Toronto -- or another great global city -- will claim the coveted spot traditionally occupied by Boardwalk. Others may wonder if wintry Montreal will cozy up next to warm weather Rio de Janeiro and be neighbors on the board. And there’s always the possibility that former political foes will find themselves as friendly members of the same property group.

Fans may cast votes for up to 10 of the “candidate cities” each day from now until Feb. 28, 2008. To facilitate voting for MONOPOLY fans worldwide, the website is available in more than 30 languages.

While the ballot of candidate cities attempts to capture the greatest cities on the planet, game maker Parker Brothers acknowledges that some fans may feel that their favorite city didn’t make the list. Fortunately, fans visiting www.monopoly.com can nominate virtually any city on Earth via a wild card (a.k.a. write-in) vote component on the website. Then, beginning Feb. 29, 2008, the top 20 most nominated wild card cities will compete in a one-week face-off for the opportunity to be featured as one of the two members of the “low rent” property group, traditionally home to Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue. This means the new game board may feature property spaces representing Paris, France AND Paris, Texas. Or Kalamazoo could become a worldwide household name if it joins the board alongside such famous cities as Sydney and Cairo.

“MONOPOLY is the world’s most popular board game and transcends cultural barriers,” said Helen Martin, Global Brand Leader for toy and game-maker Hasbro, Inc.’s (NYSE: HAS) MONOPOLY brand. “More than 750 million people around the world have played MONOPOLY since the game was introduced nearly 75 years ago and it remains a perennial favorite among today’s adults, kids and families.”

Along with the 22 property spaces featuring great cities from around the world, the game’s traditional “railroad” spaces will be modified to highlight four types of transportation used by people around the globe: land, sea, air and space travel. The game will also feature modern-day scenarios on the Chance and Community Chest cards.

The MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board will be unveiled in August 2008 and the game will go on sale in September 2008 in 45 countries.

There are 68 cities nominated for the global vote!


For more than 70 years, Parker Brothers selected elite locations within each country to place on MONOPOLY game boards. Recently, Parker Brothers invited fans of the game to help update the board in their respective countries to reflect what the game board would look like if it were created today instead of in 1935. The votes resulted in Here & Now editions of the game in each country. In 2006, more than 3 million votes were cast for the U.S. MONOPOLY: Here & Now Edition which features New York City’s Times Square and Boston’s Fenway Park on the high-rent spaces traditionally home to Boardwalk and Park Place.