Monopoly Electronic Banking: Has Monopoly Money Become Obsolete?

After last year's release of the "Monopoly: Here and Now" edition and the seeming zillions of "fill in the blank" 'opoly games on the market right now one would think that Parker Brothers would take some time off before unveiling the next big thing in the world of Monopoly. Instead, just in time for this year's holiday season, they have introduced "Monopoly: Electronic Banking," retailing in most markets for $34.95. This may be the most radical idea in Monopoly history. The Monopoly money that has been such an integral part of American culture for close to 100 years has been replaced by debit cards and a calculator with slots in the sides. In their commercials Parker Brothers and Hasbro tell us that this new debit card system will make Monopoly faster and more appropriate for today's culture.

As fans of Monopoly we decided to try out this new version and see how it worked. Gameplay is essentially the same as in the Monopoly: Here and Now version with the updated board and dollar amounts. There are some new game tokens, but the main draw is the debit card system. Each player receives a Monopoly debit card and then a machine is used to add and subtract money from the cards. The machine looks like a calculator with a slot on each side. If you put a card into one side the amount keyed in is added to that card and if a card is put into the other side the amount keyed is subtracted. You can have a player card in both the add and subtract side in order to pay rent from one player to another in one transaction.

Pros: Less time for set up and breakdown of the game since there is no need to organize and count out the Monopoly money. In this new version you simply put a player's debit card into the "+" slot on the machine and type in the amount needed to start the game. Also, the electronic aspect has a "newness" factor for now that makes it interesting. It's like a new toy and we all wanted to have a turn to try it out and see how it worked and punch the buttons.

Cons: We had a hard time keeping track of how much money we had. Without having the stacks of cash in front of you it is difficult to keep track of how much cash you have left. Also, you just don't have the same feeling of excitement that you can get watching those stacks of colorful bills grow. It also made it harder to know which player in the game was winning (and thus should be taken down a peg by whatever means necessary) because you could not see other players' money either. We also had quite a few instances (especially the later in the game that it got) where we were not paying as close of attention to the debit card device and put the cards into the wrong slots, adding and subtracting from the wrong player. If you do not notice this right away it can quickly cause big trouble in the game. I think it is less likely for this to happen with real money since you are not likely to hand the wrong player cash without others noticing. The biggest con that we all discussed was that a big part of the Monopoly appeal as a family game was to help kids learn to count money. With the money eliminated, that lesson is eliminated as well. Some people have argued that a new lesson is being learned by teaching kids that debit cards can run out and are not an unlimited money supply, but I'm not sure that has as much value in a board game. That can (and should) be taught by the parents in other ways. I think that having a game like Monopoly that encourages kids to add and subtract and make change is highly beneficial and the educational value of that colorful Monopoly money should not be discounted.

Did it follow through on the advertising promises? The debit card machine did not make the game play any faster for us, other than the set up and breakdown. You still had to take time to plug in the cards (hopefully into the correct slots) and key in the amount. We found that the time that it took the computer to do the calculations actually was sometimes longer than it would have taken us to make change ourselves. Plus, we were constantly having to have the banker double check our balances since we could not keep track ourselves. I do not think that the commercial's claim that this new Monopoly is faster is necessarily correct.

In the long run, I think that this new version was an interesting idea but I hope that the Monopoly money is not phased out for good. There is just something missing when at the end of the game instead of a giant stack of colorful bills in front of the winner, there is just a banker reading out a number. Debit cards might be practical, but when it comes to showing off in front of your friends and family there is nothing better than a big stack of cold, hard cash!