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In-Game Advertising Comes to Board Games 313

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the people-still-use-paper-money dept.
Grooves writes "Monopoly is getting rid of paper money in favor of credit cards. From the article: 'The new card, which resembles a debit card, is inserted into a small plastic reader/writer that can display and update the balance on the card. Traditional money is gone altogether, though purists can still purchase the original version.' Does this mean the end of complex Monopoly games where I charge grandma interest to borrow money?"
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In-Game Advertising Comes to Board Games More

In-Game Advertising Comes to Board Games

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  • Who's the banker? (Score:5, Funny)

    by wombert ( 858309 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:49PM (#15779713)
    Now how will I cheat?

  • Damn, there goes MY winning strategy... (Score:3, Funny)

    by nweaver ( 113078 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:51PM (#15779727) Homepage
    Damn, there goes my winning strategy: Embezzlement!

    Its amazing how much easier Monopoly is to win when you steal a few $500s from the bank before the start of the game...

    Unless I hack the reader... Hmmmm.

  • Easier to cheat! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by celardore ( 844933 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:51PM (#15779728)
    It's so much easier for the banker to 'accidentally' press the wrong key, than to stuff bright pink notes under something. And I'd be so pissed if the battery died halfway through the game.

  • stacks of money (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:52PM (#15779736)
    damn, one of the best things of monopoly is about having big stacks of money in front of you.

  • Absolutely Shocked (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KU_Fletch ( 678324 ) <bthomas1 AT ku DOT edu> on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:54PM (#15779754)
    Sure a game with the name Monopoly would be above the influence of corporate interests like Visa!!

  • Mixed feelings (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Incoherent07 ( 695470 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:55PM (#15779759)
    On the bright side, we won't have to deal with those stupid 5s and 1s, which only serve to get in the way.

    On the other hand, this is going to make a lot of rulesets more complicated... ranging from embezzlement to the more common and legitimate Free Parking "put $500 and any taxes/fines in the middle, pick them up when you hit Free Parking" rule.

    • Re:Mixed feelings (Score:4, Informative)

      by Rob Kaper ( 5960 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:37PM (#15780128) Homepage
      1. That is not an official rule. I've quite thoroughly gone through every little tiny seemingly insignificant available rule when writing Atlantik [robertjohnkaper.com]/monopd.

      2. Although obviously there's no physical money, I did of course write the ever-so-popular "Free Parking collects fines" rule as option. ;-)

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:55PM (#15779765)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Blast from the past (Score:5, Funny)

    by rockchops ( 866057 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:57PM (#15779778)
    What? People still play this horrible game? It's a nightmare form a game design perspective! The winner of the game is decided so early on in play, 80% of the time spent playing the game is virtually pointless because everyone can tell who is going to win (unless he/she makes an incredibly dumb trade or someone cheats).

    At least if they're going to upgrade the game aesthetics, why not change the name to "Microsoft: The Game"?
    *runs and hides*
    • I guess you were the kid who lost all the time.
    • The game itself isn't important. It's simply a good way of bringing a family together.
      When you have children, you'll understand ;o)

    • Re:Blast from the past (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Freexe ( 717562 ) *
      "unless he/she makes an incredibly dumb trade or someone cheats"

      And that is why it's not obvious who is going to win. It's a boardgame, you have to try and cheat and make unfair trades against the winner/person who screws you over most.

    • Re:Blast from the past (Score:5, Insightful)

      by a whoabot ( 706122 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @06:05PM (#15780346)
      "The winner of the game is decided so early on in play, 80% of the time spent playing the game is virtually pointless because everyone can tell who is going to win (unless he/she makes an incredibly dumb trade or someone cheats)."

      How so? If one player gets really good properties and is on top, then the other players, if they are interested in winning, are going to team up in order to bring down the top player, so that he doesn't win.

  • If you old fuddy-duddies can't wrap your head around these elecomotronics, Parker Brothers is still offering the cold hard cash version.

    However, I hope that they keep the currency version around for a long time. To a kid, having large wads of paper in front of yourself to show off and rub the fact that you're winning in the other players' faces. If everyone has the same boring card, that just makes things even, now doesn't it?

    Also, if they stop the cash edition, I won't be able to fulfill my dreams of filling a room with monopoly money and swimming around in it ala Scrooge McDuck.
    • Actually, the article I read about the subject said they were doing away with the paper money completely for the "regular" version of the game. I imagine the "special edition" versions might still use paper money though.

    • Re:The old game is still there (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fermion ( 181285 ) * on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @06:02PM (#15780317) Homepage Journal
      It has nothing to do with a lack of appreciation for electro-nics, but rather a grasp of why monopoly is one of the better board games for children. I know most will think i am just being silly, but there are a number of skills taught in the paper money monopoly, things like organizing money, budgeting money, protecting money, etc. Many of these skill are not taught with a cash card. Children are not even going to have as much fun with a cash card given there is not concrete representation to signify a variable about of money, just a single card that could mean 0-1000000000000 dollars.

      pretty much monopoly is just about perfect. The changing of the board does not affect it significantly. But if the money is gone, there is really no inherent benefit of monopoly over any other random game.

    • Its not resistance to change so much as the loss of flexibility for more mindless gagdetphilia. As far as Monopoly was concerned, it wasn't broke, but they still must fix it to make it more technical. It also chops out some of the flexability I love, when I play monoploy loan-sharking is a massive part of my strategy, and covert land deals, which would warrent a VERY flexible system. I also like playing with my ever growing stack 500 notes.

      Have Scotty Dog, will travel, though I prefer the howitzer, it ma

  • Neat idea (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IceFox ( 18179 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:59PM (#15779792) Homepage
    It is a neat idea that puts a spin on monopoly other then themed boards. Notice how it costs more. The company is trying to come up with ways for you to buy the same game you already own. And it will probably work. When you go to buy a board game odds are that you will buy a game you have already played. That is why we have the same dozen games, but with 50 themes (trivial pursuit star wars!). The sad thing is that Monopoly was a great way for kids to learn about money.
    • I must have purchased 4 copies of the game. Its hard to keep track of the bills. Maybe thats why I like the Video game that was made for SuperNES. But , this sounds like a good compromise betweenthe two. Or maybe now that I'm not living with a 3 year old that ate monopoly money and figurines, I won't lose them. Still as other posters have mentioned, I'd love to buy it and crack the card reader. That would be sweet, sweet revenge against... well, no one actually I usually win without cheating, but I'd would
    • Guess I'll have to buy the White Album again...

    • The sad thing is that Monopoly was a great way for kids to learn about money.

      So I guess we can expect a dramatic rise in people who leave their money laying out when they go to the bathroom.

  • Oh, the humanity... (Score:5, Funny)

    by 14erCleaner ( 745600 ) <FourteenerCleaner@yahoo.com> on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @04:59PM (#15779796) Homepage Journal
    What's next, identity theft?

  • For everything else (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jonathunder ( 105885 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:00PM (#15779799) Homepage
    Take a ride on the Reading: $25

    A house on Atlantic Avenue: $150

    The look on your brother's face when he lands on Park Place with four houses: priceless.

    • Nice Mastercard pun.

      Though, I have never understood people's obession with always owning Park Place and Boardwalk. I would trade them out everytime. It's not a worthwhile investment. I find Oriental, Vermont, and Connecticut properties a worthwhile investment. It's far more likely to land on these and the hotel investment is much cheaper. And then I tend to go after St James, Tennessee, and New York properties next. And one should never underestimate the power of the railroads. Railroad can hurt a player i
  • And it's educational, too! Who doesn't charge their rent on a credit card? It's good, sound personal fiscal policy, the kind of lesson that I want my children to learn!
    • It's good, sound personal fiscal policy, the kind of lesson that I want my children to learn!


      Better the card than a check, and better a check than cash.

      Why? Better fraud control. And if you really did teach them a sound personal fiscal policy, they'll have a plastic card that they can pay off for less actual cost than the postage of that stamp or the fee for that ATM. (Now, if only Visa would let you transfer to an individual...)

    • Re:Great! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by drew ( 2081 )
      Who doesn't charge their rent on a credit card?

      And why not? I know people who pay their mortgage payment on a credit card (and I probably would if my bank allowed it), and my wife paid most of her college tuition on her Discover card. 1% cash back goes a long ways when you're turning over $1000 on the card every month.

      The more important lesson is to make sure you pay it off every month.

  • Hmm (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:02PM (#15779822)
    At least it not paypal -- you could be winning the game and have your funds frozen for suspect activity.

  • Finance Charges (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ahtha ( 798891 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:02PM (#15779827)
    Will the bank will also keep 2.5% per transaction like in the real world?
  • The best cheat is to charge someone rent on a property that person owns. Even if it's only a $7 payoff, it rocks way more than palming $500 from the bank. The really hard part is not laughing before the next dice roll.
    • You probably played with very dumb people... I don't see how that cheat would work otherwise.
    • "I owe you $8, hm? Well, will you give me a $10 if I give you the $2 change?"

      This worked on me...four days ago. In my defense, I was really tired and not paying attention at the time. And hey, at least I got an awesome photo of my friends laughing at me.

  • What will kids learn from this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by soft_guy ( 534437 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:03PM (#15779835)
    One nice thing about Monopoly is that children learn things like how to count money. With the credit card version it will be easier (and less time consuming) to play a game, but will there be the same educational value? Probably not.
    • hm, wouldn't you want your kids to learn how to use a credit card reponsibly? I stopped having cash with me ages ago. This just makes the education more relevant

      • Re:What will kids learn from this? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Valdrax ( 32670 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:29PM (#15780071)
        I wouldn't want my kids taught that:
        1. Credit cards are a toy.
        2. Credit cards are the same as cash.
        3. Money on credit cards represents an asset instead of a liability.
        There is nothing responsible about what this game teaches kids about credit cards.
        • So, teaching kids that cash is a toy is better?

          And they are technically "Debit Cards", so the money IS an asset instead of a liability. (And for that matter, having a net positive balance on your credit card is an asset as well..)

          And last, money in your bank account, or spent on a credit card, is pretty much the same as cash. i.e. having it in the bank is the same as having cash. Spending it by using your credit card is the same as spending cash.

          If you're using a "charge card" or a "debit card", instead

  • lame (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:07PM (#15779872)
    I grew up playing Monopoly, but I've come to realize that Monopoly is a terrible board game. It is sad that it is still played so widely when there are so many great boards games to come out just recently. Monopoly changing the names and adding an electronic gimmick won't save itself from poor mechanics.

    At bare minimum families should be playing Settlers of Catan these days. *Maybe* Carcassonne. Puerto Rico and Reiner Knizia games for families that claim to know something about board games.

    A good site for other games, review, and community check out Board Game Geek [boardgamegeek.com]

  • I wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Vo0k ( 760020 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:08PM (#15779879) Journal
    The way we played, there were no rules outside the banker. Pickpocketing, bribes, free trade, all tricks allowed. Shuffle that house two fields away onto your area and claim it's yours, or put the dice down, 6-up and claim you just threw them. Bring your own monopoly money from home. Nobody got desperate enough to trade the in-game cash for real money, but that would be perfectly legal too.
    The "dirty" version of the game was fun. Electronics will most likely kill this kind of gameplay.

  • Damn it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:09PM (#15779896)
    They make a paper money version? I wish someone had told me sooner.

    I've been playing the "Monopoly: Yap Edition" from Micronesia. Keeping track of and moving hundreds of giant stone discs is not as fun as it sounds. Passing Go! is usually seen as physical punishment, not a reward. Toes get stubbed. Basically, after about 15 minutes, everyone gets too exhausted to keep going.
  • Is it usefull for cards that doesn't come with the game? Anyone know?
    • I can't say for sure, but having a engineer's mind I can tell you it probably won't work with anything else. See, the only thing the cards need to communicate is a number from 0 to 7. Putting in a full mag-stripe or bar code reader to communicate three bits of data would be a colossal waste of money.
  • This takes a very interesting aspect of monopoly out of the game! I loved counting and feeling the bank notes. This sort of loses personal touch with the user. And you can't teach little kids what money is and how to use it with the card. THIS SUCKS!
    • Well actually, this might be the ideal way to teach kids about money.

      As far as they'll probably be concerned during their lifetimes, money will be nothing but an abstract concept -- represented by the digits of a bank balance on an ATM screen or computer monitor. To a lesser extent, it's the numbers you write on a check or see in a bankbook, but both of those things will probably go the way of the dodo during your kids' tenures on this planet.

      Very little money these days actually passes through someone's ha
  • At last, people can play Monopoly without tedious things like addition!

    Well, until they run out of fresh batteries, anyway.
    • I have to be honest and say that, when I was a kid, I hated that card where you have to pay a certain % of your assets. I didn't understand how to calculate those by then. When I grew up I understood, but I still get that bitter sensation everytime I get that card :P

  • Big Mistake (Score:2, Insightful)

    by fm6 ( 162816 )

    Almost everyone plays Monopoly with unofficial rules, like putting fines underneath one of the card stacks, and giving the stash to whoever draws the last card. Of course, these changes make the game more about luck and less about strategy. But who plays Monopoly, anyway? Not strategy geeks, or at least not mostly. It's small kids and other people looking for harmless fun that doesn't require a lot of brain power.

    It's actually the purists who will like the new debit cards, because they'll be able to play

  • Opening the door for new strategies (Score:5, Funny)

    by SalaciousPucker ( 911419 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:25PM (#15780043)
    IF they are going to update they economics of the game, they should go all out..... You can buy Park Place with a 7 turn interest only ARM, inflate the profits using mark-to-market accounting and dump all the loses to a dummy corp setup under the Thimble. Genius!

  • I miss objects (Score:5, Interesting)

    by neatfoote ( 951656 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:34PM (#15780107)
    I can't imagine that this game will be popular, even with a computer-literate set. For one thing, ideas like this credit-based Monopoly ignore the very real fact that a symbol is not the same as the thing symbolized, either conceptually or in emotional terms.

    Now, I'm a woman, so my perspective may not be shared by the estrogen-challenged among us, but for me part of the satisfaction of board games (as well as of many other hobbies) is the opportunity to interact with and manipulate real objects-- to see a stack of money grow, move around a little iron doggie, build wooden roads in Settlers, construct fields of color in Blockus, etc. It's not especially smart, I know, but it is a very visceral and very real component of my enjoyment of the game. For children, exploration of the objects involved may constitute most or all of the pleasure they take in gameplay, and rightly so, since that kind of play is needed to build spatial relations and motor skills.

    Even for adults, though, I can't help feeling as though interactions with concrete physical objects are necessary to keep in touch with our environment and maintain a sense of control and comfort in our world. We evolved from monkeys, after all-- manipulating objects is what we do best. Abstract thinking is useful and necessary, too, of course, but I can't help feeling as though the ongoing virtualization of everyday life is going to result in increased stress and poor decision-making for our recently-ex-hunter/gatherer selves.

    That said, I do hope the social scientists mount some comparative studies of virtual-Monopoly vs. real-Monopoly gameplay. What a great opportunity to examine the psychology of credit!
    • I don't want gagets around me every single moment. I surf the net, play video games, watch TV, all electronic activities that I enjoy. But somtimes I want non-electronic enjoyment, and board games are one excellent alternative.

      There are already electronic versions of monopoly the people play, it seems to me like the people who still fork out money for the board probably are after a differet experience - I know I am. But as long as there are paper versions out thre, I guess I can't complain.

  • We used to do something similar (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Schraegstrichpunkt ( 931443 ) on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:36PM (#15780121) Homepage
    I remember playing Monopoly with my siblings. At one point, we got tired to handing the paper money back and forth, so we each grabbed a cheap calculator, and used the "memory" feature to store our balances. It worked like a charm (or, rather, it worked very much unlike a charm, since charms have a tendency to do absolutely nothing but make the wearer look gullible)!
  • Somebody will figure out a way to hack the reader to hook up to a PC, then we'll have a generation of kids who grow up being able to hexedit their parent's credit cards. That's WAY better than a set of MindStorms!

  • Nothing under the table? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Sir Holo ( 531007 ) * on Tuesday July 25, 2006 @05:48PM (#15780229)
    The thing that keeps a Monopoly game mildly interesting is all of the under-the-table and back-room (or bathroom) wheeling and dealing going on. It makes it more about the people, and the players' interactions.

    Take that away, and you get mind-numbing tedium. Wasn't that what computers and microeletronics were supposed to save us from?
  • My sister and I grew up playing a Monopoly set from the 1960s that was my mom's when she was a kid. (It wasn't a "vintage" thing, we were just shit-poor and couldn't afford new games.) Eventually over the years the board and some of the cash wore out, but by then we were able to buy a new set and throw in the pieces of the old set that were in good condition. Even now, my circa-1997 Monopoly set has a decent amount of 50-year-old wooden houses mixed in with the plastic ones, and enough cash in the stacks

  • NIIIIICE summary. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DjMd ( 541962 ) on Wednesday July 26, 2006 @05:42AM (#15782673) Journal
    Bravo Slashdot submiter & editor... Bravo.

    Let's see first of all RTFA. It is ONE edition of monopoly. Not all future editions.
    Secondly, the title of the slashdot post. "Advertising comes to Board Games."
    Really? Ok, hrmm lets read the summary.. Odd No mention of this advertising...


    Yes, I know Visa worked with Parker Brothers to make a credit card swiper for ONE edition of monopoly (only in UK and parts of europe so far). And they have the Visa logo on it... Of course, I know that not from this summary.. I guess it was good that I RTFA before slashdot posted it, so I knew what this post was about before I read the summary that misses the point.

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