I Was A Top Hat

From Marketing magazine (the source of 75% of my posts) comes news that Hasbro are doing some aggressive promotion of Monopoly. We can expect, in increasing order of futility:

- A TV show on which contestants can win real money. Somewhere at the back of my mind a memory is being triggered of this being done before - I seem to remember minor 80s slebs looking uncomfortable in a mock-up of ‘the car’ with a Captain Zep-style painted backdrop moving shakily by behind them. Am I just making this up?

- The first licensed pre-school edition: this is kind of mind-boggling really. The concepts that underpin Monopoly - buying and selling - may be ones the pre-school mind can grasp but the valuing and counter-valuing that makes up a lot of the gameplay is surely beyond it, not to mention the fact that Monopoly is one of the most nakedly competitive experiences known to man. Or maybe I’m just scarred by my Dad always winning it.

- An advertising campaign centered around “The Forgotten Rule”, based on the idea that even though you enjoy playing Monopoly, you might not be playing it by the proper rules. NO HASBRO NO! First of all, family rules are a huge part of what makes Monopoly so successful. Second of all, there is usually a good reason for adding or dropping rules. Third of all, in this era of consumer power and open-source what is Hasbro playing at in demonising families who put fines in a “Free Parking” pot?

1. Emma on February 2nd, 2007

   Presumably the ad campaign is to get people talking and remind them of the joys of monopoly as disagreeing about the rules with people outside your very immediate family (ie neighbours / friends / aunties etc) is part of the fun! I am sure they are not trying to force the GBP to adhere to the one true set of rules.

2. FT's Tom on February 2nd, 2007

   According to the mag, the campaign is “to remind players that although they think they know how to play the game, they often make mistakes by not consulting the rulebook. The drive is set to be backed by the first Monopoly World Championships” (in themselves a bad idea, says grumpy old me).

3. Emma on February 2nd, 2007

   In my experience arguments about rules tend to go:

   A: Do it this way!
   B: No, do it this other way! This is the correct way and the way we have always done it!
   A+B consult rules if they haven’t got lost. Rules say both are wrong and there is a third way. A+B somehow come to an understanding and thus a simple game of monopoly not only improves yr capitalist skillz but also your diplomacy skillz.

4. Pete on February 2nd, 2007

   I can see it working in the way that Emma suggests though. The rules were always the first thing that went missing (often deliberately) in a Monopoly set. Equally there is a nice “not your fathers Monopoly” debate to be had. I remember playing against a family who played buying on the first round, which I did not know, and subsequently missed out on Angel Islington on my first go.

   I wonder if online there is a list of most usual alternative rules (I bet mortaging is the most often abused rule).

5. Pete on February 2nd, 2007

   Here are some:
   http://wiki.playagaingames.com/tiki-index.php?page=MonopolyHomeRules

6. FT's Tom on February 2nd, 2007

   OMG “Dice Choice”. “You might choose to roll a pair of four-sided dice” NOW WHY WOULD YOU HAVE THOSE LYING AROUND EH.

7. Emma on February 2nd, 2007

   Some of these rules are just outrageously wrong! Though Pete I’m sure we were allowed to buy first time round, otherwise what’s the point?

   No 1 Monopoly rule: if someone gets the ‘2nd prize in a beauty contest’ card you have to shout triumphantly ‘ha ha you were the only person to enter!!’

8. ian on February 2nd, 2007

   It’s just like Dungeons & Dragons - if you change the rules, you are NOT playing Monopoly.

9. Pete on February 2nd, 2007

   In the rules, first trip around the board is to “view the properties”!!!