Monopoly Goes Cashless

It looks as if Hasbro is trying to keep up with the times as they recently released a Monopoly Electronic Banking edition that includes Visa debit cards instead of paper money.

Yes, it sounds interesting but is it really necessary?

We recently purchased Monopoly Junior to play with our five year old. Both my husband and I have memories of playing the classic version as kids and were excited that Hasbro had modified it for younger children. What I love about the Junior game is that our son is learning math skills and the value of money.

For an upcoming vacation, we also purchased the new electronic banking edition of Monopoly and tried it out. Each player has a debit card and will swipe them when buying or paying, but the rules are basically the same. A few of the property names have changed, as have their prices, so it may look unfamiliar to you at first.

Players star out with $15 million in their debit account. My first issue with this edition is that Hasbro advertises that this new version will “teach your children credit responsibility while playing the game.” Apparently Hasbro considers it very common to have millions of dollars in your debit account and go about your days charging real estate purchases.

The “banker” is responsible for collecting the debit cards and keeping up each players account with what looks like a large calculator. My second issue is that if you mess up and accidentally credit the wrong player, it’s difficult to correct it. In fact, you really can’t. So you must be very careful to place the correct cards in either the plus or minus slot of the banker unit.

I sincerely hope Hasbro doesn’t mess with the Junior version and keeps selling their original game as I don’t think this will catch on as quickly as they hope. To me it seems like they have taken all the fun out of the game. What once was a nostalgic board game in many households is now just plastic.

Priced around $40, you’ll need your real debit card to purchase it.