Hasbro taking jail out of Monopoly

[Deleted]

www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/07/monopoly-getting-rid-jail-appease-your-kids/67556/

Really, nothing is sacred anymore — not even Monopoly. Because kids' days are filled with obligations and organized activities, young children today are apparently busier than any of their predecessors in history, toy manufacturers like Hasbro are tailoring board games to make them faster to play.

"Hasbro's new Monopoly Empire, in which players compete to amass the most big-name brands, such as Coca-Cola Xbox and McDonald's, can be completed in as little as 30 minutes, compared with the hours that traditional Monopoly could take," reports The Wall Street Journal's Ann Zimmerman. Hasbro accomplished this depressing feat in part by removing the jail, which speeds up the pace and also removes a crucial safe zone in the latter stages of the game.

Monopoly isn't the only game adopting to changes changes in kids' time commitments. Scrabble, Zimmerman notes, has a fast and furious version of the game that can be completed in two minutes and 30 seconds. And there are speedy versions of Boggle and Rubik's Cubes on the market, too. These are all designed to fit into the pockets of time allotted to kids these days in between gymnastics classes, test prep courses, and whatever else they're signed up for.

But at the heart of it, these "fast" games undermine the whole notion of board games, which are supposed to encourage bonding and silly fights about whether the "bank" is stealing money or if "knifes" counts as a word. Winning as quickly as possible was never the issue. At least not until recently.

[RedSmile]

Meh, f*** all of that.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

well, real corporate magnates never go to jail for anything either, so I guess it's just more realistic this way

[Mayonnaise]

So it's not actually the classic version but a different version meant to speed up a game known for taking hours to complete? Don't really see what is so bad about that, you can still play the games to the heart's content, you just have an easy out before the family is sick of the game and the Scottie turns into a projectile launched at sis's head. Plus the classic version is still there for those that have some great objection to these.

Hell, these sound amazing after spending hours on a single games of Trouble and Sorry recently.

[Deleted]

I was hoping that they were taking jail out for some insane reason like doing bird promotes homosexuality or something completely mental like that.

[Michael Coello]

On the bright side, think of how many friendships would have been saved if this was available before.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

So nothing's actually happened. A different game has no jail in it, not Monopoly, and this is news why?

[Blindkarevik]

Yeah, I have never finished a game of Monopoly. It just gets to a point where I don't care anymore and am just playing to play. Hell, i hate a game where I can deliberately try to lose then accidentally get money to prolong my suffering.

Classic Monopoly should never go away. But having a quicker version is a great alternative in my opinion.

[The Peoples Elbow]

What a crock of shit!

[Rumble McSkirmish]

Or if you think the game takes to long to play you can do what they suggest in the rules and you know put a time limit on the game. (IE: who ever has the most money after an hour is the winner etc...)But I guess that just takes too much effort, and I mean it's not like the youth of today has any kind of ready access to a time keeping device or anything like that.

[Mozenrath]

Jul 25, 2013 15:58:04 GMT -5 Rumble McSkirmish said:

Or if you think the game takes to long to play you can do what they suggest in the rules and you know put a time limit on the game. (IE: who ever has the most money after an hour is the winner etc...)But I guess that just takes too much effort, and I mean it's not like the youth of today has any kind of ready access to a time keeping device or anything like that.

If you do it that way, you know very well there will be people who, when they see they have an advantage, take excessively long times on their turns, stall other people, etc.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

Jul 25, 2013 16:01:52 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jul 25, 2013 15:58:04 GMT -5 Rumble McSkirmish said:

Or if you think the game takes to long to play you can do what they suggest in the rules and you know put a time limit on the game. (IE: who ever has the most money after an hour is the winner etc...)But I guess that just takes too much effort, and I mean it's not like the youth of today has any kind of ready access to a time keeping device or anything like that.

If you do it that way, you know very well there will be people who, when they see they have an advantage, take excessively long times on their turns, stall other people, etc.

Just like in real business.

['Foretold' Joker]

Let us all just play Risk or Diplomacy

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Monopoly is a terrible game.

Give me Settlers of Catan or Dominion any day. Pandemic is awesome too.

[Deleted]

Hasbro: Raping Generation-X's childhoods since 2010.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Please, compared to Baltic Ave, Jail is a paradise

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2013 21:56:36 GMT -5 Tiger Millionaire said:

Please, compared to Baltic Ave, Jail is a paradise

I'm a proud Baltic Ave. slumlord.

[A Platypus Rave]

Jul 25, 2013 15:58:04 GMT -5 Rumble McSkirmish said:

Or if you think the game takes to long to play you can do what they suggest in the rules and you know put a time limit on the game. (IE: who ever has the most money after an hour is the winner etc...)But I guess that just takes too much effort, and I mean it's not like the youth of today has any kind of ready access to a time keeping device or anything like that.

Yeah, it's also pretty easy to see who is actually going to win well in advance if you play by the rules.

[CMWaters]

I will make a note.

A few years ago I had a Transformers G1 edition of Monopoly (don't remember all the spaces changed, but I do remember Park Place was Earth, an Boardwalk was Cybertron).

They did include "Quick Play" rules, as well as special options to happen with dice rolls.

[MolotovMocktail]

In the context of the game, why would the player be going to jail anyway? Are we to assume someone discovered some mob connections in awarding the contracts for the construction of the houses and hotels?

Another pet peeve is that the jail icon is still the same in the special editions. For example, in the Rolling Stones edition, they could have at least made it a Keith Richards mugshot.