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New Monopoly features a computer tower monitoring every move
The new version of Monopoly features an ominous computer tower which monitors your moves, counts your money, rolls the dice for you and tells you what to do…Sounds fun!
Jeopardy isn’t the only game being threatened by computer domination.
A new version of board game staple Monopoly will ditch the dice and paper money in exchange for an ominous computer tower that monitors player activity. Hasbro unveiled the product –somewhat ironically dubbed “Monopoly Live” — at this week’s Toy Fair in New York, reports The New York Times.
The ten-inch tower sits in the middle of the game board, using infrared technology to keep track of the action while barking out instructions to players. Move one too many spaces? The all-seeing eye computer tower will know. It even rolls the (virtual) dice for you.
Thankfully, the core element of the Monopoly board — the location of properties — has remained unchanged, so you can still set up your favorite hotel chains, land on free parking and scoop up dough by passing “Go.” But say goodbye to that brightly colored Monopoly money and those Community Chest and Chance cards — if it’s made of paper, it’s pretty much gone. Instead, players will buy and sell properties by holding their hands over special decals and will check their accounts by inserting ATM cards into the tower.
The Big Brother-like move is intended to revive interest in the dwindling board game market.
“How do we give them the video game and the board game with the social experience? That’s where Monopoly Live came in,” Jane Ritson-Parsons, global brand leader for Monopoly, told the Times.
The newfangled Monopoly is sure to have detractors, however. Players have long considered the basic Monopoly rules to be more a set of loose guidelines, and have traditionally livened things up by encouraging sneakier tactics like hiding money and making deals with other players on the fly. With the tower overseeing every move, such casual cheating will be a thing of the past.
With Monopoly Live, Hasbro is hoping to appeal to younger players more accustomed to the fast-paced world of digital downloads and bite-sized game apps (the biggest of which, Angry Birds, will be getting the board game treatment later this year.) It’s planned to be a shorter, quicker experience that doesn’t require thumbing through an instruction manual, and will even include random mini-games — such as a horse race or sudden property auction — to break up the game’s oft-criticized monotony.
The game goes on sale this fall for $50. Other Hasbro franchises will receive a similar upgrade in the future, with Battleship going under the hi-tech knife later this year.
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You know what… The first thing that stood out to me was the fact that the game no longer includes money and that theres a huge tower in the middle (very reminescent of police towers) with colors that are very similar to masonic colors thats basically controlling every aspect of the game.
This might be a stretch but bear w/ me… I think the message here is that they are getting us used to another way of life. I think that the elite is subtlely letting the masses know that not only are they going to keep track of our money by doing the calculations for us, but they are also showing us that in the future we won’t even have a choice and/or option to keep and use paper money for transactions (considering that they’re trying to get Americans used to seeing microchips holding our most personal and private info and to also use these microchips for currency usage)…
Not a stretch at all! That is exactly what they are doing! Getting us (and the kids especially) used to another way of life.. their way of life.. their dream of a life… and that's not only how it's being done.. I would consider EVERYTHING these days.. news, all forms of media, movies, music, even school (maybe especially school) to be simply PROPAGANDA and almost nothing else.. (at least in the mainstream arenas). I heard that they are pushing extra eduation on China because it's politically correct to 'like' them now.. now I have nothing against China.. have many Chinese friends.. that's not the point, it's what they're pushing on the young people.. also, in an accelerated program, I heard that they are having children do projects on the history of the television and also make up your own invention.. interesting, since somebody posted something about the Riddler and his 'Mind Machine' which originally had to do with beaming television straight to one's head.. seems like they are trying to influence young people on thinking about this stuff.. I would even venture to say that they are 'evaluating' where their thinking is going so they know where to go from… Read more »
@Psyche,
If you fear that they are trying to indoctrinate and manipulate, perhaps you should leave your so-called Land of Freedom and settle somewhere safe. I can assure you, its not like that in every country.
Monopoly has always been a game allegory to life in the Capitalist system we live in. All "money" (fake) comes from the "bank" which you earn for completing a task. Then you run around and buy all of the property (assets) and jack up the rents so nobody else can afford to live in your utopia.
This is exactly the game the Elite play with our real money and assets, and games like Monopoly condition us to believe that it's normal.
Now there's a big computer watching you and tracking everything you do to make sure that you don't "cheat" the "bank". Can we not all agree how this conditions our children into this sick mindset?
BTW, it's rumored that the Monopoly mascot "Mr. Moneybags" was originally modeled after famous Illuminatist and satanic banker J.P. Morgan. The same J.P. Morgan that created Virginia Railroad Company, Standard Oil (Exxon/SONY), Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and who's family still controls interest in the Private Federal Reserve Bank along with the Rockefellers and the master manipulators Rothschild.
I'd say the bankers have their monopoly and they just keep passing "GO"
All I can truly say is ….Wow!
Here we live in a world were a huge percentage of the world's population lives in poverty, HIV/AIDS is devastating Africa and the Indian sub-continent, A near-nuclear accident in Japan etc etc….
But still they about some boardgame…
I wonder, is there anything/anyone not evil? Perhaps Judy Garland?
Oh my god!!! I know I’m a little late to the convo but I had to comment because something stood way out when I saw the device. It instantly reminded me of the mind control device the Riddler used in the movie Batman Forever (1995). Go to IMDb, the storyline says, “as The Riddler he perfects a device for draining information from all the brains in Gotham” and it just so happens to look exactly like the Monopoly computer tower. Coincidence?
Here's a link to a picture of The Riddler wearing the device that I mentioned in the comment above.
http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Riddler_(Jim_Car…
My children will play ol school monopoly. F--k this s--t they are talking about.
Analysis as a business-minded person:
I've noticed that Hasbro seems keen on pulling stunts to try and keep these old brands chugging
along (see also Battleship-branded movie, for example), likely due to their traditional-gaming niche being overcome by other forms of entertainment
me, I'll still use the regular set. I do sometimes use a notepad with each player's name and changing cash balance so as to avoid dealing with the paper money
ha. guys.. they are advancing a board game. its technology and we can't stop it. i wouldnt exactly break down over a monopoly game.. if it bothers you so much buy the classic version. there are much bigger things to worry about. dont be so melodramatic over a boardgame.
It's not about the boardgame.. it's about what it represents…
F--k the NWO
ok people, i know this is really bad and all, but I think you're forgetting you don't have to buy the game and monopoly is not ruined! it's not like they're going to discontinue the original monopoly along with the like 50 other versions and only sell this one. come on people, it's not worth this much time and energy fretting about it!
Good point.
This ish is eerie! The bottom half looks like the all seeing eye in the pyramid. Is that what we've come to??
Monopoly really helped me with my math, counting the money and even the dice, and yeah the made up rules were fun! And the cards! How stupid is this?
Well I always thought that trying to cheat so much as possible without getting caught was the point
LOL.
Could this game go along with your article about dumbing down society?
Couldn't be more obvious, huh?
Think im gonna stick with the oldskool set i have much more fun not to mention the tower looks s---e lol booo to hasbro
I actually lol'd at this lol… How blatant…
I'm only buying one if it comes with the Sauron eye on the top… 😉
I LOL'ed so hard at that. XDDD
They are aiming for the children and youth in order to acustom or condition them to the panoptic police state to come. Beware your sons and daughters. Teach them to think critically!!
Michel Foucault – Panopticism.. BOOM. Read that and that's all you need to know biatches.
ppl will slowly start to see their life has become the same as the game they r playing, especially when it comes time for our currency to be exchanged for atm cards and we wont be able to buy anything without the chip.