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Tokens of family game nights past.....
Published: 1/10/2013 3:12 PM
Last Modified: 1/10/2013 4:44 PM


The current lineup of Monopoly tokens. Should the shoe get the boot? Should the battleship sink? Should there be a final tip of the top hat?

Some days are such that one needs to escape, if only for a few moments, into the realm of the completely and utterly trivial.

To wit: The makers of the game Monopoly are conducting a survey to decide which of the classic tokens used to play this game of real estate wheeling and dealing should be retired.

The current version of the classic game comes with the following; shoe, top hat, wheelbarrow, clothes iron, battleship, race car, thimble and Scottie dog.

One of these must go, to make room for one of these: diamond ring, guitar, toy robot, cat or helicopter.

Hasbro, which now owns the game that was originally sold by Parker Brothers, has set up a special Facebook page where Monopolists (is that the right word?) can cast their votes for the token to be tossed.

The popularity of cats bodes well for this token to join the others, although I like the look of the robot, and I’ve always had a fondness for the acoustic guitar.

As for what should go, the iron and the wheelbarrow seem to be the most likely, as these items aren’t “representative of modern Monopoly players,” which Hasbro officials have stated as the reason for making this change.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Monopoly tokens have come and gone. Some of the pieces that were part of my family’s Monopoly game, which dates back to the mid-1960s, are no longer part of the game – the man on horseback and the cannon, for example.

It’s been years since my family has played Monopoly. For several years, we employed it regularly, in sessions that lasted well into the night and usually ended with my father and my older sister engaged in a struggle that would only end when one or the other was finally pushed off the metaphoric fiscal cliff (my sister, for example, was notorious for squirreling away stray $500 bills that she could produce when it looked like her monetary goose was cooked.)

I usually was the first to go broke and leave the game. This very probably explains my troubles with comprehending the finer – or for that matter, the duller – points of finances to this day.

However, I did always make certain that I went down driving. The car was my token of choice, and if Hasbro knows what’s good for it, it will make sure the car continues to drive around this stylized vision of Atlantic City, N.J., from Mediterranean Avenue to Boardwalk.









Reader Comments 1 Total
DomoArrigato (last month)
In about 1962 my cousin and his roommate would come to supper on Sunday nights...then after supper we would play Scrabble. My Dad and Mary would play together because of Mary's young age, and everyone else was for themselves. 50 years later we still recount one game in which Louie placed a "un" in front of "tread"...making "untread". My cousin immediately challenged the word...only to find out that it was really a word, albeit one that isn't normally used in conversation...My cousin, because of his lost turn penalty, lost the game...and 50 years later, he is still fuming about "untread"

Low Tech, High mental challenge...Scrabble is still a great game! Especially between equally skilled players.
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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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