Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Hasbro to Prepare Children for the Cashless Society

For those of us who grew up with playing Monopoly as a board game – not the digital version or the app on one’s smartphone, mind you – cash has always been synonymous with hours of family fun. In fact, the board game managed to explain parts of our society quite well: we move along, trying to earn money as we grow older – completing laps around the board – which we then use to pay for housing, and try to stay out of jail.

However, it looks like the paper money in Monopoly is on the way out, and a new form of payment will be introduced. While it is commendable to see board games evolve to these modern standards of making payments, organizing a contactless and cashless economy in a board game might not be the best of moves.

The new breed of Monopoly board game will issue payment cards to players, which they can then tap at an ATM to purchase properties or when collecting rent from their locations. Granted, this is a very modern take on the financial aspect all of us are faced with, yet it remains to be seen how well this translates to a board game.
We had some epic Monopoly games. And the cash was how us kids learned to handle money before we had any. I always picked the battleship, if someone else didn't get it first.

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