Monopoly changes game for millennials and fails to deliver

Life for millennials is all about making every moment count, because there is not much money to be counted in the first place. Or at least that is what Hasbro’s newly released game, Monopoly for Millennials, insinuates.  

The objective of the game is to collect experience points by achieving different goals and traveling to various locations, such as thrift stores, vegan restaurants and music festivals. Whoever collects the most experience points at the end of the game wins. If there is a tie, whoever has the most money remaining wins.

Simple, right? Not at all. Hasbro has received backlash from many millennials, according to The Guardian, because the game appears to be poking fun at the generation. Although numerous millennials are against the board game, Hasbro is standing behind the modern version of classic Monopoly.

During its initial release, millennials took to social media to share their disapproval of the new game with tweets such as “Millennials can't even afford millennial monopoly...,” using the #MonopolyforMillennials hashtag. When the game was first released and only available to order online, it was priced at $60, which nearly triples its current price.

The Beacon Staff, some being millennials, purchased the game to do a review, but were unable to successfully play due to a missing stack of destination cards, which are essential to the game. The cards that were available to play with were inconsistent with each other. Some even had grammatical errors.

After reaching out to Hasbro via Twitter, a social media correspondent replied with an explanation as to why the game came incomplete.

“The cards are currently on back order. We will have them sent out to you once inventory becomes available… Thank you and have a great day!”  

Staff eventually received the proper cards and a letter written by Kelsey Gonsalves, Hasbro Lead Social Media Representative. Part of the letter read:

“Enclosed please find your Monopoly Millennial Cards. If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to call us….”

For a game about not having enough money to be marked at such a high price, it is expected that it comes complete and without error.

Besides being a board game, a monopoly is defined as a situation where a producer or a group of producers working together controls supply of a good or service, and where the entry of new producers is highly restricted, according to Business Dictionary. Beyond the game, this economic structure is difficult for millennials to comprehend  because much of the demographic is financially insecure.

According to Forbes, millennials are spending less money than they did 10 years ago due to debt from the cost of education and a pileup of bills. Millennials are also leaning towards a minimalistic lifestyle to save money towards experiences, like the game suggests. At the same time, many are opting out of life experiences such as buying a house, getting married and having children, because they simply cannot afford to do otherwise.

By Rachida Harper, Benjamin Wainer, Tete Teal