For the latest edition of its classic board game Monopoly, Hasbro—also responsible for such titles as Monopoly: Cheaters Edition and Monopoly: Cat Lovers’ Edition—has introduced a version intended to capture the millennial experience.
Monopoly For Millennials veers from the original’s real estate market format, because, as the cover puts it, “You can’t afford it anyway.” Instead, to accommodate (read: “mock”) the financial ineptitude of the lion’s share of America’s labor force, players of Monopoly For Millennials collect “experiences”; for example, this edition replaces the original game’s Park Place with a “3-Day Music Festival.”
According to the game’s description, in this version the player with the most experience, not the most money, wins. (Which makes sense, because most of the money is probably earmarked for student loan payments.) Additionally, the game description insists that the game’s purpose is to give players a break from the rat race of “adulting,” so instead of paying rent, they pay visits to each other to rack up more experience points.
To further drive home that point, Mr. Monopoly is posed on the cover taking a selfie, with a coffee cup in hand. A camera, a pair of sunglasses, and a hashtag are included among the game pieces. The cherry on top is the game’s price of $19.82, which would’ve been a clever allusion to the supposed year that the millennial generation begins—if only it weren’t off by a year.