Marketplace Scratch Pad

Monopoly needs an update

Scott Jagow Mar 26, 2009

Yeah, yeah, Monopoly is digital now, with debit cards and electronic banking. There are new tokens, like a flat-screen TV. There’s even a Here and Now, World Edition for the global economy. Still, if you go bankrupt, the game’s over. WHAT? Where’s my bailout?

Options trader Adam Warner found his son playing Monopoly on the Wii, and he overheard Mr. Moneybags tell one of the players, game over, you’re bankrupt:

And I’m thinking, “What are they teaching kids these days? This is 2009; that’s not how we roll.” Clearly, the words “too big to fail” don’t mean anything to this popular Parker Brothers mascot.

So Warner came up with his own Monopoly cards, which he calls the Greed and Graft edition. Samples below. Pretty amusing, but now that I think about it — Geez, how do we talk to kids about the new economic reality?

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