All right, as much as I complain about Monopoly and their never-ending parade of (not really all that different) variations, the latest marketing campaign actually managed to get my attention. Last week they announced that they're yanking one of the tokens from the game and replacing it with a new one — all to be decided by popular vote. The least popular token will be "locked up forever" (by which I assume they mean until they release a throwback version in a few years).
So who's on the block? Currently the line-up consists of the iron, racecar, thimble, shoe, top hat, battleship, Scottie dog, and wheelbarrow. (For some reason I don't remember having the battleship — our set growing up had the horse and rider instead.) It was surprising to me how — despite having little love for the game — I found myself waxing nostalgic for these little metal tokens.
There's something iconic about these bits. When I saw the giant wheelbarrow and iron in downtown Philadelphia last fall, it made me smile and I pointed them out to my kids. The thought of taking one of them out seems nearly sacrilegious — though I can't really explain why I would care, when I don't even play Monopoly and don't plan to buy a new set any time soon. (By the way, when they revealed results a week ago, the wheelbarrow was in last place; I guess we'll see if that's changed the next time they update.)
The contenders for the new token are the cat, diamond ring, guitar, toy robot, and helicopter. Personally, I think the toy robot is the coolest, but I have a hunch about which one will win. Come on: it's an internet vote. On Facebook. You know it's gonna be the cat. If they had a way of making a token that depicted a cat video on YouTube, the other candidates wouldn't stand a chance.
Of course, Hasbro will be selling a "Classic" edition in February with all eight classic tokens and all five contender tokens in gold, before actually replacing one with the new token later this year. Though don't expect to finance your kids' college fund by selling your old silver wheelbarrows on eBay. Everyone already has one. Or five.
Whether you're a fan or not, the Save Your Token campaign has some pretty clever posters and punny slogans. Go to Facebook.com/Monopoly to cast your vote. You can cast a vote every day until February 5.
