The makers of Monopoly do not want you to pass GO this year before helping to bring an outdated part of the iconic board game into modern times.
The Community Chest cards — which have been a fixture of the capitalistic strategy game for more than 85 years — are being updated by Hasbro to reflect an array of topics based on current events.
The cards are a central theme of the game that instruct a player’s next move whenever someone lands on a square that requires them to draw from a deck of cards labeled “Community Chest” or “Chance.” Sometimes the cards bring good fortune, but more often they bring financial pitfalls that are encountered in real life, such as going to jail or paying taxes.
In all, 16 of the game’s cards will be replaced, Hasbro announced last week, and the company is letting fans vote on the changes they most want to see.
Since the game’s inception, the Community Chest cards have featured topics along the lines of winning beauty contests, donating holiday funds and buying life insurance. But in 2021, Hasbro is moving toward ideas such as shopping local, rescuing a puppy or helping neighbors clean up their yard after a storm.
A website — aptly named the “Community Chest Challenge” — has started tallying everybody’s favorites, and games featuring the new cards will debut this fall.
“There is no denying the Monopoly game’s Community Chest Cards are long overdue for a refresh,” Hasbro said in a news release. “And, coming out of the tumultuous year of 2020, the term ‘community’ has taken on a whole new meaning.”
Eric Nyman, the chief consumer officer at Hasbro, added: “The world has changed a lot since Monopoly became a household name more than 85 years ago, and clearly today community is more important than ever,” he said, according to CBS News. “We felt like 2021 was the perfect time to give fans the opportunity to show the world what community means to them through voting on new Community Chest Cards. We’re really excited to see what new cards get voted in!”
Monopoly was first produced by Parker Brothers in 1935 and was taken over by Hasbro in 1991.
The new owner made headlines in 2017 when it refreshed a few of the shiny metal game tokens, with the thimble, wheelbarrow and boot being replaced by a rubber duckie, penguin and a T. rex dinosaur. Four years earlier, fans voted to replace the iron with a cat.
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