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Currency *is* disappearing, finally...
Monopoly board game players can now pay for properties with debit cards. Game makers Parker have phased out the standard multi-coloured cash in a new version. Players will instead use a Visa mock debit card to keep track of how much they win or lose. It is inserted into an electronic machine where the banker taps in cardholders' earnings and payments. Parker said replacing of cash with plastic showed the game was moving with the times.
Here is the link, with echoes of Fischer Black and Neil Wallace. Here is another account.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 27, 2006 at 12:54 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
Of course Monopoly is the most economically illiterate board game of them all.
If I land on BoardWalk, I just have to pay them all that money. WTF? I'm going to Connecticut Ave., this is some bullsh*t.
Posted by: c at Jul 27, 2006 1:18:30 PM
That, and increasing the supply of housing increases the rent, which doens't really make much sense at all.
Posted by: ThaddeusMcMonster at Jul 27, 2006 2:37:11 PM
If Monopoly is going electronic, how am I supposed to cheat? Anyone who's ever played against their siblings knows that cheating is just part of the game...
Posted by: FirstState at Jul 27, 2006 2:45:23 PM
Thaddeus, the extra houses could be looked at as improvements to the existing housing, rather than extra supply. In which case the game makes perfect sense, you need capital to increase the value of your real estate.
To paraphrase c: "A million dollars for that s***? F*** Newport Beach, I'm moving to East St. Louis." The game is an extremely simple model, it chooses to emphasize the importance of location in real estate over consumer choice in living location.
Posted by: Tim Galebach at Jul 27, 2006 2:45:32 PM
This would defeat any strategy based on knowledge of players assets. I don't think this will be popular.
Posted by: Anon at Jul 27, 2006 2:52:19 PM
While it's certainly true that Monopoly doesn't teach many economic principals, it was a great tool for teaching kids about cash and arithmetic. When my daughter was in 1st grade, we often pulled out Monopoly to "model" arithmetic problems. That sure won't work with a debit card!
Posted by: David Wright at Jul 27, 2006 3:44:57 PM
Oh, and Monopoly is also a great tool for teaching about Markov processes. Working out the transition matrix and corresponding asymptotic distribution is a great exercise for people who are just starting to learn about discrete stochasic processes.
Posted by: David Wright at Jul 27, 2006 3:48:29 PM
I don't know what a Markov process is -let alone the "transition matrix and corresponding asymptotic distribution"- but I agree with David Wright that Monopoly is great for teaching kids to do practical daily math. Most people still use cash every day, and it's good to know how to handle it.
Posted by: carpundit at Jul 27, 2006 4:15:30 PM
All I say is: booooo!
Posted by: Alan Brown at Jul 27, 2006 4:16:15 PM
That's just wrong.
Posted by: The Wine Commonsewer at Jul 27, 2006 5:34:04 PM
Everyone reading this blog should immediately give up their monopoly board in favor of ‘Puerto Rico’ or ‘Settlers of Catan’.
Much more market based, and much more fun.
Posted by: Ivan Kirigin at Jul 27, 2006 8:40:38 PM
Haven't played Puerto Rico, but Settlers of Catan is great, for the above-mentioned reasons.
Posted by: Tim Galebach at Jul 27, 2006 10:50:23 PM
...they still sell the old version...not to mention it's like $15 cheaper.
Posted by: Chris Moulder at Jul 28, 2006 1:31:51 AM
I recently purchased the board game Risk, and I notice that the little roman numeral pieces representing how many armies are on the board have been replaced by little horses, cannons, and soldiers. I assume this is because too few kids are taught roman numerals nowadays.
While we're at it, why use those annoying little tiles in Scrabble? Wouldn't it be so much easier to type in words into a little computer. Then, the computer could even spell-check the word, and check it against a dictionary to see if it's real.
Posted by: Thelonious_Nick at Jul 28, 2006 11:59:39 AM
"I'm so old that..."
I find myself saying this now and again to my students, and now I have to add another one to the list:
"I'm so old that I remember when you played Monopoly with actual paper money."
Sigh.
Posted by: Pam Regis at Jul 28, 2006 3:11:32 PM
I am guessing this will be incredibly unpopular. A big part of the fun is playing with your stacks of money, and comparing them to your competitors. Also, will this allow you to execute all the different kinds of creative side-deals that are a huge part of the game?
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Posted by: levan at Sep 11, 2006 3:58:56 AM
