So apparently Hasbro has decided to revamp the classic board game Monopoly. They are taking away the paper money and the dice and replacing it with a Sauron-like tower in the middle of the board that acts as dice roller, ATM, and dark lord. My husband was particularly troubled by the lack of dice as he would lose his uncanny ability to roll whatever he needed at the most crucial moments of the game. If you’ve played Monopoly with him, you know. Why get rid of dice and paper money? Hasbro’s goal is to revamp dwindling sales by making their classic game more like a video game. Will it work? I highly doubt it and that’s their problem but I am worried that this idiotic move will start a trend so it’s time for the Queen to intervene.
Board games have three purposes: fun, social interaction, and cognitive development. In other words board games are supposed to have an educational component to them. It can be as simple as color matching in Candyland or as complex as military strategizing in Risk, but the point is that you are (age appropriately) supposed to use your brain. Monopoly has (or had) a lot of great educational components. The math required for the game ranged from simple monetary transactions to calculating 20% of your net worth to leveraging property to buy houses. There was a lot of strategy involved too and while the strategic components will still be part of the game you have to wonder if Hasbro will unveil yet another version in ten years that will make things even simpler. Maybe they can just invent a version where the computer plays out the whole game for you and then lets you know whether or not you won. Sounds like fun.
Classic board games must be offered in classic forms. All board games should include an educational component.
If sales are dwindling then the public is partly to blame. Video games are great but board games offer a way for families or groups of friends to interact and have fun together. Board gaming should be further encouraged and families should make time weekly for this kind of play. I’m not making that a decree (as of now) but I am giving strong encouragement.
This decree should serve as evidence that my overall motives are for the greater good. After experiencing games of Monopoly that lasted well into the night with backroom deals, painstaking adherence to rules, and a group of people who considered a board game win to be more important than sex, it’s just not a personal favorite pastime of mine. Still, I consider Monopoly to be a great game and just because I don’t have the same zeal for it as certain of my subjects doesn’t mean I don’t understand its overall merits.
As always I remain your all-powerful and benevolent Queen of the World,
Marisa
No comments:
Post a Comment