Finally: Being paid in experience is worth it
Monopoly for Millennials offers cohort a chance to laugh at relatable experiences
“Forget real estate. You can’t afford it anyway,” reads the tagline of Hasbro’s latest game, Monopoly for Millennials.
The new product departs from the classic board game’s original premise. Instead of buying up real estate to gain monopolies over regions of the board, players will compete to discover destinations and set trends; instead of earning rent from other players, they will earn experience points by visiting vegan bistros or going to weeklong meditation retreats.
“In this version of the Monopoly game, the player who collects the most experience — not the most money — wins the game,” reads a description of the product.
Released as many millennials are entering the housing market, only to find themselves set back by record levels of student debt, the game highlights difficulties facing the generation.
As one customer wrote in an online review: “The tagline...? TRUTH. Getting paid in experience? BEEN THERE DONE THAT. Whoever has the most student loans gets to go first? FINALLY!” .
The game of Monopoly was originally called the Landlord’s Game. The inventor, Lizzie Magie, hoped to show how rents enriched landlords while keeping renters impoverished (if you’ve ev-
er felt like flipping the board in teary-eyed frustration as it became apparent there was no way for you to win, that’s by design). In a way, Monopoly for Millennials picks up where Monopoly left off — after losing the real estate game, players are encouraged to turn their attention to social capital.
“We created Monopoly for Millennials to provide fans with a lighthearted game that allows Millennials to take a break from real life and laugh at the relatable experiences and labels that can sometimes be placed on them,” Hasbro said in a statement.
But if you want to experience the game, that’s a problem in and of itself. After the game flew off shelves, prices quickly rose from $20 to $60. It is now out of stock.