''Ghettopoly'' is a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of the board game ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

'' invented by David Chang, a

Taiwanese American Taiwanese Americans (traditional Chinese, Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人; pinyin: ''Táiwān yì měiguó rén''; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ''Tâi-Bí-jîn'') are Americans of Taiwanese people, Taiwanese ancestry, including American-born descendants of migrant ...

, and released in 2003. The game uses ''Monopoly''-like mechanics but is themed around a caricature of a black

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Gameplay and differences from ''Monopoly''

In ''Ghettopoly'', the four

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

properties from the standard version of ''Monopoly'' are replaced by

liquor store A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom ...

s. Other properties include a

massage parlor A massage parlor (American English), or massage parlour (Canadian/British English), or massage salon is a place where massage services are provided. Some massage parlors are front organizations for prostitution and the term "massage parlor" has ...

, a

peep show A peep show, peepshow, or, a peep booth is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the devel ...

and a

pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...

. The ''Community Chest'' and ''Chance'' squares become ''Ghetto Stash'' and ''Hustle'' squares, while

taxation A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal person, legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to Pigouvian tax, regulate and reduce nega ...

squares are replaced by police-

shakedown Shakedown or Shake Down may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational ...

and

carjacking Carjacking is a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is usually i ...

squares. Instead of building houses and hotels, property owners in ''Ghettopoly'' build

crack house A drug house is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize (cook) drugs, or cache ingredients and p ...

s and

projects A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...

. The seven game pieces include: a

pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...

, a hoe, a

40 oz In the United States of America, Malt liquor is a type of mass market beer with high alcohol content, (typically above 5%), made with malted barley and resembling those for American-style lagers. Manufacture Malt liquor is a strong lager or ale ...

, a machine gun, a

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

leaf, a crack rock, and a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Official description

*Game Board *Loan Shark Tray *40 Crack Houses *17 Projects *Pink Slip Cards *Ghetto Stash and Hustle Cards *7 game pieces (Pimp, Hoe, 40 oz, Machine Gun, Marijuana Leaf, Basketball and Crack Rock) *Counterfeit Money *2 Dice

Racism and trademark issues

The game was criticized as offensively

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

by a local chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

and by black clergy, as well as by

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

groups, including the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium and

Organization of Chinese Americans OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates (previously known as the Organization of Chinese Americans) is a non-profit organization founded in 1973, whose stated mission is to advance the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans a ...

. The game was pulled from the market by

Urban Outfitters Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, the United Arab Em ...

, just one of its many retailers. Chang continued to market the game without their support. According to Chang's website, which still sells the game, it is also available on Amazon. Another ''Monopoly'' variant, ''Redneckopoly'', is also available at ghettopoly.com. Further such games were planned, including ''Hoodopoly'', ''Hiphopopoly'', and ''Thugopoly''. In October 2003,

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

sued Chang over the game's similarities to ''Monopoly''. In January 2006, Chang was found in

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...

for failure to produce documents. The court thus entered a "default judgment" for Hasbro's continued use of "Monopoly" as a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

, and dismissed Chang's counterclaims, which were to revoke trademark status on ''Monopoly''. In May 2006, the court estimated that Chang generated US$8,790,000 in profits from the sale of ''Ghettopoly'', and that damages of $400,000 were reasonable as reflected in the court documents.

References

External links

Official ''Ghettopoly'' fan page, on Facebook
{{African American caricatures and stereotypes Board games introduced in 2003 Economic simulation board games Monopoly (game) Parodies of advertising Race-related controversies in advertising and marketing African-American-related controversies Asian-American-related controversies

Gameplay and differences from ''Monopoly''

Official description

Contents

Racism and trademark issues

See also

References

External links