Ms. Monopoly

''Ms. Monopoly'' is a version of ''Monopoly'' that recognizes inventions that women created or contributed to and gives bonuses to female players. It was released by Hasbro in 2019. Upon release, the game was criticized for its gameplay mechanics of giving bonuses to female players, as well as ignoring the original Monopoly's creator.

The game replaces Rich Uncle Pennybags, the mascot on most ''Monopoly'' versions, with a young woman described as his niece. As part of the game's rollout, Hasbro sent three teenage girls a grant of $20,580 each to invest in their own inventions. Hasbro promoted ''Ms. Monopoly'' as the first game "where women make more than men". In a statement, Hasbro said that the game provides an environment in which "women have an advantage often enjoyed by men".

Gameplay

This is a variation of the game ''Monopoly'', so only differences from standard gameplay will be listed.

Money bonuses are provided to female players. Women get $1,900 at the start of the game and receive $240 salary when passing “Go,” whereas men start with $1,500 and receive a $200 salary. Chance and Community Chest cards also provide different payouts between genders, sometimes higher for either men or women.

The buyable properties are replaced with "inventions" representing technology women created or contributed to, including Wi-Fi, to which Hedy Lamarr and Radia Perlman contributed; modern shapewear by Spanx founder Sara Blakely; and chocolate chip cookies, invented by Ruth Graves Wakefield. Tokens are replaced with new ones: a notebook and pen, a jet, a glass, a watch, a barbell, and Ms. Monopoly's white hat.

There are no houses, and instead of hotels, there are "headquarters." Players may buy headquarters for their inventions as soon as they have a color set. Headquarters may not be sold back to the Bank.

Inventions cannot be mortgaged; instead, players may sell their inventions back to the Bank at any time for their face value. Inventions with headquarters on them may be sold or traded without removing the headquarters from them. If an invention with a headquarters is sold to the Bank, the next player to acquire the invention from the Bank (either by landing on it and buying it or by winning it in an auction) gets the headquarters for free.

Railroads are replaced with "ride shares." These are no longer buyable properties, but instead when a player lands on one, they move their token to the next ride share space for free.

The game ends when all the inventions have been purchased. Then, each player collects rent from the Bank for each of their inventions, and the player with the most money wins.

Jail and tax spaces are maintained from the original game.

Reception

Reception towards ''Ms. Monopoly'' was mostly negative upon its announcement. Eric Thurm, the author of "Avidly Reads: Board Games", said the game created a "surface-level fantasy world" where women succeed simply because of their gender. Madeleine Kearns of ''National Review'' called it "patronizing pointlessness". Queens College's philosophy department head Christine Sypnowich said it was "unhelpful to portray women as needing special advantages." Jennifer Borda, an associate professor specializing in feminist studies at the University of New Hampshire, suggested that it would be more suitable if male players instead faced challenges women face in the workplace. Mary Pilon, author of ''The Monopolists'', criticized the game for failing to recognize Lizzie Magie, who invented ''The Landlord's Game'', the precursor to ''Monopoly''.

References

External links

*

{{monopoly

Monopoly (game)
Feminist mass media
Board games introduced in 2019