WASHINGTON — As more and more people prefer to use debit and credit cards instead of cash, a new edition of the premier board game about money is following suit.
Hasbro’s new Monopoly Ultimate Banking Edition is doing away with the game’s trademark phony cash and using a miniature ATM/card scanner to keep track of purchases, rents and other financial transactions — even the effect of various Chance cards.
Gizmodo reports that it’s not the first time Monopoly has tried to go cashless, in the interest of speeding up the game. But previous attempts ended up making the game even slower, since they required all transactions to be keyed in.
Old-school players may blanch, though their objections may be less based on a respect for tradition than somewhat more base desires.
As one WTOP staffer who shall remain nameless for her own protection put it, “How can you cheat if it’s cashless?”
The Ultimate Banking edition is slated to go on sale in the fall.
