Monopoly Gamers Choose Cat to Replace Iron Token - East Idaho News
National

Monopoly Gamers Choose Cat to Replace Iron Token

  Published at

ht monopoly cat dm 130206 wg?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1360156885309Monopoly | Facebook(NEW YORK) — The votes are in and the iron is out.

In what some might call a ruthless abandonment of the old and others a democratic approach to the new, Monopoly magnates have spoken.  The board game’s month-long “Save Your Token” contest ended at midnight, and fans’ least favorite token was officially replaced with a newer model.

From now on, a cat will round the board in iron’s place.

By visiting Monopoly’s Facebook page, voters chose which piece they most wanted to preserve in the nearly 80-year-old board game.  The car, thimble, boot, Scottie dog, battleship, hat, iron and wheelbarrow’s fates hung on the click of a button.

Fans from 120 countries, including Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Guam and Liechtenstein, voted in the contest, said Jonathan Berkowitz, vice president of marketing for Hasbro Gaming.

“It’s been an exciting campaign and a lot of Monopoly fans around the world have gotten involved,” Berkowitz said.

As the clock ticked toward 12 a.m. on Tuesday night, the competition grew tighter between the wheelbarrow, iron and shoe.  As of 6:30 p.m., each held 8 percent of the total votes.

“The shoe was surprising to all of us because there’s definitely a large fan base out there for shoes,” Berkowitz said.  “Thankfully my race car has pulled through.”

In the end, Monopoly fans locked the iron in jail forever.  Hasbro will immediately cease production of the piece, Berkowitz said.

Now, the cat’s being let out of the bag.

“Because there’s a Scottie dog, there was always a conversation about, ‘Should there be a cat?’ so that’s how it ended up being one of the options for the voting,” Berkowitz said.

“We chose all of the new token options by really listening to our fans and hearing what they were talking about,” he said.

Hasbro will release an exclusive version of the game that includes all the old token pieces, along with all the new candidates, on Feb. 15.  The new version of the board game will be released in the fall, Berkowitz said.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION