The latest invention to speed up the process of the dumbing down of America is, without a doubt, the new Monopoly: Electric Banking Edition.
One of my son’s favorite games is Monopoly, so when I saw the electronic version, I got excited and immediately ordered one from Amazon.
We gave him the game for his birthday last week, and the next day he and I set it up and started to play. The first thing I noticed was that the dollar amount changed from denominations of $1 through $500 to thousands and millions. My son was instantly confused and had trouble converting from thousands to millions — to say nothing of my own challenge in this area. I mean, come on. It’s not like I deal with these bills every day. Ahem.
Everyone is given a different card which is inserted in the "Banker unit" any time you need to add or subtract funds from anyone’s account. Then the unit does the math. For the banker, it gets tedious to insert every card and enter the numbers. For the other players, it just serves to slow down the play of the game.
After playing for about a half hour, my son said, "I’m bored. Let’s do something else."
This is the kid who plays Monopoly for HOURS.
I said, "Do you like the regular version better?"
He did.
"How come?" I asked. I knew the answer, but I was curious to see what he would say.
"I dunno. I miss counting the money."
Bingo.
The electronic version takes away all the fun that has made Monopoly such a popular game for generations. And it also manages to take away much of the educational value as well.
So if you were considering buying Monopoly: Electric Banking Edition for someone on your Christmas list, cross it off RIGHT NOW. Just like sour cream and half-and-half, Monopoly was better in the original version.
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23 Responses
Oh, My Goodness! I wish using a real credit card were that boring. Then, maybe I wouldn’t do it so much!
wow… that really is sad.
Thanks for sharing this. I was considering it – but you just made my mind up for me. We will stick to the original! I like counting the money too! :0)
Good to know!
OK, that game would confuse even me! LOL! I agree…the classic Monopoly rocks!
I agree. Although I haven’t played it, I think the idea stinks. Plus, how are the kids going to learn to count without money?
this “update” has been irritating me ever since I first saw it advertised… it seems ridiculous.
Also ridiculous: that Dora the Explorer shopping toy that asks if you want to use your credit card.
Yeah, GRACIAS Dora – teach all of our girls early on how to “cobrar” it
Blessings,
K
I never heard of this carnival. Gonna head over there now.
When I first saw the electronic monopoly I thought “What?”. I loved the counting part of the game just like your son.
Thanks for the tip, we’d put it on our list for C.It will now come off the list.
My 6 year old loves to play Monopoly too. I thought he might be too young last year when his grandpa taught him how to play, but he caught on so quickly. I owe ALL of his knowledge of counting money (and counting by 5’s, 10’s, etc., for that matter) to Monopoly. I figured he would miss the money counting in the new game. Thanks for being the guiney pig for all of us. hahaha. After taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course thru my church, I was made more aware at how our kids are getting away from seeing cash be used in society. Dangerous, I think.
My 6 year old loves to play Monopoly too. I thought he might be too young last year when his grandpa taught him how to play, but he caught on so quickly. I owe ALL of his knowledge of counting money (and counting by 5’s, 10’s, etc., for that matter) to Monopoly. I figured he would miss the money counting in the new game. Thanks for being the guiney pig for all of us. hahaha. After taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course thru my church, I was made more aware at how our kids are getting away from seeing cash be used in society. Dangerous, I think.
My 6 year old loves to play Monopoly too. I thought he might be too young last year when his grandpa taught him how to play, but he caught on so quickly. I owe ALL of his knowledge of counting money (and counting by 5’s, 10’s, etc., for that matter) to Monopoly. I figured he would miss the money counting in the new game. Thanks for being the guiney pig for all of us. hahaha. After taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course thru my church, I was made more aware at how our kids are getting away from seeing cash be used in society. Dangerous, I think.
I agree with your son. Electronic banking sounded great, but how can you hoard the money? Thats a fun part.
I tried to play Monopoly millions with the cash and I went from pretty smart brunette to instantly dumb brunette. I kept hearing the repeat “cannot compute cannot compute” in my head.
Oh and I got he Febreeze today – thank you so so much. My daughter thinks its hairspray..I had to quickly assure her its not, its a doggie unstinking spray. But if she way stinky I’d spray her. She’s not stinky or so she says.(she’s really not!)
just crossed it off…
Cheryl – That’s EXACTLY what I thought it would be too. But it was just no fun at all. 🙁
And that’s why, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
I have to post a dissenting opinion because I think it sounds like a cool idea when you don’t have to keep up with (as in BETWEEN GAMES) the money and such. That’s when it was always such a PITA to me- when the youngest kid would find the board games and shower the money around the room like confetti…
When I was a child, I love playing monopoly because of the paper money. Now they’re taking it away?
i was interested in it when i saw you post about it awhile back, but that’s crazy that he misses the counting part. glad he likes the old version better, and sorry you lost out on some ACTUAL cash in the process. 🙂
I had never heard of this abortion until reading your post.
The lack of real teaching in our schools may have been what caused it to be created.
My daughter, at one time, was a Customer Service Manager in a Walmart store. The store lost electrical power one day and she had to go to the cashiers to teach them how to count change back to the customers.
A sad comment on our dumbing of Americans.
I just purchased this for my son for Christmas. It is wrapped and under the tree, but you are making me question it now. I thought it would make it easier to keep track of with not losing the money, but I didn’t know the denominations went up. And you are right, it does take the educational aspect away and the fun of the game. Thanks for your point of view. Back to the toy store!
This irritates me to no end. Our children need to be able to compete with their global peers in math and science. The original version of this game makes learning fun – why change a good thing?
I heard about this game a while ago, and it makes me mad that they changed it. The educational value is gone, and our kids are desensitized to the risk of credit cards at a young age.