Monopoly Is Updating Community Chest Cards, You Can Vote

Years ago, my sister and I were nearing the end of one of the many lengthy games of Monopoly that took up a not insignificant portion of our childhood when I had the misfortune to draw a card instructing me to advance my token to the nearest railroad and pay the owner of said railroad twice the rent to which he/she was entitled. This might not have been so bad, had my sister not been the owner of that railroad. She was also the owner of every other railroad, as was true of almost every game of Monopoly we ever played. This was a largely unspoken rule to which we both adhered: she got the railroads, I got Boardwalk and Park Place.

This meant that the “advance token to nearest railroad” card was almost invariably a death sentence, as it was on this particular incident. I picked up the card and immediately said, “Oh no.” But then, like the Grinch pulling the wool over the eyes of one Cindy Lou Who, I thought up a lie and I thought it up quick. At this point in my Monopoly-playing career, I had all but memorized the entire catalogue of Chance and Community Chest cards, and quickly informed my sister that actually, my card was just letting me know that I had “just won $10 in beauty contest.”

Having already uttered an audible “Oh no,” however, my ruse was obviously unsuccessful, but the incident lives on in the family annals of my more embarrassing moments, and is a particular favorite of my sister’s. Anyway, I bring it up now because children of the future will never again lie to their siblings about having been awarded a small sum of money in a beauty pageant in a failed attempt to avoid exorbitant railroad debt, because Monopoly has recently announced it will be giving its Community Chest cards a modern update.

“The world has changed a lot since Monopoly became a household name more than 85 years ago, and clearly today community is more important than ever,” said Eric Nyman, Chief Consumer Officer at Hasbro in an announcement shared Thursday to Hasbro’s corporate blog.

In place of dated messages about beauty contests and bank errors in one’s favor, Monopoly will restock the Community Chest with scenarios that are supposedly more relatable to Monopoly enthusiasts of today. According to Hasbro, future players may draw Community Chest cards rewarding them for shopping local, rescuing a puppy or helping neighbors.

Fans of the game will have the opportunity to vote on which new do-gooder cards will become part of the updated Community Chest canon. “We felt like 2021 was the perfect time to give fans the opportunity to show the world what community means to them through voting on new Community Chest Cards,” said Nyman.

Fans can cast their votes now through April 9 here, after which future Monopoly players will no longer tell fibs about winning beauty contests, but instead lie about shopping local, volunteering and adopting shelter dogs, kind of like we all do in real life.