Monopoly Is Not A Monopoly

When I was a kid, if I wanted a game for my birthday, I would tell my grandmother the name of it and I would get it. I don't see how that would be possible today. I can't even imagine telling Still A Dad to get the Webkinz my daughter currently wants. Where he lives, not too many stores probably even sell them, let alone the latest and greatest one that everyone wants. Where did this come from? Last Friday Princess only had 2 hours at school for their last day and they could bring a game. A girl in the class brought the new pink boutique Monopoly game. Friday after dinner, we needed to get to Toys'R'Us to see if they had the game. They did, along with 11 other versions of Monopoly. E-L-E-V-E-N. I knew board games started franchising when she was much younger because she has the Disney Trivial Pursuit game and the Disney Sorry! game. A good trivia question would be which board game caved first? Who cares! As I continued to rant on about all the choices just for Monopoly, Still A Wife rolled her eyes and made a comment about me writing about it. Exactly. I finally got around to it tonight and it's much worse than what I originally thought. From going to Hasbro's website (I guess they bought Parker Brothers) you can find the following versions:

Monopoly
Monopoly Speed Die
Monopoly Brand Jr Disney
Monopoly Brand Disney Jr Princess
Monopoly Jr
Monopoly Express
Monopoly Town
Monopoly Deluxe
Monopoly Here and Now Limited
Monopoly Spongebob
Monopoly Disney
Monopoly Spider Man 3
Monopoly Disney Pixar
Monopoly Electronic Banking
Monopoly Here and Now World Edition
Monopoly Tropical Tycoon DVD Game
Monopoly Transformers
Monopoly Red Sox

Wow. I thought the list was long. Way long. Then, I realized the version my daughter wanted wasn't listed. I bounced to Toys'R'Us to find (and I'll stop typing Monopoly every time:

M: Pink Boutique Edition
M: Nintendo Collector
M: Pirates of Caribbean
M: Coca-Cola
M: Superman Returns
M: My American Idol Edition
M: Dog Lovers
M: Horse Lovers
M: NFL
M: Bass Fishing
M: Cat Lovers
M: Pirates of Caribbean The Trilogy
M: Celtics
M: American Choppers
M: US Navy
M: Army
M: Air Force
M: ESPN
M: Golf Holes
M: John Deere
M: Marines
M: Family Guy
M: Harley
M: M&M's
M: White Sox
M: Wizard of Oz
M: Planet Earth
M: Fantasy Baseball
M: MLB

That list does not include what I found out from Wikipedia.....that Monopoly is in the public domain now and anyone can make "opoly" games. Toys'R'Us also sells about 30 University games that aren't made by Hasbro. There is also another company that makes "Bugopoly", "Ponyopoly", "Spaceopoly" and the list goes on and on. That's what is available at this moment from checking two websites. I'm not going any further. The complete list of licensed versions is right here.

I gotta say, I just don't get it. How one stinking board game morphed into this mess is crazy! Somewhere, a secret meeting is going on where some very stressed out Hasbro big wigs are going "we.....need.....a.....new......Monopoly". "yes, a new one." "I agree, a new one is needed. How long has it been since we released a new version?" "It's been 37 days, sir. The market is really demanding a new choice." "Ok, thanks Peterson. I've made up my mind.......we'll give the world....Rodentopoly....YES....yes, it will be grand." "But sir, which rodent will be Board Walk, surely not the Squirrel?" "Actually, I was thinking Porcupine but I have a soft spot for Beaver......."

Isn't it Ironic that anyone can make an "opoly" game? Monopoly is not a monopoly.