Christmas is creeping up on us and everyone is looking forward to a time of peace, love and presents. This being said though, when it comes to the festive season, there is one war every family will be fighting, and this takes place on the Monopoly board.

In 2018 though, the question is: does the traditional game work for everyone? Do younger people nowadays actually buy properties, or do they rent them because they're too expensive?

That's exactly why Hasbro, the company behind Monopoly, has come up with a Millenial version.

In the new game, several changes have been made in order to make it more relevant to the Net Generation, the main alteration being that the concept of property ownership has been dropped from gameplay.

Rather than buy property, players will now go around the board paying rent and bills "until they die"... or, you know, until the game is over.

In addition, they have raised the minimum rent charge to $1,500 and made each player start the game with $20,000 of student debt.

Other adjustments to the game include modifying the Chance and Community Chest cards to better reflect the current reality for millennials.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Suzy Hazelwood]]

For example, instead of earning $10 from a beauty contest, players can now earn $50 of pity money from their grandparents or $0 from a plum internship opportunity.

While in the old game, getting sent to jail was one of the most annoying things that could happen, in the most recent version, you might want to consider landing on it.

Borowist explains: "It's now a 'Get Into Jail Free' card. Jail is the only space on the board where you don't lose money, so it's actually a pretty good deal."

Explaining the decision, Michael Borowitz, Hasbro Games' Vice President of Marketing, claimed that the older version of Monopoly wasn't going to cut it for those who doubt they will ever own a house.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Suzy Hazelwood]]

"I think younger players will appreciate the changes," he said. "Now, instead of buying properties and accumulating wealth, players will just go around the board and pay rent. That's it. Just paying rent and bills. Until they die. Oh! And the thimble is now a smartphone."

He continued: "We've found that players aged 30 and under no longer identify with certain elements of the game. Especially with concepts more relevant to earlier eras, like the 1930s-era thimble token or the possibility of upward social mobility."

According to Hasbro's market research, only 28 per cent of younger players could identify the purpose of a thimble outside the context of the game and just 15 per cent could understand the concept of ever affording their own home.

These findings helped shaped the updates for Monopoly's new Millennial Edition, which include replacing the thimble game piece - traditionally seen as a possession of the less wealthy members of society - with a smartphone.

So Millenials, will you be playing it? Or is living the Millenial lifestyle in the real world enough for you?

Christmas is creeping up on us and everyone is looking forward to a time of peace, love and presents. This being said though, when it comes to the festive season, there is one war every family will be fighting, and this takes place on the Monopoly board.

In 2018 though, the question is: does the traditional game work for everyone? Do younger people nowadays actually buy properties, or do they rent them because they're too expensive?

That's exactly why Hasbro, the company behind Monopoly, has come up with a Millenial version.

In the new game, several changes have been made in order to make it more relevant to the Net Generation, the main alteration being that the concept of property ownership has been dropped from gameplay.

Rather than buy property, players will now go around the board paying rent and bills "until they die"... or, you know, until the game is over.

In addition, they have raised the minimum rent charge to $1,500 and made each player start the game with $20,000 of student debt.

Other adjustments to the game include modifying the Chance and Community Chest cards to better reflect the current reality for millennials.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Suzy Hazelwood]]

For example, instead of earning $10 from a beauty contest, players can now earn $50 of pity money from their grandparents or $0 from a plum internship opportunity.

While in the old game, getting sent to jail was one of the most annoying things that could happen, in the most recent version, you might want to consider landing on it.

Borowist explains: "It's now a 'Get Into Jail Free' card. Jail is the only space on the board where you don't lose money, so it's actually a pretty good deal."

Explaining the decision, Michael Borowitz, Hasbro Games' Vice President of Marketing, claimed that the older version of Monopoly wasn't going to cut it for those who doubt they will ever own a house.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Suzy Hazelwood]]

"I think younger players will appreciate the changes," he said. "Now, instead of buying properties and accumulating wealth, players will just go around the board and pay rent. That's it. Just paying rent and bills. Until they die. Oh! And the thimble is now a smartphone."

He continued: "We've found that players aged 30 and under no longer identify with certain elements of the game. Especially with concepts more relevant to earlier eras, like the 1930s-era thimble token or the possibility of upward social mobility."

According to Hasbro's market research, only 28 per cent of younger players could identify the purpose of a thimble outside the context of the game and just 15 per cent could understand the concept of ever affording their own home.

These findings helped shaped the updates for Monopoly's new Millennial Edition, which include replacing the thimble game piece - traditionally seen as a possession of the less wealthy members of society - with a smartphone.

So Millenials, will you be playing it? Or is living the Millenial lifestyle in the real world enough for you?