Hasbro’s ‘Ms. Monopoly’ Gives Women an Advantage Over Men, Sparks Twitter Debate

Women collect $240 every time they pass “Go,” while men collect $200

Ms. Monopoly
Hasbro

Hasbro is turning the tables on Monopoly in a campaign to support young women entrepreneurs — but reactions have been a mixed bag since the toy company announced the new game Tuesday morning.

The updated version of the classic board game, called “Ms. Monopoly,” is flipping the script by giving female players an advantage over male players — women will collect $240 Monopoly dollars when they pass “Go,” while men will still collect the traditional $200. Women also start out with $1900, while men only start with $1500. But Hasbro said men shouldn’t worry — there are Community Chest cards included that are intended to give men a leg up.

The result is “the first-ever game where women make more than men,” according to Hasbro’s description — but Twitter users were quick to criticize the game Tuesday.

“‘Ms. Monopoly:’ Extra cash when you pass go. And instead of a Get Out of Jail card, women get to play Put ‘Em In Jail cards with false #MeToo allegations against men…then collect multi-million-dollar civil suits & book deals,” conservative political commentator Michelle Malkin tweeted.

The criticism wasn’t limited to one end of the political spectrum.

“Late capitalism is when hasbro makes a pinkwashed version of monopoly and we’re supposed to think it’s feminism when ms. monopoly buys all the real estate and raises rents across the board,” tweeted another user.

Jack Posobiec, a host on conservative news network OANN, tweeted, “Hasbro goes woke with new ‘Ms. Monopoly’ board game that pays women more than men.”

“Ms. Monopoly makes sense. Monopoly was made (by a woman whos [sic] idea was stolen) to teach ppl about the evils of capitalism. For 1 rich prick to win, everyone else dies in debt to them. So by imposing a gender pay inequality, its going back to its preachy roots. Do we care tho?” said another.

According to Hasbro, Ms. Monopoly is “a fun new take on the game that creates a world where women have an advantage often enjoyed by men. But don’t worry, if men play their cards right, they can make more money too.”

The twist is that instead of buying properties like in regular Monopoly, players invest in women-made inventions like WiFi, chocolate chip cookies, solar heating and modern shapewear. The game is available for pre-order now at Walmart, and will hit shelves in mid-September at a suggested retail price of $19.99.

Hasbro recently bought independent production studio Entertainment One for $4 billion, meaning the toy company can now add
children’s’ characters like Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, Clifford the Big Red Dog and the upcoming Ricky Zoom to Hasbro’s its own roster, which already included My Little Pony, Transformers and G.I. Joe. The toy company also has a “Monopoly” movie in the works with Lionsgate, which is set to star Kevin Hart.

Here are some more reactions from Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1171431571489902596

https://twitter.com/girlziplocked/status/1171449386133360642

Margeaux Sippell

TV Reporter • margeaux.sippell@thewrap.com • @margeauxsippell

Comments