Monopoly is an iconic game that has been around since 1904. It highlights the economic injustices of land ownership and monopolies. However, Hasbro announced a new version of Monopoly that replaces the cash and banker with a mobile app that handles all of the game’s transactions. This version will allow younger players to have more fun while being accessible.
However, this new version doesn’t appeal to both parents and math teachers, as Monopoly can be used to practice their math skills. The entire point of this version of the iconic game is to speed up the play; hence, doing the math of certain aspects of the game may take some time. Many parents have used Monopoly as a fun way to teach their kids to learn the basics of things like money management.
However, with this new version of the board game, none of this will be possible because Hasbro wants to speed up the game’s play.
Mercy University Professor Joh-Paul Paolino, a professor of Mathematics, shared his opinions on this matter.
“Decades ago, when Monopoly came out, it was a fun, family-oriented activity. It was also meant to be an educational experience for young kids to get them into the idea of finance, buying and selling assets. This takes it to a different level, this is basically Monopoly 2025, where we have more interactive methods to play the game yet the educational experience is still there.”
Paolino continued to share his thoughts regarding the game.
“However, now it is more accessible and freely available since you don’t need people physically in the same room. You get to use modern technology compared to rolling a die. So, this has the educational skills but is now more available and technologically appropriate for kids.”
Paolino shared his surprising opinion regarding the big difference.
“If anything, this can be a slight benefit because usually kids don’t take out their calculators in the middle of the game and start adding or subtracting stuff. Now, people playing can use the calculator feature on their phone, which is available to them, to do it quickly as they are playing. So, it is now more convenient and less expensive since now you don’t have to use a calculator.”
Paolino continued to share what exactly he meant.
“I think this is a positive thing and fun, especially for kids, since they are on their phones on social media all day. So, this is a nice activity to play to get a real-world application of mathematics. Which you don’t get on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat so this is a great thing for the game.”
Paolino raised his concerns regarding this new version of the game.
“However, the one question I would ask is how will you attract the players? What is going to be the selling point? For instance, you have games like Halo, Battlefield, or Fortnite where you have items like guns and you are a team or mission. What is going to be the attractive point of this game to get kids talking about this game? Unless they play with real money which may help too. I think that will be the main trick to get this thing going,” Paolino jokingly said.
Paolino emphasized the importance of mathematics.
“Mathematics is not about being able to multiply two-digit numbers in your head; math should be logical thinking and reasoning to solve practical problems. Any game that would help mathematics would be like strategy games such as chess. Anything where there is logical thinking. This game could ideally be used in a business course. Monopoly gives people an understanding of the value of money. This game also teaches kids the value of what a dollar means.”
Time will tell if this new version of Monopoly will be a hit or a miss. However, one certainty is the split on the big change regarding simple math and financial learning.
